SHOCKER! After 25 years, Good Food Hour radio program has been cancelled by KSRO.
It was one of several budgetary cuts made at the Santa Rosa radio station, owned by Maverick Media this week.
The long-running show featured Chef John Ash and Steve Garner as hosts each Saturday morning. Also eliminated: Garden Talk and KSRO Morning News Anchor Curtiss Kim. Garden Talk and The Good Food Hour were the longest running garden and food shows in California, according to KSRO.
This morning lines lit up with confused callers when Good Food Hour was replaced by a syndicated radio program. Insiders say that Ash and the others were informed late this week. The KSRO website no longer lists the Good Food Hour or Garden Talk.
“We were totally shocked,” said Ash, reached Saturday. He stated that it was an especially tough blow for Garner, who worked on both shows for decades. “It’s a real loss of local broadcasting that was part of the local community.”
While the food community was taken aback at the unceremonious cancellation, its not without precedent. In 2010, Steve Jaxon’s “The Drive” was cancelled on KSRO but returned several weeks later with its own lineup of sponsors. In San Francisco, KGO cut Dining Around with Gene Burns (along with a number of other shows) in 2011.
Apparently the cuts at KSRO were made for purely budgetary reason, but BiteClub hopes that Good Food Hour might be able follow a similar model to Jaxon’s and possible reach a new audience through Podcasting and the Internet.
Because that kind of experience in our local food scene, along with Garner and Ash’s insight, humor and wit would be a pretty tragic loss to the community.
Can we find a way to bring Good Food Hour back? Let’s hope so.