List of on-air resignations

This is a list of on-air resignations. These are resignations in the public eye.

On radio

• October 1967 and again in 1985 – Announcer and DJ William (Rosko) Mercer, known to his fans simply as Rosko, resigned on-air twice: first from WOR-FM in New York City in October 1967 over the station's employment of radio consultants; and then again in 1985, when he left WKTU-FM in Lake Success, New York, while on the air, again over a dispute with the station management.
• November, 1991 – Terry Durney became the first radio presenter in the United Kingdom to resign live on-air. He presented the weekend request programme on BBC Radio Lancashire. He cited the reason as the station's new management team who were making the station a more "speech and sport" broadcaster.[1]
• August 8, 1993 – Dave Lee Travis, BBC Radio 1 DJ resigned on-air, citing "There are changes being made at the station that go against my principles" in reference to Matthew Bannister's plans for the station.[2]
• September 24, 2001 – Rugby player Mal Meninga's attempted political career lasted a mere 28 seconds. Becoming fazed in his first radio interview announcing his entrance into the 2001 Australian Capital Territory general election, he resigned as a candidate on-air shortly after the broadcast commenced.
• January, 2001 – Juan González, a journalist from the Pacifica Radio Network, announced his resignation whilst co-hosting Democracy Now!, in protest over "harassment and muzzling of free speech."[3][4] González has frequently returned to the program since then.
• August, 2006 – Inetta Hinton, a presenter on WBLX-FM in Mobile, Alabama, resigned on-air with the phrase "I quit this bitch."[5]
• November, 2006 – Bob "The Blade" Robinson, a presenter on WRDU in Knightdale, North Carolina, resigned on the air after Clear Channel Communications switched the format of the station he was on for 22 years from rock to country. He played "The Song Is Over" by The Who and then left after the song was cut off.[6]
• February, 2008 – Lucas Campbell, a presenter of "Rock of Ages" on Chorley FM, resigned on-air after station chiefs decided to shift the show to a later slot.[7]
• February 9, 2014 – Dublin, Ireland 2FM presenter and former station boss John Clarke quit his daytime Sunday show in dramatic fashion, telling listeners he was "reading the signs" and implying he was leaving the programme before he was forced out.[8]

On television

• February 10, 1960 – Host Jack Paar announced his resignation from The Tonight Show and walked off during mid-broadcast, after discovering NBC had censored a joke.[9][10] Paar returned one month later.
• November 2012 – Cindy Michaels and Tony Consiglio, anchors from ABC affiliate WVII-TV in Bangor, Maine, resigned on-air, citing "some recent developments (that) have come to our attention."[11]
• February 2014 – Liz Wahl resigned from RT America on-air to protest the network's coverage of Russia's annexation of Crimea.[12]
• September 21, 2014 – Charlo Greene, a reporter from CBS affiliate KTVA in Anchorage, Alaska, declared herself as the president of the medical cannabis organization Alaska Cannabis Club, which campaigned successfully for the legalization of the drug in the state via a November 2014 referendum. She ended the outro with a profane statement, resigned on-air and walked off the set.[13]
• October 19, 2019 – Shepard Smith, an anchor for Fox News and host of the Fox Report, resigned on-air after 24 years at Fox, after frequently criticizing and being criticized by President Donald Trump.[14]
• March 2, 2020 – Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's long-running show Hardball with Chris Matthews, abruptly retired on-air after sexual harassment allegations and controversial critiques of 2020 Democratic Party presidential primary candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.[15]

References

1. Alex Hudson (2 August 2011). "How do you have an honourable resignation?". BBC News. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
2. The cull of Radio 1 | BBC Radio
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-05-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. Community Radio Report – June 2001 Archived 2007-06-15 at the Wayback Machine
5. American Rhetoric: Inetta the Moodsetta – On-Air Resignation from WBLX Radio in Mobile Alabama
6. Danny Hooley (January 29, 2008). "'Blade' returns to air". newsobserver.com. Archived from the original on October 15, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
7. McCully, Gordon (21 February 2008). "Chorley FM DJ quits on air". Chorley Citizen. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
8. "Former 2fm boss quits live on air, delivers withering parting shot to new regime".
9. TV ACRES: Censorship & Scandals – Jack Paar's Water Closet ("WC") JokeArchived 2013-02-05 at Archive.today
10. "Jack Paar Walks Off The Tonight Show". 30 September 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
11. "Maine News Anchors Resign Live On Air Over Station's Unethical Journalistic Practices".
12. "Liz Wahl, Russia Today anchor, quits her job on air". CBC News. 2014-03-06. Archived from the original on 2014-03-07. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-09-24. Retrieved 2014-09-23.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
14. Paul Farhi and Sarah Ellison (2019-10-19). "Shepard Smith, Fox News veteran anchor and frequent Trump target, abruptly resigns from the network". Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
15. Grynbaum, Michael M. (2020-03-02). "Chris Matthews Out at MSNBC". New York Times. Retrieved 2020-03-02.