Alvarez Quits KROQ, Candid Column Explains Why
• On Sept. 1, 2003, Nicole Alvarez walked into The World Famous KROQ on her very first day. “I remember every detail, the smell of the parking lot asphalt, the pulse in my chest, and Tim Armstrong of Rancid standing there in his ‘Salvation’ jacket,” she said. “That moment felt like the start of the dream. I had somehow landed a job at what was arguably the most iconic radio station of all time
On July 30, 2025, after two decades at what had been the station of her dreams, Alvarez did her final midday break, unplugged and walked out. What happened to precipitate her departure is a long, complicated story involving a radio industry that many believe has lost much of its soul and basic humanity, a story Alvarez decided to share publicly in a candid, heartfelt column she submitted to The Hollywood Reporter.
“I was just shy of my 23-year anniversary at KROQ, and that alone is a badge of honor,” Alvarez said. “I outlasted trends, format disorientation, bosses, budget cuts, and even my own rebellious nature. I did it always as myself. I never dumbed it down or dialed it in. I stood for the music, for the misfits, for Los Angeles, and for the station.”
“Leaving KROQ is the hardest thing I have ever done,” Alvarez wrote. “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. 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. The truth is, I had already outgrown what radio was allowed to be. This was the station that launched iconic musicians and gave a voice to the outcasts and visionaries of Southern California and beyond. Once a tastemaker, a cultural detonator, a lighthouse for the weird and wild, it has now become a spreadsheet. A machine run by research, not instinct. By caretakers who cling to titles, not passion… There is more I could say that I won’t.”
Alvarez continued, “I leave with KROQ in my heart. It was my honor to stand for it. Part of me always will. I started at KROQ under the greatest radio team that ever was. Kevin Weatherly, Lisa Worden and Gene Sandbloom. The holy trinity. I will always consider myself the luckiest girl in the world to have been there when it was untouchable.”
In closing, Alvarez noted, “Radio will always matter. In the right hands, it will always matter. To the executives suffocating it, it’s never too late to introduce humanity into the corporate narrative. I challenge you to play the game without selling your souls. Radio is not dying. You’re killing it. Just do better.”
Please take the time and read Alvarez’s important story posted HERE.
