Chris Booker Exits 97.1 AMP Radio, the Latest Casualty of Entercom Firings

Shirley Halperin
·2 min read

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Los Angeles’ radio community continues to bleed talent as Chris Booker, host of the AMP Morning Show on L.A. Top 40 radio station 97.1 AMP, has been let go. His last broadcast — which was pre-taped — aired this morning (April 2). The station is owned by Entercom, parent company to alternative rock station KROQ, which recently saw massive layoffs of both on-air personalities and support positions.

The radio veteran has held positions at New York’s K-Rock 92.3 FM and WNEW as well as Q102 in Philadelphia before moving to the west coast. In addition, he was a correspondent for “Entertainment Tonight,” a regular presence on VH-1 and has co-hosted the the popular “Perez Hilton Podcast With Chris Booker” since July 2015. With the exception of two years, he’s been with the company since 1994.

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When reached by Variety, Booker said: “There are bigger problems in the world than Chris Booker not working tomorrow. I will miss my interactions with my audience, but onward and upward.”

Booker’s exit follows that of Kevin Ryder, a staple of morning radio on L.A. station KROQ for the past 30 years, who was fired from the station and escorted from the building by security guards — Ryder spoke to Variety about the experience on March 19 — and earlier this year Kevin & Bean Show” co-host, Gene “Bean” Baxter. (Ted Stryker and Kevin Klein took over the morning slot from “Kevin & Bean.”) Also in the last two months, longtime KROQ program director Kevin Weatherly departed for a gig at Spotify.

The AMP Morning Show was hosted by Booker along with Chelsea Briggs and Krystal Bee. It frequently drew top pop stars to its studio, among them: Selena Gomez, Halsey, Billie Eilish, Camila Cabello and Niall Horan.

Variety has reached out to Entercom for comment.

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