KUCI Radio Host of “Ask a Leader,” Claudia Shambaugh, Terminated Without Reason In a Blow to Further Declining Local Journalism
Claudia Shambaugh, radio host for KUCI 88.9 FM’s show, Ask a Leader, was notified on Tuesday afternoon of her sudden termination. No reason was given for this course of action.
This is part of a nationwide trend of local journalism gradually declining in the United States, with policy analysts and activists continually raising concerns about many local jurisdictions receiving little to no coverage and operating in the dark.
Shambaugh had lined up several Irvine City Council candidates to speak on her show until her sudden termination. Particularly with Irvine’s transition to district elections, Shambaugh expressed concern that this election in particular warrants coverage for constituent awareness.
“It is so sad, in this election, with so much on the line, that I cannot bring the local candidates to my community listeners’ ears. Nobody else will be covering the community stakes at KUCI,” said Shambaugh.
There are also concerns regarding the show’s archives. Among many local leaders and elected officials, Irvine Watchdog volunteers over the years have been interviewed on Ask a Leader, as the only organization on the ground following Irvine municipal issues. For links to past Irvine Watchdog interviews, click here.
This is a developing story. Please return for more updates.
4 Comments
Sylvia Walker
August 5, 2024 at 12:04 pmThanks for this article. I look forward to learning more about UCI’s explanation for dropping this program that provides a community benefit.
edmondsmeyerson
August 5, 2024 at 2:12 pmI would be surprised if UCI says anything about this.
Jeremy Ficarola
August 5, 2024 at 4:13 pmShe is a fantastic and fair journalist. This is ridiculous. The person in charge of this firing needs to be looked into.
Kev Abazajian
August 5, 2024 at 5:39 pmI’m not sure what prompted UCI to remove Claudia Shambaugh from her well-established and excellent local topic radio show, but whatever the reason, it cannot be a good one. We have a campus of 36,000 students and city of 320,000+ in Irvine, and now there is no local-topic focused radio show.
On top of the removal, I’m told they are also threatening to remove the archives of previous shows from the KUCI website.
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