Normally, when KSL NewsRadio hires a new employee there's no fuss.

But when the state's largest radio station — and perhaps the most influential for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — hires a replacement for popular talk-show host Sean Hannity, people want to know about the new guy.

It's 41-year-old Jay Mcfarland, a Utah native who has been working the past five years at a talk-radio station in Dallas.

Mcfarland was lured away from his weekday morning program at News Radio 1080 KRLD, to host "The Browser."

The new show, Mcfarland said, is a way to bring the news from the Internet to the radio. Mcfarland will talk with co-host and producer Amy Iverson about the most buzzed-about topics of the day, local and national.

If listeners want to comment, they will need to send a text message or Twitter.

"But it's the same consistent theme," Mcfarland said, emphasizing the need for the community to participate in the discussion.

Another thing that separates "The Browser" from its predecessor: civility.

"There will be no yelling or bashing," said Mcfarland, who lived in Holladay until he was 10, when his family moved to San Jose. He served an LDS mission in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and has been married for 19 years. He and his wife have four children.

He began hosting the 1-to-3 p.m. weekday time slot on KSL on Monday, Oct. 4, just three days after the station severed ties with the controversial, but popular, Hannity. Hannity can now be heard at 1 p.m. weekdays at rival station KNRS 105.7 FM.

"It's an abrupt change for Hannity fans," admitted Mcfarland in an interview with The Tribune.

The station let its contract with Hannity expire after a decade because management wanted to "control content" in Salt Lake City, said KSL NewsRadio program director Kevin LaRue. (Nationally syndicated programs, like Hannity's, dictate subject matter.)

Mcfarland said he grew up listening to KSL, and when he was old enough, he was a frequent caller to the talk shows, unafraid to offer his opinions.

Before his radio career, Mcfarland had numerous jobs, from selling hot dogs at an amusement park in central California when he was 15 to managing a Kinko's in Hawaii.

Mcfarland was turned on to talk radio while working in California with his brother, a roofer. His sibling, it seems, really liked this new conservative host named Rush Limbaugh.

"Rush got me concerned about what was going on," Mcfarland said. "It awakened me to civic duty."

Mcfarland admits he no longer listens to Limbaugh because "Rush is too much of an apologist for the Republican Party."

Mcfarland — who called Hannity "real and genuine" — considers himself a fiscal conservative but a libertarian in most aspects in life.

"I love going after Republicans as much as Democrats," he said.

Politics will not be the only thing Mcfarland will talk about on "The Browser." One day the topic might be Brigham Young University football, another day it might be Mitt Romney as a viable candidate for the White House in 2012.

"I haven't been given a formula," Mcfarland said. "This is a show that has no limits on what we can talk about."

LaRue said the show, which he labeled an "experiment," will be given time to develop an audience.

"We're driven to accomplish goals other than revenue," he said.

After a week on the air, LaRue approves of Mcfarland's job performance.

"He's not a typical red-meat conservative," LaRue said. "He has brought much to the table."

dburger@sltrib.com