I thought CBS tried to delay that spin-off as best they could in the hope that the caps would be raised as they wanted CBS Sports on KFWB. I suppose that the trustee technically had to approve the format flip to CBS sports talk in 2014, but whose idea was it to go CBS sports after five years (2009) as a mixed news and syndicated talker?
It would probably help to have a little background.
CBS bought KCAL in 2002. Behind the scenes, the ownership limit was always a concern and it was pretty clear "the odd man out" would be KFWB. (Of the seven stations, the FMs were considered too valuable to give up, leaving it as a "no choice between KNX and KFWB.) That said, senior management had a fondness (Westinghouse background) for KFWB and hoped the government could be influenced to further loosen ownership limits.
Some groundwork began at this time towards putting the station in a trust. I believe a trustee was named and there was even a year or two when we would get our year-end tax statements under the name of a different entity (that I've forgotten) but the trust never materialized.
It wasn't until Obama was elected in 2008 that hopes dimmed for any sort of regulatory relaxation during a Democratic administration. There were clear discussions at this time that KFWB would be the station to go. This realization impacted many decisions that were to come. (Interestingly, when PPM came out in 2008, KFWB actually beat KNX in the first two reports, though KNX was underperforming and neither station was in the top ten.)
In January 2009, I came back as PD of both KFWB and KNX after a 4-month Roy Laughlin-induced "absence." By now Roy was gone and during my absence paid programming had been put on KFWB weekends. We tried briefly to keep the news format with a focus on the entertainment industry.
In September, we had an opportunity to go news/talk when Dr. Laura became available. (We had rejected talk in the past thinking only second or third tier syndicated talent was available.) We switched to news/talk (local news blocks morning and afternoon and talk the rest of the day.) I was able to take a good number of KFWB reporters and anchors to KNX. I kept KFWB anchors for hourly updates, and for the two news blocks. There were editors, desk assistants and board operators, The KNX reporters filed for KFWB. Unfortunately, the staff that didn't move or stay behind was laid off.
KFWB was run pretty lean, certainly compared to KNX. Pressure finally mounted for CBS to comply with the limit and put the station into a trust. It entered the trust in 2011. I was one of handful of people who reported to two bosses, one for KNX and one for KFWB. And my KNX/CBS boss could not, in any way, influence the decisions being made for KFWB.
Considering the point of the trust was to find a new owner and sell the station, I was pleasantly surprised the trustee allowed us to keep local programming (jobs) instead of just slapping on an a cheap syndicated format until the station could be sold. (I actually heard CBS, who still had to pay the bills, was more than little unhappy about how much money was spent to run KFWB.) I tried to keep as many people as I could employed and keep the station going with ever-dwindling resources. The trustee made the decision to go all sports in August 2014.
I wasn't around for much of that, as I was out at the end of September. However, I was told "The Beast" was going to cost as much (if not more) than the previous format. I saw a group of people work very hard on a station that never really got going and was never going to be attractive to the ownership likely to buy the station. The first owner put on some sort of a "Bollywood" format. It was later sold to Lotus Communications whose "ranchera" format keeps creeping up in the ratings - I'm happy to see the historic call letters thriving.
