Does KMZT play considerably more Mozart than it does other composers? Or was it (and Bach and Beethoven, for those other branded stations) chosen just because it's a composer's name that even the most casual fan of classical music would know? When Sirius XM brands channels with artists' names, you can count on those artists' music making up at least 25 percent of the songs played, sometimes much more.
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K-Mozart is back on 1260
- Thread starter HighStandards
- Start date
Martin Goldsmith, when he had a regular shift on XM Classics before the Sirius takeover, used to say that he was playing "the greatest music of the past 1,000 years"!
In major markets, commercial classical stations survived until 25-35 years ago.
KFAC in Los Angeles lasted until 1992, WNCN in New York and KKHI in San Francisco until 1994, WFLN in Philadelphia until 1997, and WTMI, Miami in 2001.
And as TheBigA noted, WFMT in Chicago continues as a commerically-supported classical station.
Saul's clearly going against the tide, but as I've said about every one of his format flips for 1260---got a better idea?
KFAC in Los Angeles lasted until 1992, WNCN in New York and KKHI in San Francisco until 1994, WFLN in Philadelphia until 1997, and WTMI, Miami in 2001.
And as TheBigA noted, WFMT in Chicago continues as a commerically-supported classical station.
Saul's clearly going against the tide, but as I've said about every one of his format flips for 1260---got a better idea?
KING Seattle also lasted until 1992 before being sold to a nonprofit.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
I'm going to correct you, my friend, because I was listening when KFAC ended.
The date was September 20, 1989 (yes, I doublechecked). The noon hour was simulcast on KUSC, which had run ads during the final days promoting itself as the remaining Classical station in Los Angeles. The last work played was Haydn's "Farewell" Symphony, after which Jim deCastro, the new GM for 92.3, announced "that's it for KFAC" and after a minute of silence, the heartbeat stunting interspersed with bits of songs started playing until the new -- and short-lived -- "Rock With A Beat" format started the next day at noon.
The KFAC call letters were moved to their Santa Barbara 88.7 satellite for several years in what was publicized as "a permanent tribute to its nearly 60 years of Classical" ... only to be dropped unceremoniously five years later when they rebranded all of their stations to end in "SC". (So much for "permanent".)
They swapped the Santa Barbara station to KCRW in exchange for KDB-FM in 2014 when the latter was in danger of losing the Classical format. (I can't help but notice that's the one station they never changed the calls to a K_SC format on.)
The sale of KFAC to Evergreen is also what led Saul Levine to flip KKGO to classical.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
I can confirm that as fact, although he was unable to do so right at the point KFAC ended. I recall it was January of the following year, which is when he moved the Jazz format to 540 in Costa Mesa (now silent and deleted), which later became part of the simulcast with 1260 when he bought it three days later.
Hey, I just brought this thread back around to its original topic!
Classical WRR in DFW was a commercial operation before transitioning to non-comm in January 2023.
However, that station was owned by the City of Dallas, not some radio company. Sort of the exception.
For years, the city was being pitched to sell the station, before signing a management deal with NTPB and KERA.
But it was a commercial station and run as such. In a sense, no different than a union running WCFL for decades or the LDS running Bonneville even today.
For the last 25 years, the city I live in has been involved with a huge project to build a golf resort in which they spent millions on property and have not received a penny in taxes on the real estate or on anything built or done on it. But people in the government thought that the city should take on the project to make sure it was done "right" and would, thus, produce income for the city. 25 years later, empty land and lots of dust blowing into my yard.
In general, government should be discouraged from doing things that are outside of the normal expectations placed on it. "Government" is notoriously inefficient and they do even worse when they get outside of their area of
A good example of government expanding itself into areas where it should not be. Had they sold it when good prices were being offered, the taxpayers would have benefited more.
Keep in mind, the city of Dallas still owns WRR. They just turned over mgmt to NTPB.
I don't have dates but KING-FM ran as a non-profit for many years before selling to an actual non-profit organization.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Wikipedia says it was sold to Classic Radio in 1992, and that is consistent with the list of applications for the station at Michi's site (FCCdata.org). They announced their intent to change to a "public radio station" in 2010, and that was duly reported in the Puget Sound Business Journal and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that the change to non-profit operation took place on May 2 of the following year.
As near as I can tell, Classic Radio itself converted to non-profit. There wasn't a second sale.
The station has been full-time Classical since the late 1960s.
The classical format was good for business in those days. There was a big community of audiophiles who listened to FM radio, bought FM Guide, and loved classical music. WGMS Washington DC was a great example. It was owned by RKO Radio. They were tempted many times to flip the AM to rock music, and didn't because of the public outcry. RKO was forced out of radio, but the new owners loved the money classical music attracted. The station was extremely popular on Cap Hill. There was a well-heeled crowd that funded the National Symphony and Washington Opera. The Mars family (M&Ms), the Kiplingers (financial advice), and the founder of Geico were all huge supporters of the radio station and the classical music business. So they were able to keep the commercial classical format going for a while. Finally, they brokered a deal with WETA to move the format, the staff, and the rest of the property there, and the frequency became all news WTOP-FM.
Totally random side note... I can count a current KING staffer as a fan of KSKO who wears a shirt of ours to work some times
I thought KING-FM had been Classical since signing on in 1948!
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
No, sir. They started off simulcasting the MOR format of their AM, then started running some non-simulcast Classical programming around 1949, gradually increasing the non-simulcast hours over the following two decades.
Actually, Wikipedia says Bach FM, which used the letters WSFM, dropped classical in 2013. Lance Venta is the source for the change. There were numerous formats after that (all subsequent format changes are also sourced to Lance Venta).
Now that I think about it, it seems like they played some jazz in 1969, when I was there to visit my sister.
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