On Friday, laradio.com founder Don Barrett (pictured) was part of a group paying tribute to departed journalist Gary Lycan at “Celebration for Life for Lycan,” held at the Orange County Register’s Santa Ana headquarters. On Saturday, Barrett led his first article as the paper’s new radio columnist this way:

For the past 2,000 weeks, the radio news has been dispensed to Orange County Register readers by Gary Lycan. Week in and week out, the Register has been the only consistent publication to cover news of the radio world. Earlier this month, radio’s biggest ambassador passed away. Today there is a new byline.

For years, Gary and I shared stories and resources, so it feels natural to expand my own efforts to Gary’s home base, where it will be my honor to continue the work he began at the Register.

Read more

Last summer, Don Barrett decided to pull the plug on his venerable industry website LARadio.com. He waited until the fall of 2011 to go public, but it seems Barrett even then had a hard time giving up his Web routine entirely.

A year later, he swears it’s now official. Per a report on allaccess.com, Barrett seems to have finally crossed the “T’s” and dotted the “I” in transmitter:

LARadio.com has shut down again, this time for good, as Barrett informs his subscribers in an email that the site is officially closed. Barrett kept updating the site for remaining subscribers until closing the operation today [November 8].

Read more

Huge scoop for Don Barrett at LARadio.com.

In an exclusive two-part interview available to website members, Mark Thompson (pictured, at right), co-host of KLOS-FM’s long-running Mark and Brian, confirmed that he will be retiring from active duty this summer. Although he might still engage in the odd bit of work for the station, he warned his regular morning zoo co-hosting days are officially numbered.

Per Radio-Info.com’s quick pick-up of the Barrett item:

Thompson says retiring has been on his mind, as he finished a plan to relocate to the Charlotte area with his wife. Thompson says the new house on Lake Norman has a studio and he’ll be available for occasional work, but he’s ready to quit doing the morning routine alongside Brian Phelps.

Read more

Don Barrett is shutting down LARadio.com after reporting on the local radio industry for 15 years.

“I made the decision to close LARadio.com over the July 4th weekend; I did it really for three reasons: One was the consolidation; the second was the economy; and the third was the presence of social media,” Barrett told AllAccess.com. “With consolidation, the need for so much news wasn’t quite as immediate as it was in the past. Fewer people were holding more jobs. Then there’s the economy being what it is; things have been falling out since 2008. There are far less radio people to support the website today.”

Read more