Georgia radio personality a little too country for country station

MACON - After 15 years on a Macon country radio station, Rick Knight was a little too country for the new owners. <br> <br> Knight was a mainstay at WDEN-FM, where he didn&#39;t mind talking about his three divorces and often took breaks from the music for NASCAR updates, news about mud-boggin&#39; competitions and boasting about his beloved Alabama Crimson Tide. <br> <br> His offbeat style made him a local celebrity, but Knight&#39;s blend of country music and confession didn&#39;t sit well with the station&#39;s new owners, Atlanta-based Cumulus -- the nation&#39;s second-largest radio chain. <br> <br> Knight told The Macon Telegraph today that they ``fired me, canned me, gave me the pink slip, showed me the door, run me off.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The official reason for Knight&#39;s termination: ``On-air style does not fit company&#39;s programming strategies.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Knight says the management told him they were moving to a more music-heavy format, and they didn&#39;t think he would be happy. <br> <br> Station manager Bill Hazen says it was his policy not to discuss personnel matters. <br> <br> On the afternoon shift from 2 to 7 p.m., Knight introduced middle Georgia to Travis Tritt before Tritt was a star and talked bluntly about the pain of three divorces, of his loneliness and depression. <br> <br> The ousted DJ is looking for another radio gig, but admits his approach goes against the current tide of corporation-dominated, homogenized blandness in radio.