Lori Barghini and Julia Cobbs surprised listeners and friends Tuesday afternoon when they announced on-air that they were ending their long-running “Lori and Julia” radio show on myTalk 107.1.

The pair said they’ll be on the air until the end of June and are planning numerous events to celebrate their partnership and show. They made the decision due to Barghini’s desire for more free time as well as the rigors of producing the show for more than 20 years.

“This girl needs more time to fart around and they’re not willing to give it to me,” Barghini said with a laugh. She said the duo had been thinking about ending the show for some time now and that they kept their decision a secret until they announced it on Tuesday’s show. They said they were lucky to leave on their own terms rather than be abruptly shown the door, which is common in the radio business.

St. Paul native Cobbs and Barghini, a self-described Army brat who spent time living in Duluth in her youth, first met in the early ’90s, when they were both working for Carlson Cos. Barghini worked in negotiated preferred supplier agreements when Cobbs took a job as a marketing manager.

“I remember Julia poked her head around the corner when she was just starting — her cube was going to be next to me — and she said, ‘Hi, I’m Julia!’ And I thought, ‘Look at how cute that girl is. She’s going to be my friend,’ ” Barghini said in a 2004 Pioneer Press interview.

In 1999, the pair invented Bodyperks, a silicone nipple meant to enhance the appearance of women’s breasts. To promote the product, they did hundreds of television and radio interviews and realized they had a future in radio after a producer for the cable channel Oxygen suggested they should co-host their own talk show.

Three years later, Barghini and Cobbs were among the first hosts hired when Hubbard Broadcasting launched myTalk, a talk radio station devoted to women.

Each weekday from 3 to 6 p.m., the pair discuss such topics as celebrity news and gossip, fashion, books, movies and current events, all while speaking freely about their friendship that’s lasted several decades.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Lori and Julia aren’t too proud to beg on SAG red carpet

“I love you, my sister,” Cobbs said Tuesday while choking back tears.

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