by Liz Daube
Staff Writer
The original FM-95.1 Morning Zoo Crew is leaving the station they’ve called home for more than a decade.
On Friday, longtime local personalities Steve Sutton, Eden Kendall and Amadeus will host the final broadcast of the FM-95.1 morning radio show that reaches about a quarter-million listeners each weekday. The crew has blended pop music with quirky news and tidbits from their personal lives every morning for the past 11 years, but they say the time has come to move on.
“It’s kind of bittersweet,” said Amadeus. “We’ve been together for 11 years, and it’s been a great ride ... It’s just been a blessing to be a part of Jacksonville radio, but it’s time to move over and let the young people get the same time of experience that we had.”
The most recent addition to the show, Jay-Dubb, will start hosting the morning show with the help of FM-95.1 midday show host Jay Styles on Monday. A local Web site for Cox Radio, which owns the FM-95.1 station, has posted an advertisement “launching a talent search for a great morning show.”
The station’s program director could not be reached before this article’s Wednesday deadline. Amadeus said the departing crew has “no idea” what the station’s long term plans are for the show.
The original show hosts have annual contracts that end Dec. 31 and have “six-month no-compete” clauses, according to Amadeus. He said the crew doesn’t have any plans to start a show at a competing station, but they all plan to stay in Jacksonville.
“The three of us are just going to take some time off,” said Amadeus. “We hope to be working again one day, but there’s really nothing to say right now.”
For his part, Amadeus said he can’t see himself working with any other hosts and any of his future radio shows “would definitely be the three of us.” He plans to travel in the meantime: to the Keys, the Prince show in Las Vegas and the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Amadeus said he will continue to host TV-17’s Weekend Showplace program and Kendall will keep reporting for First Coast News.
If radio isn’t in his future, Amadeus said he might think about a role in media relations for a nonprofit organization. The crew will be talking about their memories from the past decade with listeners on Friday. Amadeus said Sutton will perform a little song, but the final show won’t be elaborate or dramatic.
“[We’ll miss] the people, getting out there and doing community service – that’s what we love most,” he said. “We never saw ourselves as big celebrities or anything. We just kind of want to disappear into the sunset.”