Let's calculate the carnage.

Jeff and Jer? Off the air. Dave, Shelly and Chainsaw? Down for the count. And most of their sidekicks are out of jobs too.

These ultra-popular morning hosts ---- at Star 94.1 and KGB, respectively ---- used to rule the radio roost in the a.m. Both teams had been around for decades, meaning that kids who grew up with them are now having children of their own.

Readers have asked me two main questions about why the teams got bounced off the air: When will they be back on the radio? And what are these folks doing now?

I'll get to the second question in a future column. But let me tackle the first one today and examine what it would take for J&J and DS&C to find their way back into your ears each morning.

Here are some options:

Persuade another station in town to hire them

This isn't entirely out of the question. Consider that Mikey Esparza, the longtime morning host at Rock 105.3, turned up his nose at a contract offer and went across town to FM 94/9.

So at least one popular (and expensive) morning host managed to get a job at another station. That's good, right?

In a word: Meh. There are a couple of problems with this scenario. For one thing, Clear Channel still controls several stations in town, and it's clearly on a cost-cutting binge. Its stations have dumped the "Jeff & Jer" and "Dave, Shelly & Chainsaw" and "Mikey" shows. So there's little chance that it is in a hiring mood again.

Rock station Sophie@103.7 is a possibility, but it just signed its morning host Jennifer White to a longer contract.

Another company that runs a number of Mexico-based stations that broadcast in English ---- including Magic 92.5, 91X and 105.7 The Walrus ---- seems to like running things on a tight budget. It doesn't have any "morning zoo"-type morning shows, the ones that do best in the ratings but are the most expensive.

There are other radio stations in town, but they tend to be on the smaller side (KPRi) or on the AM dial, which is devoted these days to political talk and sports.

Go online

Jeff and Jer have tried this, broadcasting at least a couple of online shows out of a garage. Online radio does have some benefits: It's cheap, it's easy (you can go online with little more than a computer and a microphone) and you can keep in touch with your fans.

The problem is pay. There are a lot of online radio stations, but not a huge number of online radio listeners. Few listeners equals few advertisers equals very small paychecks.

Keep in mind that top-rated San Diego morning hosts are used to making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. In some cases, they raked in more than $1 million annually.

Buy a station and put their own show on the air

You could call this the "I liked the razors so much I bought the company" strategy.

Well, sort of. It's more like a "I like myself so much I bought a station so I can get back on the air" strategy. There have been some rumors floating around about local radio types getting together and buying a station. But two things would have to happen for this to

come to pass. First, a station would have to be up for sale. The value of radio stations has slumped during the Great Recession, and owners may want to hang on to them until the prices go up.

Second, a station would have to be affordable. A San Diego station with a strong signal might still cost tens of millions of dollars, even during these tough economic times.

And even if these out-of-work hosts did buy a station, they'd have to hire disc jockeys, engineers, advertising representatives, janitors and so on. That would cost a lot of money, plus they'd presumably have to borrow money to buy a station.

So they ---- and listeners ---- may be out of luck.

So why did these cutbacks happen in the first place, along with many others that have hit virtually every radio station in town? (KSON, 91X and KOGO are among the other stations that have had layoffs recently.) The numbers tell the story. According to the Radio Advertising Bureau, local radio advertising revenue ---- nationwide ---- fell by 20 percent in 2009. Radio advertising revenue was down overall by 18 percent, and 2008 was 9 percent below 2007.

While it would be a deep personal sacrifice, Randy Dotinga is willing to accept $1 million a year to host a morning show. As a public service, of course. E-mail him your offer at NCTimesRadio@aol.com.