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Country Gold is gone

michael hagerty said:
I'm not sure that's a disqualifier. There's also a jazz station (KKJZ) under the roof and he's done standards and oldies. In fact, there's arguably a throughline between Smooth Jazz and R&B oldies---it's the first material smooth jazz folded into the formula when it began to lose altitude in the early 90s.

Music libraries are downloads. No sweat.



I actually can't find fault with it. It would probably do better than anything else.
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Appreciate that. I figured people would think I'm crazy, but I always thought of it as an underrated format. And one I'd probably listen to.

R&B oldies might make a dent in the ratings, and perhaps he's content with that. And at least it's unique. But if he's looking to make it sustainable, he'll need a sales rep or two that's plugged into the local AA business community to sell ads. I don't think there's a lot of sponsor crossover with Go Country, aside from some local car dealerships or whatever. Could also sell Sunday morning time to a few AA-oriented churches and religious organizations, like WDIA.

But again, what a cool format, right?
 
Fighting Irish said:
A marginal AM in LA? Hooboy! That's not an easy one for obvious reasons. Sports would be an option, but it would cost money to do it right (local hosts) and Saul hates it.

Brokered ethnic would probably pay the bills, but would probably be too boring for Saul.

Stay away from classical or jazz. There are non-com FM stations already doing that. And any format featuring music recorded after 1980.

So I guess that leaves oldies. At least nobody else is doing it. Same with classic country.

But what I'd consider doing is R&B oldies. Similar to WDIA or WDAS. But Saul is not equipped to do that at all. Their setup is built around a country station, for cryin' out loud. But I always figured that R&B oldies from the 60s and 70s would play well, especially in a market with a sizeable African-American population and strong business structure. Much of the music was engineered to sound good on AM as well. And there's a little history too - KDAY was on an AM frequency up until the late 80s-early 90s.

So, while that idea is way outside Saul's wheelhouse, that's what I'd consider trying. More interesting than leasing it out to non-hispanic ethnic groups.
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Your idea is even better when you consider that the Hispanic population in L.A., raised on Art LaBoe and his brand of "killer oldies" would also gravitate towards an AM station playing primarily 1960s and 1970s R&B.

The only real downside to this idea that I see is where the 1260 transmitter is located and how well it is received in east Los Angeles, especially at night. While the station is currently licensed to Beverly Hills, the transmitter is located just outside of San Fernando. And, primarily because of the 1280 in Long Beach, that transmitter can't go anywhere!
 
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ted chittenden said:
Your idea is even better when you consider that the Hispanic population in L.A., raised on Art LaBoe and his brand of "killer oldies" would also gravitate towards an AM station playing primarily 1960s and 1970s R&B.
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But the percentage of the LA MSA Hispanic population that was "second generation" in the 60's and 70's is both too old for sales (they are in their 60's and 70's themselves!) and not a huge number considering the total Hispanic population in the market today.

In 1972, the Spanish language stations barely got 3 total shares in the ratings. Today, they can get over 15 shares, and that is due to the huge influx of first generation Hispanics from the 80's onward.
ted chittenden said:
The only real downside to this idea that I see is where the 1260 transmitter is located and how well it is received in east Los Angeles, especially at night. While the station is currently licensed to Beverly Hills, the transmitter is located just outside of San Fernando. And, primarily because of the 1280 in Long Beach, that transmitter can't go anywhere!
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Good observation. The move of second generation Hispanics in the 70's was outward in the San Gabriel Valley and southward towards Santa Ana. 1260 has not a good signal in those areas.
 
Yeah, not that great for whatever the target demo might be:
1754250201672.png

Red is the daytime groundwave 0.5 mV/m contour, blue is the 2 mV/m, and green is the 0.5 mV/m nighttime skywave contour.
 
How active a participant is Saul Levine in the programming decisions made at his stations these days? I believe he's 94 or 95. Is he still a sharp, hands-on station operator or has he turned over the format decisions to his children?
 
His children Michael and Jennifer operate KKGO. KGIL (I still call it that) does whatever he wants.

I do not know what the LMA for KKJZ says (if anything) about his involvement in day-to-day operations.

As far as questioning his mental acuity, I have occasion to correspond with him several times a year and he still sounds "sharp" to me.
 
K.M. Richards said:
His children Michael and Jennifer operate KKGO. KGIL (I still call it that) does whatever he wants.

I do not know what the LMA for KKJZ says (if anything) about his involvement in day-to-day operations.

As far as questioning his mental acuity, I have occasion to correspond with him several times a year and he still sounds "sharp" to me.
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That's great. As my dad lived to a couple of months short of 99 with hardly any loss of mental acuity, I never assume that an older person is incapable of pretty much anything when it comes to non-physical activity.
 
