Bye-byes begin: Carolla loses San Francisco

Adam Carolla's notorious radio show, which has been given a third chance to succeed since the semicomic was unlucky enough to have been given the late Howard Stern's morning timeslot in LA and a few other western cities in January 2006, is on shakier ground than CBS Radio's letting on. As the colossal bore struggles on without sparkplug and attention-competing Danny Bonaduce (aced out by Carolla in a jealous coup last month), he seems happy as a pig in a mud bath in the solo spotlight, with the fawning Teresa Strasser (apparently dumped, as we'd predicted, from her role on the inconsequential whitewashed syndicated television version of the corporate porn-pushing gossip site TMZ.com, where her tired plainness was no match for the pretty young things who make up Harvey Levin's band of lost boys) and an obsequious amateur called Brian managing to interject occasional encouraging phrases amid his droning monologues and time-killing characters like "The Deaf Frat Guy," the Carolla show has been axed in San Francisco, as The Chronicle's (and Rolling Stone legend) Ben Fong-Torres reports at the bottom of his radio column:

WAKE-UP SHAKE-UPS: Adam Carolla, anointed by CBS Radio to be Howard Stern's replacement in major markets after Stern's move to Sirius satellite, is no longer heard in the Bay Area. He'd been on KIFR (Free FM at 106.9) until CBS ditched the rowdy-talk format last June for lack of ratings, replacing it with the return of KFRC. Because Carolla's contract called for him to have an affiliate in San Francisco, CBS moved him - and other talk shows - to KYCY (1550 AM). That is, until Dec. 31, when the deal expired. Carolla carries on in Los Angeles and a couple of other markets (CBS also dropped Free FM in New York and Philadelphia), but not here. "We just can't afford him," said Stephen Page, program director at KYCY.