KNX onto … 97.1??

[michael hagerty]

Just for fun, I wonder how many former listeners will still have 97.1 on their preset and discover KNX and actually listen? They said they are going for a younger crowd. My boss still has 980 AM on his car preset (along with 640 and 1070 AM) even though he doesn't speak a word of Spanish.

Well, "younger" in this case would be people in their 40s and 50s, I would think. Some of those people might have 97.1 preset, but I don't think Audacy is expecting a significant 18-34 audience for news.

On the other hand, anyone like your boss with the same car and the same presets could have 97.1 set from the "Free FM" or Stern/Leykis days. And they'd probably be in their 40s and 50s.

 

[TomásEstefan]

I think this is in-a-way the second go-round for KNX on 97.1. Within the last several years at various times I believe they were on 97.1 HD-2, 93.1 HD-2, and right now they are still on 101.1 HD-2. It will be interesting to see what they might do with this. Now they've got KFRG Country on 93.1 HD2, and CBS Sports on HD-3. Maybe they can simulcast KCBS(SF) on 97.1 HD-2 to show So Cal listeners how much a better sounding station KCBS is. Although KNX sounds better on FM certainly than a typical narrow band AM radio but KNX-FM sounds like they are using the same audio processing that you hear on KNX AM. This is absolutely unnecessary! Listening on a wide band Hi-Fi AM radio KCBS 740 sounds like a really good FM station, whereas KNX-FM sounds too loud with too much mid-range.

 

[MarcB]

I think WTIC 1080 in Hartford still has an hourly tone. I live in the market and I don't even know anymore. I haven't listened to WTIC in over a year.

 

[michael hagerty]

I think this is in-a-way the second go-round for KNX on 97.1. Within the last several years at various times I believe they were on 97.1 HD-2, 93.1 HD-2, and right now they are still on 101.1 HD-2. It will be interesting to see what they might do with this. Now they've got KFRG Country on 93.1 HD2, and CBS Sports on HD-3. Maybe they can simulcast KCBS(SF) on 97.1 HD-2 to show So Cal listeners how much a better sounding station KCBS is. Although KNX sounds better on FM certainly than a typical narrow band AM radio but KNX-FM sounds like they are using the same audio processing that you hear on KNX AM. This is absolutely unnecessary! Listening on a wide band Hi-Fi AM radio KCBS 740 sounds like a really good FM station, whereas KNX-FM sounds too loud with too much mid-range.

First, HD-2 and HD-3 don’t count. There’s neither a listener nor an advertising base. The number of people who ever listened to KNX on an HD-2 or HD-3 is very small.

Second, it is in no sense in Audacy’s best interest to air an out-of-market news station in L.A., even on an HD-2 or HD-3 and especially to show off an alleged problem with its in-market signal. If 97.1’s audio needs tweaking, they’ll do it.

 

[davideduardo]

I wonder if Audacy will invest in some booster stations down in Southern Orange County to help with the coverage issues of the new KNX FM? They have done that with 97.3 KWFN The Fan in North San Diego County and it has helped immensely with the signal issues. I think KNX-FM would benefit immensely from such boosters, especially in an area like Southern Orange County where their target demographics reside.

A booster can only be used to fill in shadow areas that should, normally, be covered. An example is in the multiple boosters of LA stations around Santa Clarita where there is Mt Wilson shadowing of what would normally be inside the 60 dbu signal.

The 60 dbu of the KNX FM station does not reach southern Orange County.

https://fccdata.org/?lang=en&facid=25075

The only hope would be to get a translator of some kind that might be eligible for that area, but there are restrictions on the location of translators for commercial stations, too.

KWFN qualifies for bosters, as its contour should cover North County, but the terrain blocks it. So they fill in with boosters. Not the same case with KNX's FM.

 

[Marcos_C]

I think WTIC 1080 in Hartford still has an hourly tone. I live in the market and I don't even know anymore. I haven't listened to WTIC in over a year.

