KKAR Changing Morning Show

The death of former co-host Terry Mason is what led Clay Michaels to announce he is signing off from the KKAR morning show Friday.

“Mason and Michaels” had previously teamed together from 1980-89 on (“The Mighty 1290”) KOIL. Before they reunited in September on KKAR (1290 AM), Michaels was publishing “Night Moves Magazine,” an Omaha area bi-weekly entertainment guide and Mason was doing on-air work and programming for Waitt Radio Networks’ “Oldies Plus” radio format. The pair replaced Kent Pavelka, whose contract was set to expire at the end of 2005.

But when Mason, 52, suddenly died in December of undisclosed causes, Michaels said his enthusiasm for the job waned.

“With all respect to John Thomas, he was tapped to fill a huge void and did a great job,” Michaels wrote on Nebraskaradio.com this week. “We both knew when we were teamed-up that it was a temporary fix. I agreed to say on for a time until everything shook out. And now it has.”

Thomas will continue his duties at Waitt while Michaels said Brian Barks will take over the 5:30-8 a.m. time slot, beginning Monday. Barks is hardly a stranger to Omaha, having spent a dozen years at KKAR before leaving for Phoenix and a job at KTAR in 1995.