Adult Standards Returns to Los Angeles

[TheBigA]

This is a complain Sirius gets a lot with its decades channels. Organizing music by decade doesn't always satisfy fans of particular genres.

 

[davideduardo]

Contrary to popular belief, radio station owners haven't a money tree in their backyard to harvest at will.

Sol does have one of those trees: KKGO. And it is planted in debt-free soil in the country's (pardon the pun) richest radio market.

Sol has been known to run certain formats with very near zero billings in the past, too.

When I owned stations, I ran a classical FM with literally no billing for years just because I wanted to and could afford it. For a more recent example, there was Víctor Díaz in San Diego who did a non-commercial classical using the Califormula stations to underwrite it.

But there are fewer and fewer of such nutcases around!

 

[CTListener]

This is a complain Sirius gets a lot with its decades channels. Organizing music by decade doesn't always satisfy fans of particular genres.

That's the first thing that came to mind when I saw the direction this thread was taking. XM used to define the '60s as any hit music from 1960-69, but the '50s were basically 1955 ("Rock Around the Clock") to 1959, and early '50s pop was either not played on a decades channel all or played on '40s on 4. When Sirius bought out XM and put its programmers in charge, all pre-British Invasion music was relegated to '50s on 5 (with the exception of "Louie, Louie" and a few other songs with a "later" sound) and '60s on 6 was limited to 1964-69. For a while, late '50s pop like Debbie Reynolds' "Tammy" was still getting played on '50s on 5, but now that music has no home on SiriusXM and is never played on any channel. Even with all the niche channels on SiriusXM, soft pop after the rock 'n' roll era began apparently doesn't have enough appeal to listeners who are still alive to warrant airplay on any of them.

 

[michael hagerty]

We've gone down the oldies rabbit hole here, based on a "what if" from one poster. Saul actually tried a mix of oldies and standards on 1260 between August, 2009 and April 2011. It was called "Retro 1260", and it was moved to KKGO HD-3 to make room for classical. Clearly, it didn't pass muster even as an HD-3, because Saul replaced it with "Unforgettable" on KKGO HD-3.

There is no evidence that Saul is thinking oldies for 1260. If he were, it would be very easy to simply cook one up, make it KKGO HD-3 and feed 1260 with that. There's no need for a placeholder. He didn't have a deadline for moving classical off the signal. And, Saul did oldies on 1260 for ten months in 2004-2005. It didn't work then, with the target audience 11-12 years younger than they are now.

For clarity, because it seems very few of us have actually heard "Unforgettable"...there is ZERO rock content in this format. It is a mix of standards recorded in the 1940s, 50s and early-mid 60s, some light jazz from the mid-60s to mid-70s (think George Benson's "Breezin') and standards recorded more recently by artists like Diana Krall, Michael Buble, Harry Connick, Jr. and Steve Tyrell.

During visits to L.A. and Monterey and streaming here in Sacramento when streaming was available, I've probably listened to it a dozen times. It's a good complement to K-Jazz, and that's probably the best way to view it....as KKJZ's HD-2 channel. The fact that Saul chooses to feed it to his AM probably has no real significance. It's not built for commercial avails, but Saul bought 1260 23 years ago. It's paid for. There isn't much that will generate revenue worth writing home about on that signal and what it might generate would be offset by staff and promotion costs. There's none of that for "Unforgettable". It's already there and it costs no more to put it on 1260.

 

[michael hagerty]

Sol does have one of those trees: KKGO. And it is planted in debt-free soil in the country's (pardon the pun) richest radio market.

I have to imagine his contract to run KKJZ for Cal State Long Beach is probably a decent source of income as well. He's had the deal for nine years now, and it comes up for renewal next year, if the original hasn't been extended.

Saul, by the way, either turned or turns 90 this year.

 

[david]

My 13 year old son is a fan of classical music. It's a music genre that has lasted centuries and is familiar to many via motion pictures. As such I submit that classical has a better chance (relatively) at bringing in agency friendly demos than standards. 1260 AM is a non-factor here in Long Beach but KKGO HD2 comes in quite well with few signal losses. I urge Mt. Wilson (Saul and Michael) to NOT consider changing formats on 105.1 HD2. We love K-Mozart.

