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Radio personality Nicole Alvarez is leaving KROQ-FM (106.7) behind, after more than 20 years of service and alleged tensions with the station\u2019s executive team. <\/p>\n
Alvarez confirmed her departure from the station on Wednesday with a post on Instagram<\/a> and a farewell letter published by the Hollywood Reporter<\/a>. She spoke about her exit weeks after delivering her final broadcast on July 30. She joined the KROQ team in September 2003 and was an on-air personality for weekday programming<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cI never knew how it would end. I just knew that when it did, I would have to be the one to write the final chapter,\u201d Alvarez wrote for THR. <\/p>\n Alvarez said she did not intend for the late July broadcast to be her last, writing it was a moment \u201cthat was emotional, frenzied, and irreversible.\u201d She added she made the abrupt exit after a \u201cheated exchange\u201d with her boss. Though she did not share further information about that conversation, Alvarez underlined that her departure is rooted in \u201csomething much larger.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLeaving KROQ is the hardest thing I have ever done,\u201d Alvarez said. The station specializes in alternative rock and has long been a platform for notable acts including Nirvana, U2 and Depeche Mode, as Alvarez notes in her letter. During her tenure, Alvarez has also platformed groups including Linkin Park, Muse, the Smashing Pumpkins and Mumford & Sons. <\/p>\n She added: \u201cStaying would have been a slow death. After being disrespected by an executive known to do those type of things, I was done.\u201d<\/p>\n Alvarez, who said she would \u201cnever speak ill\u201d of her longtime station, did not write any more of the alleged disrespect. A spokesperson for Audacy, which owns KROQ and several other stations across Southern California, did not comment to The Times. <\/p>\n For Alvarez, her departure from KROQ was more about \u201cwhat radio has become\u201d and \u201cthe way business is handled these days.\u201d Alvarez resigned after refusing an offer for a contract extension, The Times has learned. <\/p>\n She lamented an alleged shift in the station\u2019s role in the music community over the years, writing that \u201cit has now become a spreadsheet\u201d and that its \u201ccaretakers\u201d are more motivated by professional milestones, and \u201cnot passion.\u201d Alvarez emphasized her loyalty to KROQ and reflected on her time informing listeners about major news events and the music that hit the airwaves. <\/p>\n As she moves, Alvarez wrote that the station has a chance to return to its roots. <\/p>\n \u201cKROQ still has a chance to remember who it is, what made it \u2018world famous.\u2019 To take risks again. To matter,\u201d she added. \u201cBut it will require courage, not cowardice. Passion, not corporate approval.\u201d<\/p>\n In her letter, Alvarez thanked those involved in her tenure, ranging from her \u201choly trinity\u201d of colleagues (KROQ alumni Kevin Weatherly, Lisa Worden and Gene Sandbloom), to listeners and artists. <\/p>\n \u201cRadio will always matter. In the right hands, it will always matter,\u201d she wrote. <\/p>\n Alvarez also offered a stern but hopeful message to the executives she accuses of \u201csuffocating\u201d radio: \u201cIt\u2019s never too late to introduce humanity into the corporate narrative. I challenge you to play the game without selling your souls.\u201d<\/p>\n On Instagram, Alvarez said she has been waiting for a moment to pursue a new chapter and the shift in her radio duties \u201cdidn\u2019t feel right.\u201d She said that her devotion to music will remain, even with her KROQ days behind her. <\/p>\n \u201cNow, with all my energy and all my passion, I can spend another lifetime championing it in new and bigger ways,\u201d she told her followers. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n