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540 goes country

A

Archervox

Guest
Gary Lycan, OC Register:

Radio station KKGO – 540 and 1260 AM – announced today it will replace the adult standards format on 540 AM with mainstream country music starting Oct. 28.

Saul Levine, president of Mt. Wilson Broadcasters and owner of KKGO and sister classical station KMZT/105.1 FM, said, "Los Angeles and Orange County listeners were pretty upset with the loss of country music on KZLA." That station – 93.9 FM – switched to a new format called rhythm pop contemporary and added Rick Dees to morning drive a few weeks ago.
 
LA/Orange County Won't listen to a country station on AM radio Saul! As usual too little too late. It seems that one demo after another gets screwed out of the music they want to hear by this guy Saul. I sure wouldn't want this mans reputation. Now where is Ivan to go to find his Adult Standards music while in the LA/Orange County area? And what is Saul going to change to when a full powered FM station flips to country? And I'm not saying one will make the switch either! But in this screwed up market who knows! I see there is three country signals owned by CBS Radio in the inland empire area, what a waste of radio signals! So much for the public interest!
 
It sounds like 1260 AM is sticking with the standards (for now). So where will the new station be based? 540 is after all a San Diego market station (with the stick in TJ), which will give that market three country stations. Can AM 540 even be heard anywhere is L.A? I know is comes in rather strong in the OC along the coast. I can barely pick it up in Riverside, day or night.
 
I recall when Saul changed the format of 1510 AM San Rafael-San Francisco from Classical to Country back in 2002, When Young Country KYCY-93.3 dropped Country. 1510 remained Country until Bonneville switched their station (95.7) to Country. So I expect 540 will remain Country only until a FM Station switches to Country.
 
----> 540 is after all a San Diego market station (with the stick in TJ),

Oh, boy.

--->which will give that market three country stations. Can AM 540 even be heard anywhere is L.A? I know is comes in rather strong in the OC along the coast. I can barely pick it up in Riverside, day or night.

Comes in OK in Malibu daytimes, not at night.
 
Well, as long as he didn't flip 1260/105.1-HD2 I would be happy. 540, I could give a rats BLEEP about.

Yeah, it's the 30th format for this station, but like I said, who cares?
 
sdwulfdawg said:
Yeah, it's the 30th format for this station, but like I said, who cares?
Click to expand...

There has to be a psychological description for his constant format shifting/changing.

Radio format disphoria?
Click to expand...

Again, I have to give Saul credit for trying to keep a modicum of format diversity amid the increasingly homogenized sound of L.A. radio. Only time will tell if Country fans will listen to their favorite music on AM (hey, in the Midwest they do it all the time). What will help is keeping IBOC off, giving the signal its full 10 Khz bandwidth (or near to it), AM stereo or just engineering the best audio possible. Country listeners are used to good audio.

Unfortunately, neither 540 nor 1260 uniformly cover L.A.County. Both signals are weak and noisy in the Long Beach area, for example.

But as for the great L.A. radio pastime of format-flipping; we already know that KZLA listeners have threatened to go back to their iPods, in-dash CD players or (horrors) satellite radio. And when the day comes and internet radio can achieve that last 100 yards of being heard in cars, I'm sure KZLA listeners will be there too.

These format wars are only hurting the terrestrial L.A. radio scene.

db
 
dbdigital said:
Unfortunately, neither 540 nor 1260 uniformly cover L.A.County. Both signals are weak and noisy in the Long Beach area, for example.
Click to expand...

Were 540 to give coverage of just Orange County, this would be enough to make a significant impact on the LA book, assuming country listeners will even tune to AM anymore.
 
Archervox said:
Gary Lycan, OC Register:

Radio station KKGO – 540 and 1260 AM – announced today it will replace the adult standards format on 540 AM with mainstream country music starting Oct. 28.

Saul Levine, president of Mt. Wilson Broadcasters and owner of KKGO and sister classical station KMZT/105.1 FM, said, "Los Angeles and Orange County listeners were pretty upset with the loss of country music on KZLA." That station – 93.9 FM – switched to a new format called rhythm pop contemporary and added Rick Dees to morning drive a few weeks ago.
Click to expand...

Gee Saul, what about the listeners that you're abandoning?
 
The most ridiculous thing about this: KFRG 95.1 comes in clearer in most of L.A. than AM 540. KFRG even made the L.A. book this summer for the first time in a long time. Anyone looking to get their country fix and are willing to put up with a bit of static is going to choose KFRG on the FM dial, rather than an even fuzzier AM signal!!
 
Doctah said:
The most ridiculous thing about this: KFRG 95.1 comes in clearer in most of L.A. than AM 540. KFRG even made the L.A. book this summer for the first time in a long time. Anyone looking to get their country fix and are willing to put up with a bit of static is going to choose KFRG on the FM dial, rather than an even fuzzier AM signal!!
Click to expand...

KFRG has popped in out of the book as far back as I have data, which is 1998. It showed in Fall of 1999, and again about onece or twice every 18 months. THis is nothing new.
 
Doctah said:
The most ridiculous thing about this: KFRG 95.1 comes in clearer in most of L.A. than AM 540. KFRG even made the L.A. book this summer for the first time in a long time. Anyone looking to get their country fix and are willing to put up with a bit of static is going to choose KFRG on the FM dial, rather than an even fuzzier AM signal!!
Click to expand...

KFRG has popped in out of the book as far back as I have data, which is 1998. It showed in Fall of 1999, and again about onece or twice every 18 months. THis is nothing new.
 
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