3 Disc Jockeys Suspended for Murder Hoax : Broadcasting: Sheriff’s Department intends to bill KROQ-FM for time spent hunting ‘murderer’ who confessed on radio show.

Three KROQ-FM disc jockeys who masterminded a much-publicized on-air murder confession hoax last summer have been temporarily suspended, station sources said Thursday.

The suspensions came the day that a Times article revealed the hoax and more than a week after station management acknowledged the stunt in a letter to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The Burbank station was said to have been deluged Thursday with calls from angry listeners, and at least one advertiser was reported to be considering withdrawing from a joint promotion with the station. Station management was also reported to be weighing further disciplinary action against the three deejays.

The station has barred its employees from discussing the incident publicly, and station officials have declined to return numerous phone calls from The Times.

Kevin Ryder and Gene (Bean) Baxter will not be heard on their 6-10 a.m. slot today, nor will their confederate Doug Roberts be on the air for his 9 p.m.-midnight show tonight.

Sources said the station is torn about how to discipline the deejays, particularly the morning team of Ryder and Baxter, known as Kevin and Bean, because management is pleased with their work.

The murder hoax was broadcast last June 13--apparently without the knowledge of KROQ management--by Ryder and Baxter with the help of Roberts, then a radio personality in Mesa, Ariz. (Roberts was later hired by KROQ.)

Ryder and Baxter developed a comedy routine called “Confess Your Crime” in which listeners were encouraged to reveal their transgressions on the air. The pair, according to station sources, fabricated a conversation with Roberts, who acted like a “whacked-out and disturbed” caller confessing to killing his girlfriend. Ryder and Baxter elicited a rambling confession from Roberts and persuaded listeners that it was for real.

After Ryder and Baxter coaxed the murder confession out of the caller, they were suddenly the center of a barrage of television news segments. Shortly thereafter, the taped confession was turned over to authorities who spent 10 months chasing down an estimated 400 “leads” to the faked murder.

The Sheriff’s Department intends to bill KROQ’s parent company, Infinity Broadcasting Corp., for an estimated 149 hours that homicide detective Sgt. John Yarbrough spent investigating the phony murder.

Sources close to the station said that KROQ’s license is up for renewal this year and some staff members have urged station management to fire the deejays or risk losing their license.