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Station cut Gemineye loose early By Bill Varble Gemineye was looking forward to Friday night at radio station KTMT with unusual relish. The popular disc jockey was moving to a new job at KXJM in Portland, and Friday was the night he�d tell listeners goodbye. He never got the chance. Program Director Todd Boss called Gemineye (real name: Don Mayers) Friday and told him not to come to work, that he was finished as of that moment. Instead of Gemineye�s show, the station aired a pre-mixed, syndicated show called "Hot Mix" hosted by another DJ. "I was crushed," says Mayers, 31, of Medford. Another KTMT disc jockey, Leslie Haze, resigned in protest. Boss defended the decision as standard industry practice. In a story in Friday�s Mail Tribune, friends and associates portrayed Mayers as a popular and talented disc jockey both on the air and at local dance clubs. Haze, 30, says the story was posted at the station Friday morning by employees, a usual practice. She says Boss removed the article and seemed angry about it but at first didn�t say anything about canceling the show. "He said it cast a bad light on the station," Haze says. "He said it made it sound like the station would be nothing without Gemineye." She called Mayers at home and told him Boss was upset. Then Boss called Mayers. "He put me on hold for a minute," Mayers says. "Then he came back and said I was off. He said he was pulling the plug." "I said, �Why?� " "He said it (the article) made it seem like I was saying goodbye to my listeners," he says. Mayers says he couldn�t see what was wrong with that. "I think he was reluctant for my listeners to know I was leaving. I said, �What is the difference?� "If I�m not on the air, it�s pretty obvious. It�s not like I disappeared into oblivion or did something bad." Mayers said Boss told him Wednesday he could use the last hour of Friday�s show to say goodbye. That�s how Haze recalls it, too. Boss says his decision to pull the plug was based on a standard radio practice. "Typically, the jock doesn�t air on his last days," Boss says. "If he says something that�s not right, the station is still liable." During his years at KTMT, Mayers put on dance parties at such nightclubs as VIBES, a teen spot in Medford, and Kat Wok, a restaurant in Ashland. He says his phone rang off the hook at home when he didn�t air, and he wants fans to know what happened. "Everybody said it was a cool story," he says. "This boggles my mind." Haze, too. "Friday afternoon, I asked (Boss) one more time if he was going to keep him off the air," she says. "He said yes, and I said I resigned. He said, �When?� and I said, �Now.� I think he was way out of line." Boss defends the decision. "It�s standard," he says. "If anything, we kept him on four days too long." He says Mayers was not fired. "He left on good standing," he says. "He gave two weeks� notice. He�s one heck of a talent." Boss says if there are hard feelings, Mayers should call him. Haze says she�s thinking about testing the major market waters. Mayers feels let down. "The only thing I wanted was to say goodbye to my listeners," he says. "Especially the ones that call every night." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA