Lockwood Goes To Kzok

Gary Lockwood, longtime Seattle disc jockey who was fired by KJR Sept. 24, will return to the airwaves Thursday morning - at KZOK-FM, a station spokeswoman has confirmed.

Lockwood was let go after more than 15 years at KJR when the station decided to change its format to sports talk. The dismissal came as a surprise: He was told after his morning shift to clean out his locker and turn in his key.

For the past decade, Lockwood had been one of Seattle's highest paid disc jokeys. His salary at KJR for a contract beginning in 1984 reportedly paid Lockwood $1.5 million over six years. At the time of his firing, his newest contract with the station still had four years to run.

KZOK is a classic-rock station, a format that seems tailor-made for Lockwood, who was spinning many of those platters when they were new. He came to in 1974 and was KING-AM, then a top-40 station, for two years before going to rival KJR.