Longtime Anchorage broadcaster Mark Colavecchio will be returning to the morning talk show slot on KFQD-AM starting Monday, the station announced this week.
Colavecchio is replacing conservative talk show host Bernadette Wilson, whose contract was not renewed by KFQD for the coming year. In late December, station manager Joe Campbell said the show's audience and revenue hadn't been the same since Wilson lost her former co-host Ethan Berkowitz when he entered the Anchorage mayor's race, and the station decided to head "in a different direction."
With Colavecchio, Campbell said the station hopes to engage more of what he called the "sandwich generation" -- people with kids in school as well as aging parents.
Colavecchio hosted the morning slot on KFQD for several months in 2010, and was the "Mark" of the "Bob and Mark Show" duo on 106.5 KWHL. That show ended its run last January. He currently works in marketing for Coastal Television, the company that owns the local Fox News and ABC affiliates.
In a phone interview Friday, Colavecchio said he'd like to inject entertainment and humor into his KFQD show.
"People are just fed up with straight politics," Colavecchio said, adding he wants to "keep it more lighthearted."