L-A Radio: KROQ & Friends Bids Farewell To Bean

Gene 'Bean' Baxter off to England

On Gene “Bean” Baxter’s final day on the air at KROQ 106.7 FM as part of “The Kevin & Bean Show,” emotions were expected to run high, and did — but, according to Variety,  maybe not quite in the way that was expected when Jim “Poorman” Trenton called in to bid farewell to Baxter, in what was his first appearance on the station’s airwaves since he was fired 26 years earlier for targeting Baxter in a prank gone bad.

Was it a fond farewell? For a few moments at the end, yes, at least as lip service goes. Prior to that, though, were six of the tensest minutes you could ever hope to hear on the radio, amid a four-hour sendoff otherwise devoted to tears, laughs and teary laughs.

This transfixing reunion was set in motion after Bean took a congratulatory call from the morning show’s newsman of many years ago, “Doc on the Roq,” now an Episcopal clergyman in Santa Barbara, who bantered easily with the duo and in-studio guests Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla, both KROQ alumni. It came up, in jest, that maybe they’d be hearing from “the Poorman” next — in jest because Trenton’s firing was an ugly one, involving Bean in a big way, and landed in court in the mid-’90s, with the radio station prevailing.

And then suddenly it was no joke, as the team, which was about to welcome Dave Grohl onto the show, announced that the Poorman was waiting on another line, and took a voice poll over whether to let the station’s most famously disenfranchised former employee come on.

They did, and things got even realer than anticipated, even after Bean flatteringly introduced Trenton as being “on the Mount Rushmore of KROQ personalities” and “one of the greats who helped build this radio station into the icon it is today. He did not leave under great circumstances, though…”



Toward the end of the four hours, Bean, who admitted he had originally planned to take a last day on the air without even telling the audience it was his last day, made another confession: “Can I just say that I was wrong — this is really fun? Having everybody calling in and the boys in the studio, I’m having a good time today.”

Thanks to the @KevinAndBean Show team, and especially guests @AdamCarolla and @JimmyKimmel, today’s sendoff was emotional and inspiring and nostalgic and hilarious and 💯 other emotions I can’t name yet. Thank you and our wonderful listeners for making today so special. #ripbean pic.twitter.com/3w2w8h0r3Z

— KROQ's Bean 🇬🇧 (@clydetombaugh) November 7, 2019