This is my first posting so I am hoping to get a fun conversation started. Is there some L.A. area radio station that you think might have been under appreciated, maybe with a weaker signal or something, or for whatever reason was well programmed but just didn't get the attention or ratings it deserved? I'm going to nominate KDAY/1580, circa 1968. It was a contemporary hit format with the slogan "The Fun One". Always one to root for the underdog, I listened to it more than KHJ or KRLA, although it was a little tough to get the signal at night. It lived up to its imaging with afternoons featuring "Tom Maule With Double the Hits, Double the Fun!" Nice memories. Weigh in fellow posters!
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Under Appreciated LA Radio Stations
- Thread starter lvradioguy
- Start date
Nominating the late KZAB-KZBA at 93.5. I wonder what the station would've been like today if SBS still ran it.
KMPC-FM/KEDG 101.9 FM 1988-89.
Way too short-lived for such a great station. A total mix of classic rock, new wave, alternative and an occasional oldie for spice. Raechel Donaghue in the mornings, JJ Jackson in the afternoon (and PD) and Jim Ladd in the evenings, all with a really upbeat presentation (Well, Jim Ladd is Jim Ladd, I am not so sure upbeat always describes his show, but the overall station, yes).
I was a senior in high school and discovered it weeks after it came on the air. I took some level of smug joy knowing that I was listening to the coolest station in town that none of my classmates even knew about. Of course, the station died way too soon thereafter and except for people like me posting on radio boards, nobody else knows about it either.
Another one that fits the category is KQLZ, Pirate Radio 100.3, the brainchild of Scott Shannon. That station didn't last too long either, around 1988-1993 or so and they changed formats in the middle. It started out riding the hair band/heavey metal wave that was cresting right around 1988-89 and was a riot to listen to for those years. The station embraced the fun, party (bordering on hedonistic), atmosphere of the clubs on the Sunset strip and SoCal in general that was prevalent then. They were forced to alter course and get on the grunge bandwagon in the early 90s, and when they did, they let most of the original DJs go, Scott was no longer involved, and (let's face it) the grunge music wasn't nearly as good, so it was not nearly as much fun. There were aready other established stations playing grunge and KQLZ lost out in the head-to-head competition. But the first few years were hilariously fun.
Way too short-lived for such a great station. A total mix of classic rock, new wave, alternative and an occasional oldie for spice. Raechel Donaghue in the mornings, JJ Jackson in the afternoon (and PD) and Jim Ladd in the evenings, all with a really upbeat presentation (Well, Jim Ladd is Jim Ladd, I am not so sure upbeat always describes his show, but the overall station, yes).
I was a senior in high school and discovered it weeks after it came on the air. I took some level of smug joy knowing that I was listening to the coolest station in town that none of my classmates even knew about. Of course, the station died way too soon thereafter and except for people like me posting on radio boards, nobody else knows about it either.
Another one that fits the category is KQLZ, Pirate Radio 100.3, the brainchild of Scott Shannon. That station didn't last too long either, around 1988-1993 or so and they changed formats in the middle. It started out riding the hair band/heavey metal wave that was cresting right around 1988-89 and was a riot to listen to for those years. The station embraced the fun, party (bordering on hedonistic), atmosphere of the clubs on the Sunset strip and SoCal in general that was prevalent then. They were forced to alter course and get on the grunge bandwagon in the early 90s, and when they did, they let most of the original DJs go, Scott was no longer involved, and (let's face it) the grunge music wasn't nearly as good, so it was not nearly as much fun. There were aready other established stations playing grunge and KQLZ lost out in the head-to-head competition. But the first few years were hilariously fun.
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Literally anything on 103.1 - possibly that way now as well
What was on 93.5 before KDAY? I remember when the format arrived in 2003-04. But, had no idea the signal existed before then. Even looking up the 93.5 signal in L.A., I can’t find any history on it
Another one…Fabulous 570. As much as I’m all in on sports, if I were ever PD, I’d selfishly revert KLAC back to their old format 🤣
Salsa, Cumbia, Merengue, Bachata and Vallenato. I wonder had the station been around today if it'd be Mega/Zol.
Full Spectrum Rock was awesome while it lasted.