WTIC no longer uses the dot-dot-dot-dash hourly tone, which is a shame because it was an iconic part of the station's identity.

 

[buffaloclyde]

Well, "younger" in this case would be people in their 40s and 50s, I would think. Some of those people might have 97.1 preset, but I don't think Audacy is expecting a significant 18-34 audience for news.

On the other hand, anyone like your boss with the same car and the same presets could have 97.1 set from the "Free FM" or Stern/Leykis days. And they'd probably be in their 40s and 50s.

I was barely 21 at the time and remember deleting 97.1 off all my radio presets at 5PM on February 18th 2009 when they flipped. I remember a lot of callers that day saying they were gong to do the same thing, so I'd imagine those listeners have long been disconnected from that station.

There were a number of teens and young adults like myself (at the time) who were avid fans of the FM talk format but they were not the same demographic that would have enjoyed top 40 music. I stopped listening to KIIS when I was in high school and was exclusively glued to talk radio by the time I was 18. It still hurts thinking about the talent we lost that day. LA sorely misses a lifestyle talk station.

 

[TomásEstefan]

First, HD-2 and HD-3 don’t count. There’s neither a listener nor an advertising base. The number of people who ever listened to KNX on an HD-2 or HD-3 is very small.

Second, it is in no sense in Audacy’s best interest to air an out-of-market news station in L.A., even on an HD-2 or HD-3 and especially to show off an alleged problem with its in-market signal. If 97.1’s audio needs tweaking, they’ll do it

I was only kidding about the idea of a KCBS(740) simulcast on KNX-FM HD-2.

If you compare KNX-FM 97.1 audio with KCBS (AM) 740 audio through a wide band HI-FI AM tuner you'll be amazed at how much better KCBS sounds. It's like back in the day when comparing KNX with KFWB here in LA, sister stations with the same format. But with one station having a giant coverage area with loud-overly compressed audio, and the other with only about 30% of the same coverage but with truly hi-fi sounding audio.

 

[radiocph]

KISS-FM has and continues to be the top dog in CHR and top-40 in LA. The KISS brand is so popular that it is copied by what I would guess to be around a hundred or so stations across the US and Canada (I was surprised to hear a KISS-FM station the last time I traveled up to Canada).

How about a "KISS-FM" in the Philippines?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DWKI

 

[Ryan Williams]

I think WTIC 1080 in Hartford still has an hourly tone. I live in the market and I don't even know anymore. I haven't listened to WTIC in over a year.

Out of curiosity, why is that?

 

[asugeorge1]

I was barely 21 at the time and remember deleting 97.1 off all my radio presets at 5PM on February 18th 2009 when they flipped. I remember a lot of callers that day saying they were gong to do the same thing, so I'd imagine those listeners have long been disconnected from that station.

There were a number of teens and young adults like myself (at the time) who were avid fans of the FM talk format but they were not the same demographic that would have enjoyed top 40 music. I stopped listening to KIIS when I was in high school and was exclusively glued to talk radio by the time I was 18. It still hurts thinking about the talent we lost that day. LA sorely misses a lifestyle talk station.

As someone who was in college during the hey-day of Free FM and the hot talk format on FM, I second your emotion. I listened to Free FM in Phoenix on KZON 101.5 FM, but that experiment was even shorter than LA as CBS blew up Free FM in Phoenix in 2007 after only two years. At least you guys got to enjoy it until 2009! Now, a lot of us college age kids from the Free FM days are in our mid 30’s - mid 40’s and we still are looking for a hot talk station. KFI is the closest thing to that in LA and that talk is geared more toward people in their late 40’s to 50’s. Sports talk radio is probably the closest thing to hot talk these days, but LA doesn’t have a sports talk station on FM unlike San Diego ( 97.3 The Fan KWFN-FM), San Francisco (KNBR 104.5 FM) and Phoenix (Arizona Sports 98.7 KMVP-FM).

