'Mojo in the Morning' co-host Sara Fouracre leaves WKQI

Adam Graham / The Detroit News

WKQI-FM's (95.5) "Mojo in the Morning" co-host Sara Fouracre is leaving the hit morning show effective Friday -- a victim, she says, of budget cuts at the Clear Channel-owned station.

"My contract was coming up. My paycheck fit the bill, and boom, they lowered the hammer. That was it," Fouracre told The News Friday.

Fouracre was informed of the move last month, but listeners weren't told of her departure until 10 a.m. Friday, when Mojo announced it on-air. During a teary goodbye, a compilation of Fouracre's clips from her eight years with the show was played over the Jefferson Starship ballad "Sarah." Chad Mitchell, a former "Mojo" producer and on-air talent who now helms the morning show at WDTW-FM (106.7), was present for the good-bye as well.

"It's just heartbreaking, because they're my family," Fouracre said of the "Mojo" team. "These are my brothers, these are my sisters. We've been to weddings and to funerals and to baby christenings together.

"It's just the realities of Michigan and the economy, I guess."

Fouracre says the rest of the Mojo team fought for her to be able to stay on board, but in the end, "the decision was out of all of our hands." She says she's looking for a new job on radio in Detroit, and hopes to be able to announce her next move in early 2008.

A graduate of Michigan State University and Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts, the Ann Arbor-born Fouracre was responsible for the program's popular "Celebrity Dirt" and "War of the Roses" segments. She had been a member of the "Mojo in the Morning" show since its 2000 debut.

A message posted on WKQI's Web site Friday read, "It's with great sadness that we have learned that Sara will no longer be with us. In case you missed our final show of the year, Sara will not be returning, which is heart-breaking news. She has been an original member of our family since our first show in February 2000. Let it be known that this news was not taken lightly and we, as a morning show, did our best to reverse this decision. ... Sara will always be family, and we miss her."

In October, program co-hosts Mojo and Spike signed a multiyear deal with Clear Channel to continue the program. "Mojo" was the No. 1 show for listeners aged 18-34 in Arbitron's summer ratings period.

Prior to their "Mojo" gig, Fouracre and Spike were co-hosts at WXDG-FM's (105.1) morning show.