Lexington KY Radio: Longtime Personality Karl Shannon To Retire

WLXO Hank 96.1 FM host Karl Shannon will broadcast his last morning show for the station Sept. 14.

According to kentucky.com, the longtime Lexington radio personality, who has woken up listeners at the area’s three primary country outlets — WBUL 98.1-FM The Bull, back in the K-93 heyday of WVLK 92.9 FM, and now the traditional country outlet — says the retirement coincides with his 65th birthday, almost.

“Actually, my birthday is on the 17th, but my birthday was on a Monday, and I didn’t want to go in,” Shannon said Tuesday afternoon. “After 3 and 4 a.m. wakeups the last 42 years, I want to sleep in, and I figure September right before my birthday is the perfect time to do it.”

On the air, Shannon is celebrating his last couple weeks with trips down memory lane, including playing archival interviews with artists such as Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and the faux St. Patrick’s Day parade he once aired when the city had canceled its parade. He’ll also be celebrated Thursday with an event at Momma’s Last Chance Saloon in Nicholasville with music by Greg Austin, George Molton and Hicktown Romeo and tributes from a number of guests.

For Shannon, who, like many radio and TV personalities has been unceremoniously taken off the air a few times in his career, including a prominent 2009 departure from WBUL in a round of layoffs, the chance to retire on his own terms is particularly sweet.

“A lot of times when you leave stations, you don’t get to go out the way you want to go out, and they’re being really good about it,” Shannon said. “It’s always nice when you can do something, do it right and go out the way you want to go.”

Shannon started his broadcast career 47 years ago with stops at legendary stations such as WSM in Nashville, where he also got to be an announcer at the Grand Ole Opry, including announcing bluegrass legend Bill Monroe’s last show at the storied venue. He came to Lexington in 1988 as program director at WVLK-FM and had the distinction of having top-rated shows there and at WBUL.