Courtesy Mid Columbia Tri City Herald

(March 3, 2009) This afternoon, I got a call from a reader telling me that KFLD 870 AM (Kennewick, WA) informed listeners at noon today that its local sports talk program — The Locker Room — has been discontinued.

And the station’s Web site reveals the program no longer appears on the daily lineup.

With apologies to "Philly Robb" Francis and Craig West, I didn't catch The Locker Room on Friday to hear if they had a bon voyage program.

Turns out there wasn’t one. According to West, he learned of the cancellation after Friday's program via a phone call from operations manager Paul Drake.

"I found out at 3:15 p.m. Friday on the way to Everett," said West, the voice of the Tri-City Americans. "It was the end of the month (Feb. 27), and that was it. They did say it was open-ended for me, so there may be something in the future."

Station general manager Eric Van Winkle said, "Until further notice, there won't be a local sports program in that slot. It was a tough decision because it has been there for 15 years."

West's comments seemed to indicate that a personnel decision regarding Francis sparked the program's cancellation.

"I can't talk about it," West said. "It's a HR (human resources) issue that's got nothing to do with me. (Francis) talked to me, and he's fine. I was just an innocent bystander."

Francis told Herald sports editor Jeff Morrow tonight, "The comments that Craig West made were not completely off the mark. It was a surprise to me and a surprise to Craig and a surprise to a number of individuals over the last few days. It was an unfortunate situation. I was told I could no longer do what I like doing."

Van Winkle and Drake repeatedly declined to comment further on why the station, owned by GAP West Broadcasting, pulled the plug on The Locker Room.

"All I know is that it had nothing to do with ratings," West said. "We were as high as 12 at one point, and we just got a 9.6. Those other guys (on KALE 960 AM's The Bull Pen) were at 1.2. And their second hour, (after The Locker Room ended) went to 2.4.

"So it was the highest rated program in the area," West added. "They just decided to run Dr. Laura live."

Based on those numbers, one has to wonder if New Northwest Broadcasters — which operates KALE — might consider contacting Francis and West.

So while GAP's move decision to drop the program will be a gain for The Bull Pen, it will be a loss for Mid-Columbia sports, particularly with regards to West. He’s never shy about his informed opinions — which is what makes talk radio compelling.

"I started doing it 3 1/2 years ago, and I had a lot of fun," West said.

There's been a gradual stripping of sports programming from KFLD, which at one time used a heavy dose of Fox Sports Radio to go head-to-head with KALE's ESPN feed. Now, KFLD airs Fox Sports Radio early in the morning and during parts of the weekend.

However, KFLD’s more noticeable move was its parting ways with the Seattle Mariners, which now are heard on KALE.

Van Winkle said the Mariners’ expanded presence on TV and the slow demise of the franchise were factors, but cost was the biggest reason.

"They have new vendors now, and we were kind of stunned with the price," Van Winkle said. "They wanted to charge us three times more than what it was in 2008. That was just WOW!"

However, Van Winkle said KFLD remains committed to broadcasting the Americans.

"We love them," Van Winkle said. "That's an anchor for us."

And he left the door open to the return of local sports talk programming at some point.

"We're always looking at new options," Van Winkle said.