Radio in the Keys just got a lot less local.

Clear Channel Communications, which owns five radio stations in the county, let go of four of its on-air personalities last week week and will fill their time slots with programming from other markets.

Clear Channel stations broadcast from two locations in the Keys, Key West and Tavernier. The company, the largest radio station operator in the country, employs about 25 people in Monroe County.

The layoffs are part of an overall strategy Clear Channel announced recently for its regional markets, like the Keys.

The new direction will be to air a mix of local programming and programming broadcast locally, but piped in from other areas of the country, said Sherri Sanchez, Clear Channel regional marketing manager for the Keys, Sarasota, Punta Gorda and Melbourne.

Sanchez would not say who got the ax, but a source familiar with the company said D.J. Dave Levy, K.C. Stuart, Rudy and Bill Bravo were let go last week.

Levy, 43, confirmed he was among those laid off from WFKX 103.1 FM and said he was caught off guard. "I didn't see it coming. They slashed jobs all over the country, and my name and number were up," he said. Levy had worked for Clear Channel for about 15 years. He most recently worked the mid-day shift from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Although there are more than 20 radio stations broadcasting in the Keys, Clear Channel's five stations have the largest reach.

The Hobee in the Afternoo" show, which broadcasts Keyswide from Key West weekdays from 2 to 7 p.m., will be one of the few remaining local programs left. The show airs on WFKZ 103.1-FM in the Upper Keys and WAIL 99.5-FM in the Lower Keys.

The Paul & Young Ron Show, a longtime South Florida morning program that began airing in the Keys in 2009, will also continue to be broadcast on 103.1 and 99.5.

Stuart, who also confirmed he was laid off, started working the morning shift 22 years ago at 103.1. Clear Channel bought its Keys stations in the late 1990s. Stuart, who moved from 103.1 to 96.9 in 2009 after "Paul & Young Ron" expanded to the Keys, and to WCTH Thunder Country 100.3 this year after 96.9 was sold, said he wasn't surprised Clear Channel decided to get rid of its local talent.

"Like a lot of big companies, Clear Channel has a lot of debt that needs to be retired, but the wrong people end up taking it on the chin. It's unfortunate," Stuart said.

Clear Channel, based in San Antonio, Texas, is trying to work off about $20 billion in debt. The company has about 850 stations nationwide and 12,000 employees. The company would not say how many local workers would be affected by the layoffs, but Sanchez took exception to characterizing the company's move as getting rid of local programming.

"I think we're getting caught up in the semantics of local programming," said Sanchez, equating the move to local television stations that broadcast mainly national and syndicated programs.

She maintains Clear Channel stations will continue to seek local advertisers.

"Local advertising is our meat and potatoes. Eighty percent of our business is always local," Sanchez said. Sanchez described the layoffs as a "reduction in forces to change out some people with others who we feel would do a better job" to "put the best product on air for our listeners."

"As technology has progressed, there have been efficiencies. If you want to stay in business, you use these efficiencies," Sanchez said. "We weren't able to do this 15 years ago."

Levy said he is the victim of the economy, not because his show wasn't popular among listeners. "This wasn't about performance," he said.

Levy's not sure what he'll do next, but he hopes to be able to stay in the Keys.

For more Keys news, go to KeysNet.com