I think the hot talk format was successful for our age group back in the mid 2000’s, but since we were college kids, we weren’t in the advertisers “money demographics” so the format was dropped very quickly. Now, the hot talk format has moved exclusively to podcasts and satellite. I would love to see someone try it again on terrestrial radio, but I doubt that will happen. The most likely thing to happen in LA would be an all-sports station on FM.

 

[TomásEstefan]

As someone who was in college during the hey-day of Free FM and the hot talk format on FM, I second your emotion. I listened to Free FM in Phoenix on KZON 101.5 FM, but that experiment was even shorter than LA as CBS blew up Free FM in Phoenix in 2007 after only two years. At least you guys got to enjoy it until 2009! Now, a lot of us college age kids from the Free FM days are in our mid 30’s - mid 40’s and we still are looking for a hot talk station. KFI is the closest thing to that in LA and that talk is geared more toward people in their late 40’s to 50’s. Sports talk radio is probably the closest thing to hot talk these days, but LA doesn’t have a sports talk station on FM unlike San Diego ( 97.3 The Fan KWFN-FM) and Phoenix (Arizona Sports 98.7 KMVP-FM).

I think the hot talk format was successful for our age group back in the mid 2000’s, but since we were college kids, we weren’t in the advertisers “money demographics” so the format was dropped very quickly. Now, the hot talk format has moved exclusively to podcasts and satellite. I would love to see someone try it again on terrestrial radio, but I doubt that will happen.

Were you able to listen to KLSD 1360 when they tried to be a "left wing" (progressive) type talk station?

 

[asugeorge1]

Were you able to listen to KLSD 1360 when they tried to be a "left wing" type talk station?

No, I wasn’t in the market when that happened. Plus, liberal, like conservative talk, does not interest me. Phoenix tried a liberal talk station too on 1480 KPHX AM and it was just about as short lived as the San Diego experiment. I think that was when Clear Channel tried to increase KLSD to 50,000 watts, but backed out at the last minute from doing that. Now what we get is an unlistenable Fox Sports KLSD up here in the North County of San Diego. Daytime reception is very weak here in Carlsbad / Oceanside and nighttime reception is non-existent.

 

[buffaloclyde]

As someone who was in college during the hey-day of Free FM and the hot talk format on FM, I second your emotion. I listened to Free FM in Phoenix on KZON 101.5 FM, but that experiment was even shorter than LA as CBS blew up Free FM in Phoenix in 2007 after only two years. At least you guys got to enjoy it until 2009! Now, a lot of us college age kids from the Free FM days are in our mid 30’s - mid 40’s and we still are looking for a hot talk station. KFI is the closest thing to that in LA and that talk is geared more toward people in their late 40’s to 50’s. Sports talk radio is probably the closest thing to hot talk these days, but LA doesn’t have a sports talk station on FM unlike San Diego ( 97.3 The Fan KWFN-FM), San Francisco (KNBR 104.5 FM) and Phoenix (Arizona Sports 98.7 KMVP-FM).

I think the hot talk format was successful for our age group back in the mid 2000’s, but since we were college kids, we weren’t in the advertisers “money demographics” so the format was dropped very quickly. Now, the hot talk format has moved exclusively to podcasts and satellite. I would love to see someone try it again on terrestrial radio, but I doubt that will happen. The most likely thing to happen in LA would be an all-sports station on FM.

The writing had been on the wall for at least a year. During the recession, all the FM talk stations under CBS radio began to fold one by one. KLSX was the last station standing and it was because Bob Moore and Jack Silver fought tooth and nail to keep it alive for as long as possible. Tom Leykis made a hint in 2008 that this was a possibility. I was glad everyone had a chance to say goodbye on their final show. Too many stations flip without giving their talent a chance at a farewell, let alone giving the forum to their listeners to call in all day long.

