Caught in the crossfire between KMPC 1540 The Ticket and USC’s new sports station, ESPN 710, Pete Arbogast, THE voice of USC Football, was relieved of his duties eventhough he has a contract through June.

In a message dated 4/17/2006 8:54:35 AM Pacific Standard Time, Roger Nadel, vp/gm sent a memo to his staff:

Today I made one of the more difficult decisions of my tenure here at KMPC. Decisions involving longtime friends and coworkers are never easy but given the current competitive environment, the choice was made for us.

I have relieved Pete Arbogast of his duties at KMPC. With the approval and support of the USC athletic department [and despite the fact that our exclusive rights agreement with the university runs through June], our competition began conducting an unprecedented on-air promotional campaign on April 6. Those promos contain signature Pete Arbogast play-by-play audio. Pete is THE voice of USC and deservedly so. For us though, using Pete any further simply creates listener confusion…something that doesn’t serve anyoone well. Beyond that, the USC coverage that was part of Pete’s responsibilities for us has, for the most part, ceased.

We had hoped to retain Pete at least until the end of our USC contract on June 30, if not until the beginning of the new station’s USC coverage. The jumping of the gun by our competition, and the university’s endorsement of that position, undeservedly puts Pete in a form of radio limbo.

I know all of you share my respect for Pete and all that he has done for us. He called some of the most exciting, memorable, and meaningful moments in USC athletic history, working as the centerpiece of a tremendous team of professionals throughout our radio station. Please join me in wishing Pete only good things in the future.

Beginning in the 1990s, Arbogast invented a term in which when UCLA and Notre Dame loses, and USC wins on the same football week. It is called a perfect day, and to commemorate the perfect day, Arbogast and other Trojan fans would gather outside the Coliseum to share a toast to that perfect day.

Arbogast will remain as THE voice of USC football, just on USC’s new sport station, ESPN 710.