The problem was that it appealed totally to Central Americans, and the Hispanic ad agencies in the Southwest are predominantly and sometimes exclusively Mexican focused. And, we have to admit, that there is considerable prejudice among Mexicans against those from Central America.
And that format was mostly Caribbean focused, a community that practically did not exist in LA at the time.
Why would a station launch in LA playing that music? Was it run by Anglo outsiders with no knowledge of the city's demographics?
It was run by SBS, a Cuban-owned/run company at the time, who had tons of knowledge of the city's demographics as they owned KLAX at the time and still do, however, they (from what I've heard) tried to clone WDOY "Y96" in PR, WSKQ "Mega 97.9" in NY and WXDJ "Zol 95" in Miami.
From Ickipedia:
The station at 93.5 FM, licensed to Redondo Beach, California, signed on in 1961 as KAPP-FM and was owned by South Bay Broadcasting Company. The license was granted after the applications for KPOL-FM and KNX-FM were denied. Chuck Johnson and Lonnie Cook came to KAPP-FM from KTYM-FM (103.9 FM) in Inglewood. The frequency was shared as the signal's programming came from Redondo Beach in the daytime, and the pop, blues, doo wop, and jazz format being aired by Johnson and Cook (from Johnson's home) at night. It has been determined that their FM top 40 chart is the oldest one known to exist.
The station changed its callsign to KKOP with its sale to Southern California Associated Newspapers in 1965 and began playing mellow pop music. The transmitter moved to Torrance in the 1970s. In 1978, KKOP became KFOX-FM upon its sale to the former operators of KFOX at 1280 AM. Like its predecessor, KFOX-FM played country music. The format in the early 1980s was an adult contemporary hit music station. In 1981–1982, KFOX-FM employed Los Angeles' youngest disc jockey at the time, a 16-year-old student from Torrance High School, Brett Nordhoff, who later changed his on-air name to Kidd Kelly.[46]
By 1983, KFOX-FM had evolved into a multi-ethnic, multilingual format such as Radio Rangarang (Persian), Radio Omid (Persian), and Radio Naeeri (Armenian). In the mid-1990s, this became "Radio Korea USA" with an all-Korean format. This continued until 1999, when the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel (ICFG) moved the KFSG call letters and Christian radio format to 93.5 FM. This switch was a condition of selling KXOL-FM (96.3 FM), acquired by Spanish Broadcasting System specifically for the purpose of relocating KFSG.[47] In 2002, the lease arrangement with the ICFG ended and SBS switched KFSG to a Spanish-language outlet, first as KMJR ("La Mejor") and later KZAB as La Sabrosa.
Good analysis. In its early years, KSKQ (AM) and later the KSKQ-FM did very Miami and New York type formats with lots of music that Mexican and Central American listeners would not like. This was due to the direct supervision of Raúl Alarcón Senior, who never let go of his very Cuban perspective to programming.
I can't emphasize enough that Afro-Caribbean music has so little appeal in Los Angeles that when I did big park events where the police required a strict sunset close I'd get a salsa band to play last in our event. By the second song, the park would be empty. The band did not mind as they just wanted to play somewhere.
One station I enjoyed in the late 70s to mid 80s was KWOW Pomona. They were oldies with a few current hits thrown in. A lot of obscure tunes like "Playgirl" by Thee Prophets or "You Gotta Be Loved" by the Montanas were played. The station was voicetracked during the day and jockless at night. KIQQ's Bruce Chandler used to voicetrack using the name Jeff Robbins.
I enjoyed KWOW in the mid-late 1970s. I recall great jingles and 4 currents an hour coming out of stop sets (commercial breaks) that I think were generally 2 units. When I ran tape on KWOW, they had live jocks but my listening was prior to mid-78
Same time period: KROQ AM & FM with Shadoe Stevens, Jimmy Rabbitt and other legendary voices. Loved the bit of stopping a song in the middle and saying he's sorry to interrupt but they gotta pay the bills. It was usually a Federated Ad, then he'd say, okay, where were we. About here I believe as the turntable wows as it gets up to speeds at the very place it had been stopped. KROQ News was entertaining as well with the odd stories mostly. Jimmy Rabbitt end on with weather: the moon looks like a big dip of orange ice cream and Suzi Quatro is gonna get laid tonight. I was shocked. It was freeform sounding but I noticed about 75% was the the same stuff played on the pair of AORs we had in Dallas/Fort Worth, so I think they has a hot clock.
