Kitty Felde out at KPCC

Felde Tomorrow is the last Talk of the City on KPCC with Kitty Felde as the live host. She was removed by program director Craig Curtis and has been offered a position in the news department. Curtis told me tonight that the recent departure of producer Christal Smith for a new job at National Public Radio West in Culver City spurred the decision. It gave the station a "rare opportunity" to hire a new team of producer and host to upgrade "Talk of the City," he said:

"It's a different show now than it was a year ago, or five years ago when Kitty took over, and we expect it will continue to evolve...
"It's always been our sense that Kitty was a better reporter than talk show host. I simply think that we can do better with somebody else as the host."

John Rabe will sit in as interim host during the search, starting Monday. Friday's show is pre-taped. (Today's show included an interview with Robert Towne, the Chinatown screenwriter whose Ask the Dust sure has a tasty noir-L.A. trailer. Audio) Felde sent a terse email to friends and colleagues this afternoon that included the newsroom email from Curtis and news director Paul Glickman. It was passed along to LA Observed:

Got a bit of surprising news yesterday afternoon...I'm being replaced as host of "Talk of the City." Here's the official email:
Tomorrow, March 2nd, will be Kitty Felde's last day as host of Talk of the City.

At the moment Kitty is considering a new position within the KPCC news department. We very much hope and anticipate she will continue working with us, and we are working to provide her with information to help in that decision.

Kitty has hosted TOTC for five years, through a period of enormous growth for KPCC. She has worked tirelessly, devoting herself to the program and the station's overall mission. Kitty's time on TOTC has been marked by a strong intellectual curiosity and an infectious enthusiasm for her work and the communities we serve. She has never been satisfied with the status quo, striving to come up with new and creative ways to cover southern California. She has generously given her time and energy to developing our staff, has won numerous awards along the way, and has been an outstanding public ambassador for KPCC.

Starting Monday, March 6th, John Rabe will serve as interim host of TOTC while we conclude future plans for the program. We expect to announce details of those plans soon. John will return to regular daily reporting once the transition to the new host is complete.

Obviously this change creates a complication for the fundraiser, but we will work with Stephanie & Co. to make sure the drive moves ahead smoothly as planned.

As always, we welcome your questions, comments or concerns.

Craig and Paul

Photo: KPCC website