KZLA Causes Deejay an Achy, Breaky Heart : Radio: Ken Cooper takes out ads asking fans to help him get his job back, but the country station isn’t budging.

Ken Cooper, the morning drive-time disc jockey who was fired earlier this month from country station KZLA-FM (93.9), is turning to the public in an effort to get his job back.

Cooper, who was at the station for nearly four years, took out ads in the Los Angeles Times and the Daily News explaining to his fans that he did not leave of his own volition. He urged them to contact his former boss and ask that he be reinstated.

The ad simply asks, in bold-face type, “Where’s Ken Cooper?� and offers a phone number.

“Hi! This is Ken Cooper,� says a recorded announcement. “I wanted to let you know that it was not my idea to leave KZLA. Now, if you’re mad or upset about it, write to the general manager at KZLA in Burbank and tell him ‘Bring back Ken Cooper.’ Your one letter can make a big difference.�

Cooper also took to the airwaves, appearing on KTLA-TV’s early morning news broadcast Thursday.

When asked by a reporter why he was fired, Cooper responded, “Honest to God, I really don’t know. . . . I had the highest ratings that the morning show ever had in 10 years there.�

However, KZLA program director R.J. Curtis disagreed with his contention.

“We dispute his claims about the ratings,� Curtis said in a phone interview Thursday, adding that Cooper’s ratings had dropped in the latest Arbitron ratings survey.

Curtis said the ratings showed that the cumulative audience at the station had stayed the same or grown in every segment except morning drive, where it had dropped.

Cooper’s contract expired Dec. 30 and he had been working without one since then. He said he was told by KZLA management after his show on April 5 that he had done his last program because they wanted to take the show in a different direction, with more music and less personality.

Station management confirmed that was indeed the new focus and said they are conducting a nationwide search for a new team of morning personalities.

“Personally we love Ken Cooper,� Curtis said. “He’s an outstanding human being who touched a lot of people and did a lot for the community. We wish him only the best in the future.�

Cooper said he took out the ad so that his fans would know the decision to leave the station was not his own.

“We just wanted to tell people what happened,� Cooper said in a phone interview Thursday, “to let them know I didn’t just abandon them, that I was given no choice.�

In the television interview, Cooper recalled on the air that last year when he and his wife had faced a personal tragedy in the death of their first child, he received hundreds of messages of concern and condolence.

“I just couldn’t turn my back on those people,� Cooper said.

He added that he has received more than 1,200 phone messages since the ad began running earlier this week.

KZLA general manager Norm Epstein said he has received about 50 letters and a “lot of phone calls, but they’re probably from the same people.�

“I thought the parting was amicable,� Epstein said in a phone interview. “I didn’t even know he was unhappy about it. When we talked about it he seemed to understand that it’s part of the business. This was a decision that was thought out for quite a period of time. All we’ve done is make a business decision and take a different direction in our product. He’s a terrific talent. He didn’t do anything bad. He didn’t say anything bad. This has nothing to do with him as a person, but I think he’s doing himself an injustice with people flooding our phone lines.�

Though he acknowledged that Cooper had a strong loyal following and “was very good at selling product,� Epstein said the entreaties would be to no avail.

“I’m not going to hire him back,� Epstein said. “Maybe if I got like 10 million letters.