Chet Buchanan Exits KLUC After 27 Years
• For the first time in nearly three decades, the citizens of Las Vegas will wake up and start their day without the accompaniment of the familiar voice of market legend Chet Buchanan, who, in a surprising turn of events, has resigned his longtime morning post at Audacy Top 40 98.5 KLUC.
“It’s just time,” Buchanan said in a Friday phone conversation with The Las Vegas Review Journal. “There wasn’t any one moment where I decided, ‘All right, this is it.'”
KLUC confirmed Buchanan’s departure in a social media post that reads: “Thank you Chet Buchanan for 25+ years of Las Vegas radio. Your voice, leadership, and commitment to our listeners have helped define KLUC and its role in the Las Vegas community for nearly three decades and for that we greatly appreciate you.”
After radio stints in Seattle, Salt Lake City, Phoenix and Portland, Buchanan joined KLUC in 1999, achieving great success as host of Chet Buchanan & The Morning Zoo. In Nov. 2017, Buchanan inked a multiyear contract extension and the show was rebranded as The Chet Buchanan Show.
In addition to his numerous outside activities, including serving as the in-arena announcer for the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces and the NHL’s Seattle Kraken, Buchanan’s crowning charitable achievement without a doubt is his annual Toy Drive, where, for the past 27 years he has spent two weeks every December atop a swaying 30-foot-high scaffold in the parking lot of NV Energy, rallying the community and local businesses to contribute bicycles and cash to benefit HELP of Southern Nevada, generating millions of dollars over the years. His 2025 campaign alone yielded $792,430 in cash and gift cards, filled 40 Coca-Cola trucks full of toys and collected 6,792 bikes.
KLUC has not yet revealed a succession plan for Buchanan, who we understand will remain active locally with the Aces, NASCAR, and his numerous charitable events, along with his Seattle Kraken gig.
