St. Louis Radio: Frank O. Pinion To EXIT KTRS

Frank O. Pinion

After more than 20 years on the air, radio personality Frank O. Pinion announced his departure from KTRS 550 AM.

Pinion (real name John Craddock) made the announcement during Thursday’s edition of his ‘Large Morning Show in the Afternoon’ program. The final episode will air September 14, he said.

Pinion stressed that he "wasn't fired, I resigned."

Craddock said he could not talk about the specific reasons for his departure, but did say it was not amicable, reports stltoday.com.

"It's not the way I wanted it to be, and it certainly ended before I wanted it to," he said.

While at KTRS, Craddock has reportedly become one of the highest-compensated media people in local history, thanks to an arrangement that allows Craddock to run his show as an independent business. Instead of a salary, Craddock gets a certain amount of commercial minutes that he personally sells to advertisers.

Craddock has been a voice in STL radio for more than 35 years.

He left a radio job in South Carolina in the mid-1970s and came to St. Louis to work at an advertising agency and leaving radio.

In 1982, he was drawn back into the business when the Gannett-owned KSD and KUSA hired him as a morning host. It was there he created the character Ed E. Torial, who parodied the solemn commentaries by KMOX kingpin Robert Hyland.

Then in 1984, working at KUSA as a country-music jock, Craddock created his signature character. In 1987, he jumped to STL's other main country station at the time, WKKX-FM ("Kix Country"). He eventually returned to KSD and stayed until 1995.