Sure they were automated, but I liked the 'lite album tracks' format of KORJ "Orange 9?" Spots played 3 times an hour but they broke the music for a liner every 10 minutes, so I think they scheduled ads at :10, :20. :40 & :50 if they had enough (mid-late 1970s). Last listen was not pleasing to me. It was 'lite album tracks' mixed with top 40 hits (Bee Gees Night Fever and such) giving it a more jarring feel. It wasn't that the album tracks were soft but they weren't current top 40 hits. At that time in Dallas, I noticed album rock radio would play a track from an album a great deal and about a month into doing that, the single was release and the song vanished from the album rocker. KORJ was like that with their currents reel containing some songs that would get released as a single in a month or two.
There was an FM I picked up in Orange County during my visits (suggested by my friend I was staying with). I think it became The Fish some time later. Maybe they were in Santa Ana. They were a no personality Top 40. Good sounding air talent would back announce 2 songs and since we mostly tuned in at night, it was rare to hear a commercial, certainly no news and I can't recall hearing weather but then again it's usually nice weather. I don't think I heard an oldie or recurrent but I was pretty clueless back at that time before getting into radio. This was mid to late 1970s.
Same time period: KROQ AM & FM with Shadoe Stevens, Jimmy Rabbitt and other legendary voices. Loved the bit of stopping a song in the middle and saying he's sorry to interrupt but they gotta pay the bills. It was usually a Federated Ad, then he'd say, okay, where were we. About here I believe as the turntable wows as it gets up to speeds at the very place it had been stopped. KROQ News was entertaining as well with the odd stories mostly. Jimmy Rabbitt end on with weather: the moon looks like a big dip of orange ice cream and Suzi Quatro is gonna get laid tonight. I was shocked. It was freeform sounding but I noticed about 75% was the the same stuff played on the pair of AORs we had in Dallas/Fort Worth, so I think they has a hot clock.
Sure they were automated, but I liked the 'lite album tracks' format of KORJ "Orange 9?" Spots played 3 times an hour but they broke the music for a liner every 10 minutes, so I think they scheduled ads at :10, :20. :40 & :50 if they had enough (mid-late 1970s). Last listen was not pleasing to me. It was 'lite album tracks' mixed with top 40 hits (Bee Gees Night Fever and such) giving it a more jarring feel. It wasn't that the album tracks were soft but they weren't current top 40 hits. At that time in Dallas, I noticed album rock radio would play a track from an album a great deal and about a month into doing that, the single was release and the song vanished from the album rocker. KORJ was like that with their currents reel containing some songs that would get released as a single in a month or two.
There was an FM I picked up in Orange County during my visits (suggested by my friend I was staying with). I think it became The Fish some time later. Maybe they were in Santa Ana. They were a no personality Top 40. Good sounding air talent would back announce 2 songs and since we mostly tuned in at night, it was rare to hear a commercial, certainly no news and I can't recall hearing weather but then again it's usually nice weather. I don't think I heard an oldie or recurrent but I was pretty clueless back at that time before getting into radio. This was mid to late 1970s.
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has there ever been a radio station to flip from a religious format to something else? That seems like a first
Sure. Big example is Family Station's WFME in Newark sold to Cumulus in 2012 with a closing in 2013.
Indie 103.1 was my favorite.
Began as a classic alternative and became something that channeled the energy and edge of KROQ in its early days. New indie, local music, David Lynch doing weather, Timothy Olyphant with sports, Jonesy's Jukebox, an array of specialty shows from techno to roots, reggae and metal. It was never going to last forever, but what a station it was. Innovative and chaotic in the best ways.
Honorable mention to KACE's R&B oldies era, KMPC/KEDG, and the other KNAC (Rock & Rhythm era.)
Began as a classic alternative and became something that channeled the energy and edge of KROQ in its early days. New indie, local music, David Lynch doing weather, Timothy Olyphant with sports, Jonesy's Jukebox, an array of specialty shows from techno to roots, reggae and metal. It was never going to last forever, but what a station it was. Innovative and chaotic in the best ways.
Honorable mention to KACE's R&B oldies era, KMPC/KEDG, and the other KNAC (Rock & Rhythm era.)
Ah. I forgot that one. Thank you!
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