 

[CTListener]

My 13 year old son is a fan of classical music. It's a music genre that has lasted centuries and is familiar to many via motion pictures. As such I submit that classical has a better chance (relatively) at bringing in agency friendly demos than standards. 1260 AM is a non-factor here in Long Beach but KKGO HD2 comes in quite well with few signal losses. I urge Mt. Wilson (Saul and Michael) to NOT consider changing formats on 105.1 HD2. We love K-Mozart.

Pretty sure you and your son are extreme outliers (your son, especially). I grew up with classical music, as my dad was -- and still is, at 94 -- a big fan and had a huge library of symphonic works and opera. But I never had any interest in it until just a few years ago, in my late 50s. And believe me, I've listened to a whole lot of rock, pop, soul, disco, country, folk and Celtic music in those intervening years, pretty much everything but classical and jazz. I'm not into classical the way Dad is but it's now something I'll listen to in the car if there's a public radio station in the area programming it. My brother is 10 years younger than me and he's still listening to rock.

 

[b-turner]

I'm pretty much the same way. I grew up with top 40 and album rock in the 1970s. I listened to almost everything and depending on my mood at the moment it still could be almost anything. Classical was something that I began liking at about 40. Needless to say, in a couple of decades listening to classical, I have learned there are so inspired composers and some I suspect are recorded simply to have an audible archive of their compositions. I'm not so deep in classical that I can say this or that version was sloppy, not played with the right spirit or if the piece was played on correct period instruments. I'm more simplistic, it's good, just okay, not too good or bad in my opinion. And I am still learning by hearing.

Classical is a strange format. It has this stereotype but it seems few regular listeners and many casual listeners that just might be in the mood. I suppose for me, after years playing much of what most non-current based stations are playing, classical was something new and different. From those I've met that listen to classical, they typically know and like several genres of music. And I find several folks want 'discovery' as part of the playlist, hearing new composers, works, etc.

 

[michael hagerty]

My 13 year old son is a fan of classical music. It's a music genre that has lasted centuries and is familiar to many via motion pictures. As such I submit that classical has a better chance (relatively) at bringing in agency friendly demos than standards. 1260 AM is a non-factor here in Long Beach but KKGO HD2 comes in quite well with few signal losses. I urge Mt. Wilson (Saul and Michael) to NOT consider changing formats on 105.1 HD2. We love K-Mozart.

I expect the format will be safe for a while on HD. I suspect, based on the music's survival for centuries, that it will outlive "Unforgettable". Thankfully, Saul has not just the primary signals of KKGO, KMZT and KKJZ to work with, but he has the HDs for KKGO and KKJZ...saving him from having to make hard either-or choices he would have had to make 15 years ago.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Most standards listeners don't want 50's and 60's pop oldies, and most oldies listeners don't want standards.

We saw evidence of this when many markets had, long ago, both standards (of the "Music of Your Life" type) and oldies stations. There was very little sharing of the listener base.

The implication is that if you mix the two genres, you will get less listeners than were you to do either genre separately.

Of course, standards is a 70 and over format, so the listener base is dwindling.

Certain oldies have been a part of America's Best Music for decades, so I'm used to it.

My affiliate, which went oldies a year ago, was playing mostly oldies when it was local, though it was still mostly soft oldies, and hasn't changed all that much on the morning show.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Unforgettable is very different in my book than true oldies. Yes there is a good amount of crossover but Unforgettable is based more on what we once called MOR and Easy Listening while Real Oldies is based on Rock and Roll Era material. While Frank Sinatra might be heard on both formats, The Dave Clark Five would not. Likewise you you less apt to hear Mitch Miller on Real Oldies than Glen Campbell. Both might play Elvis but Crying In The Chapel fits Unforgettable while All Shook Up is strictly True Oldies. I'd say it is more of an either/or based on the charts and true formats.

With that said, many so called Nostalgia stations sound more like soft Top 40 oldies these days, so where Saul draws the lines is what counts.

America's Best Music has been playing Glen Campbell since at least 1991, and pretty much everything by Elvis. Mitch Miller I can't say I've ever heard. He was on the station that seemed to be programmed by a chimp back in 1997, but that was after they came to their senses and went back to the good stuff. Whether he was on Stardust then I don't know, but the station was mostly Stardust. Which even had "Rock Around the Clock".