The lifestyle talk concept was also a product of its time. Even after Stern left terrestrial radio, the late 2000s was still an era that allowed much more freedom from consequences than today. Going back and listening to those shows now, a lot of the topics and vocabulary that were discussed back then even by mild personalities like Frosty, Heidi, and Frank, and Conway and Whitman would not fly on the radio today. I think that's what made it so appealing to the target demo of men ages 18-45. Ultimately, the recession was what did the format in, so while these stations may have been making some level of profit, employing large market personalities was not sustainable.

Thankfully, archive.org has as huge repository of shows from that era so it's a nice little way to travel back in time and reminisce those days again.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Why wouldn't iHeart do that? Why not run two CHR stations, to effectively corner a mass-appeal format? That way, you grab the people who don't like KIIS for whatever reason. One of my relatives will never forgive them for replacing Rick Dees with Ryan Seacrest.

This is an early April Fool’s joke?

 

[Marcos_C]

Out of curiosity, why is that?

I suspect that it happened when Entercom changed its name to Audacy. WTIC's current legal ID is as follows:

"WTIC, WTIC-HD1, and WTIC-FM-HD2 Hartford, an Audacy station."

When the announcer says "an Audacy station," the Audacy tune is played in the background. So, where WTIC's dot-dot-dot-dash hourly tone used to be, you can now hear the Audacy tune. Needless to say, Audacy is emphasizing its national brand.

 

[ZantennaG1]

I think this is in-a-way the second go-round for KNX on 97.1. Within the last several years at various times I believe they were on 97.1 HD-2, 93.1 HD-2, and right now they are still on 101.1 HD-2. It will be interesting to see what they might do with this. Now they've got KFRG Country on 93.1 HD2, and CBS Sports on HD-3. Maybe they can simulcast KCBS(SF) on 97.1 HD-2 to show So Cal listeners how much a better sounding station KCBS is. Although KNX sounds better on FM certainly than a typical narrow band AM radio but KNX-FM sounds like they are using the same audio processing that you hear on KNX AM. This is absolutely unnecessary! Listening on a wide band Hi-Fi AM radio KCBS 740 sounds like a really good FM station, whereas KNX-FM sounds too loud with too much mid-range.

Ugh, what is even the point of going on FM if they are going to process and modulate the everything out of that signal. Also, when an FM translator relies on an "internet" feed of the AM station and the voices glitch out every once in a while. When the station does it right, you have KCBS and it's FM repeater and it sounds really good, or KSL AM/FM, or KFBC and K248CZ. But when they don't put in the full 110%, you get KGAB's translator in K258DN.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Ugh, what is even the point of going on FM if they are going to process and modulate the everything out of that signal. Also, when an FM translator relies on an "internet" feed of the AM station and the voices glitch out every once in a while. When the station does it right, you have KCBS and it's FM repeater and it sounds really good, or KSL AM/FM, or KFBC and K248CZ. But when they don't put in the full 110%, you get KGAB's translator in K258DN.

Sometimes internet is the only option some stations.. translators or full powers have.. to get their audio to the transmitter site.

K285DN is on the same tower as KIGN 101.9 SE of Cheyenne, down the road from the Pepsi plant on Campstool Road. It would probably be too expensive to get new STL microwave gear and mounted for 99.5 despite 101.9 being already there

 

[davideduardo]

Were you able to listen to KLSD 1360 when they tried to be a "left wing" (progressive) type talk station?

They were one of quite a few AM stations that Clear Channel affiliated with Air America, ranging from 50 kw WINZ in Miami, KGW in Portland to some limited signals like KLSD.

 

[Ryan Williams]

I suspect that it happened when Entercom changed its name to Audacy. WTIC's current legal ID is as follows:

"WTIC, WTIC-HD1, and WTIC-FM-HD2 Hartford, an Audacy station."

When the announcer says "an Audacy station," the Audacy tune is played in the background. So, where WTIC's dot-dot-dot-dash hourly tone used to be, you can now hear the Audacy tune. Needless to say, Audacy is emphasizing its national brand.

My question was actually why you haven't listened to WTIC in "over a year"? Did you previously listen frequently?