Former Alternative 106.7 KROQ-FM Los Angeles host Nicole Alvarez has broken her silence about her departure from the station in July.
Writing a guest column in The Hollywood Reporter, Alvarez laid her cards on the table, saying, “On July 30, 2025, I said my final words on air in a moment that was emotional, frenzied, and irreversible. I did not walk in that morning expecting it to be the end, but I felt something. A shift. A knowing.”
“After a heated exchange with my boss, one that crossed a line no one could come back from, the air cracked open. Time stopped. And I heard Iggy Pop’s voice cut through the static like a liberation siren: ‘‘Cause I’m a punk rocker, yes I am.’ That was my cue. I did my final break, walked out, and didn’t look back.”
Alvarez said she regretted not having the opportunity to say goodbye to her listeners.
“I never got the chance to say a proper goodbye to the city and the listeners I will always love so much. That absence will weigh heavy on me forever.”
“Leaving KROQ is the hardest thing I have ever done. But staying would have been a slow death. After being disrespected by an executive known to do those types of things, I was done. So I lit my life on fire for something that matters more than anything, my integrity. This round, I was willing to bet on myself.”
Alvarez indicated she wasn’t about bad-mouthing the station.
“I am never going to speak ill of KROQ. This isn’t about a station betraying me. It’s a story about what radio has become. About wanting more. About the way business is handled these days.”
“It is worth saying that I love and respect my boss. He, too, is trying to navigate radio as it now exists under the corporate thumb and an ever-changing landscape. This is not about him. This is about something much larger. He who first hired me will always have a place in my heart.”
Read the entire Hollywood Reporter column here. The outlet also reported, “Audacy, which owns KROQ, declined to comment on Alvarez’s letter.”
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