Sinatra and Kiss were both on an FM oldies station in my area which went country in 2006. I haven't heard Sinatra on the oldies station that used to play America's Best Music.

 

[brian marchand]

K-Mozart streaming has been down since Saturday 8-20-2016. It is also no longer available on iHeart radio. I wonder why it is no longer available. I would listen to it sometimes.

I also wonder if K-Mozart will continue in Monterey, CA on KIDD 630 AM.

 

[michael hagerty]

K-Mozart streaming has been down since Saturday 8-20-2016. It is also no longer available on iHeart radio. I wonder why it is no longer available. I would listen to it sometimes.

I also wonder if K-Mozart will continue in Monterey, CA on KIDD 630 AM.

Listening to it now. It does take a minute (maybe more like 90 seconds) to load.

They've re-done the website and you now state your preference for L.A. or the Central Coast. They're promising location-specific content online, which suggests Saul thinks he'll be in Monterey a while.

 

[brian marchand]

Thanks, I just tried K-Mozart and the streaming is working. I like it so I am glad its back. Maybe they saw my post and fixed it. Was anyone able to listen over the weekend? K-Mozart is still not on iheart radio. Iheart must have thought the format was gone after 1260 flipped.

K-Mozart has had that page where you state your preference for LA or the Central Coast for a few years ever since they added Monterey. But is says 95.1 (the translator that they filed to move to San Fernando rebroadcasting 1260 and 95.9 which they are selling. They do not list 630 am. They will need to update it either way.

The sale of KMZT and KBOQ to KUSC/KDFC was approved by the fcc on Monday 8-22-2016.

 

[brian marchand]

K-Mozart's Central Coast website http://kmozartmonterey.com/ is now gone. It re-directs to LA's 105.1.

 

[michael hagerty]

K-Mozart's Central Coast website http://kmozartmonterey.com/ is now gone. It re-directs to LA's 105.1.

Yep. The flip to a simulcast of USC's classical music service began August 31, and USC now owns the frequency. Saul's down to just the AMs at 630 and 1240 in Monterey now, with 630 running the KKGO HD-2 classical feed and 1240 running the 88.1 HD-2/KKGO HD-3/1260 AM Los Angeles standards feed.

 

[deano_61]

Yep. The flip to a simulcast of USC's classical music service began August 31, and USC now owns the frequency. Saul's down to just the AMs at 630 and 1240 in Monterey now, with 630 running the KKGO HD-2 classical feed and 1240 running the 88.1 HD-2/KKGO HD-3/1260 AM Los Angeles standards feed.

Unless something has changed in that last hour and 45 minutes, Saul's still running K-Mozart on 95.1, 97.9, 106.7 and 630. Looks like the deal for 97.9 went through to EMF but no changeover yet. Perhaps the situation with KUSP might have something to do with this since it is rumored that EMF had placed a bid for the station.

 

[michael hagerty]

And....the knry1240.com website now features artwork that says "Unforgettable 1260". If you Google "Unforgettable 1260", it takes you to knry1240.com instead of a dedicated "Unforgettable" site for Southern California. There is a "listen live" link, which I pushed. The sweeper that just aired at :55 says "We're unforgettable".....without a dial position. Waiting for top-of-the-hour to see which ID the web listeners get.

 

[michael hagerty]

The legal ID is for "KBOQ-AM and KKGO HD-3, Los Angeles". So Saul ditched the KMZT calls and brought the KBOQ calls down from Monterey. Interesting.

I also need to correct a mistake I made earlier in the thread. KKJZ HD-2 is not a simulcast of KBOQ-AM, KKGO HD-3 and KNRY. They're playing different music right now...and the "song history" feature on the "Unforgettable" player shows that it's not a shadowcast, either. It's weird, because all the songs I've heard on the KKJZ HD-2 stream are played on "Unforgettable", but for some reason, they're separate.

 

[david]

Mount Wilson did some shuffling again, but since it only involved their HD side channels no one here on RD seems to have noticed. Here is what I can tell:
* Unforgettable is off the air - standards are gone once again - still streaming though at unforgettablela.com
* K-Mozart is again available on 88.1 HD2 (which had been down for a couple weeks) as well as now on 105.1 HD3 (displacing Unforgettable), however it appears the station no longer has announcers and is just airing CONTINUOUS CLASSICAL PROGRAMMING
* The HD side channels now have song identification technology