K.M. Richards said:
Yeah, not that great for whatever the target demo might be:
View attachment 9881

Red is the daytime groundwave 0.5 mV/m contour, blue is the 2 mV/m, and green is the 0.5 mV/m nighttime skywave contour.
Click to expand...
And in LA, you really need 10 mV/m or better for noiseless coverage. The European telecommunication organization says 15 mV/m is needed for urban coverage, but that is perhaps overly conservative.
 
CTListener said:
That's great. As my dad lived to a couple of months short of 99 with hardly any loss of mental acuity, I never assume that an older person is incapable of pretty much anything when it comes to non-physical activity.
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Thanks for saying this. My mother died of a sudden stroke at 94. The day prior, she had been in a board meeting for her city hospital system, where she was a 50-year member. Some of us age differently, so (as you say) assumptions based on age are unfair and inaccurate.
 
Fighting Irish said:
Appreciate that. I figured people would think I'm crazy, but I always thought of it as an underrated format. And one I'd probably listen to.

R&B oldies might make a dent in the ratings, and perhaps he's content with that. And at least it's unique. But if he's looking to make it sustainable, he'll need a sales rep or two that's plugged into the local AA business community to sell ads. I don't think there's a lot of sponsor crossover with Go Country, aside from some local car dealerships or whatever. Could also sell Sunday morning time to a few AA-oriented churches and religious organizations, like WDIA.

But again, what a cool format, right?
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And, to their credit, IHT has left WDIA alone here in Memphis to do what it has done since the beginning.
 
And as of this morning, 1260 is back to Classical.

Possibly the format flip was only supposed to be for the HD stream.
 
Is this too short to add to the list of 1260's format changes?

1993-1995 Adult Standards
1995-1996 News
1996-1997 all-Beatles
1997-1998 Broadway show tunes
1998-2000 Adult Standards
2000-2002 Jazz
2002-2004 Adult Standards
2004-2005 Oldies
2006-2007 Country
2007 Classical
2007-2009 Talk
2009-2011 Oldies/Adult Standards
2011-2016 Classical
2016-2017 Adult Standards
2017-2020 Oldies
2020-2024 Classical
2024-2025 Classic Country
2025 Classical
2025 Smooth Jazz
2025 Classical
 
kevtronics said:
Is this too short to add to the list of 1260's format changes?

1993-1995 Adult Standards
1995-1996 News
1996-1997 all-Beatles
1997-1998 Broadway show tunes
1998-2000 Adult Standards
2000-2002 Jazz
2002-2004 Adult Standards
2004-2005 Oldies
2006-2007 Country
2007 Classical
2007-2009 Talk
2009-2011 Oldies/Adult Standards
2011-2016 Classical
2016-2017 Adult Standards
2017-2020 Oldies
2020-2024 Classical
2024-2025 Classic Country
2025 Classical
2025 Smooth Jazz
2025 Classical
Click to expand...

I think it's pretty clear that the changes to 1260 referred to in this thread were a goof-up. So really, the only change this year was from Classic Country back to K-Mozart in April.
 
It was owned by Buckley Communications as KGIL and had a news/talk format built around the old NBC Talknet service.

Saul acquired it in November 1992, for $2.5 million. Buckley was getting out of the business at the time and co-owned AC KMGX/94.3 was sold a couple of years later, becoming a simulcast of the Orange County 94.3 as KYKF.
 
kevtronics said:
Is this too short to add to the list of 1260's format changes?

1993-1995 Adult Standards
1995-1996 News
1996-1997 all-Beatles
1997-1998 Broadway show tunes
1998-2000 Adult Standards
2000-2002 Jazz
2002-2004 Adult Standards
2004-2005 Oldies
2006-2007 Country
2007 Classical
2007-2009 Talk
2009-2011 Oldies/Adult Standards
2011-2016 Classical
2016-2017 Adult Standards
2017-2020 Oldies
2020-2024 Classical
2024-2025 Classic Country
2025 Classical
2025 Smooth Jazz
2025 Classical
Click to expand...

For those who would like a more detailed timeline, including call letter changes, I posted one back in April when 1260 went Classical (again):

 
K.M. Richards said:
It was owned by Buckley Communications as KGIL and had a news/talk format built around the old NBC Talknet service.

Saul acquired it in November 1992, for $2.5 million. Buckley was getting out of the business at the time and co-owned AC KMGX/94.3 was sold a couple of years later, becoming a simulcast of the Orange County 94.3 as KYKF.
Click to expand...
Buckley sure took a long time winding down its radio operations. It didn't sell WDRC Hartford to Connoisseur until 2007!
 


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