Wanted to jump on here and say that I love KFXM. It's an awesome station at 98.3 in Lancaster. The only live show is Chris Compton on Saturdays from 9 till noon then on sundays from 10 till noon for a ride in the country the classic country show that they do. Other wise it's automated all day every day. Just Google kfxm. And start listening. Enjoy.
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KFXM
- Thread starter 30james
- Start date
Does anybody remember the original KFXM 590, rival to KMEN 1290 in the Inland Empire?
are you kidding me, lol, man, they are the best, I have been listening to them on line for years, and posted about them on the philly board many times, complaining, why don't we have this jewel. I'm all the way on the right coast in philly pa, we have nothing like that here. In fact, I was so fascinated by their unique playlist, I used google street view to check out their antenna North of Lancaster on the cell tower, next to the interstate and their studios in Lancaster proper in the one story hut. I could never understand why in a sparsely populated desert area, where the music they play was never heard in those parts when it was new, is being played. and in philly, where the music was born we have nothing over the air. I will say I enjoyed them more years back before they updated their music to more current oldies. I also love the limited supply of R&B/soul that most stations force feed the listener and a more rock, folk country blend. BTW why did they change their frequency last year and nothing else, they should apply for 100kw @ 500' and get a good signal into the LA metro, I bet they would do very well, not like Ksurf which never did oldies right from what I heard...
Lancaster/Palmdale is not a sparsely populated desert area as you state. The 2021 population is over a half million:
Lancaster-Palmdale Metro Area Population 1950-2023
Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Lancaster-Palmdale metro area from 1950 to 2023. United Nations population projections are also included through the year 2035.
They changed frequency because LPFMs are subject to changes in higher class stations.
And, as an LPFM, becoming a commercial 100 kw station at 500 feet would require an open frequency and there are none. And at 500 feet, it would not get into LA, as there are 5,000 foot and higher mountains blocking the signal. Lancaster/Palmdale is not close to central LA, anyway (Downtown Lancaster is 42 miles from Downtown LA).
That format, in LA, without the rhythmic music and with the very old stuff would not be able to get any revenue. Advertisers won't buy stations that predominantly deliver listeners over 55, and that station appeals to even much older people.
In other words, it is a great hobby station and a bad idea for commercial radio.
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If it was commercially viable, itd be done. Why dont you buy a station, program it this way and see how long before you go broke?
Follow up: there are 683 FMs in CA (not including Low Power FMs), and only 23 are over 50 kw; all these date back before the early 60's when the FCC declared that CA was a "Class A and Class B" zone with the B's being limited to 50 kw at 500 feet or whatever power they had prior to the new rule.
So, for about 60 years there has been no way to get a 100 kw station in CA. And for nearly as long, there has been no way to get a new facility in the Los Angeles metro area, as the band is full.
Those little LPFMs like the one in Lancaster are limited to very low power and antenna height. And they are not commercial. They are allowed to "squat" in little areas between the protected coverage areas of the fully licensed FMs, and are intended to do nothing more than serve a small community.
Here is the FCC's definition of LPFM:
Low Power FM (LPFM) Broadcast Radio Stations
In the following sections, we provide some basic information about Low Power (LPFM) radio stations (licensed service) and the related application processes. Contents Introduction LPFM Filing Window Periods Find LPFM Records via the FM Query Low Power FM Opportunities Map LPFM...
Out of curiosity, have you donated any money to help keep them on the air?
David's covered the population part, I'll just mention that the music was heard there when new. All the Los Angeles AMs (KFWB, KRLA, KHJ, KTNQ, KFI) that played Top 40 threw listenable signals into Lancaster and neighboring Palmdale had its own Top 40 AM, KUTY, in the 60s and 70s that had a looser playlist than the L.A. stations (which, considering KFWB, KRLA and pre-1973 KHJ, is saying something---those playlists were the polar opposite of WABC's).
Having programmed both (K)KHJ and KTNQ, I can say that 930 did have a daytime signal into the High Desert, but at night the null towards the NW and towards Oklahoma kept the signal pretty weak or unlistenable. KTNQ has trouble even in Valencia and Santa Clarita at night, and is nulled considerably in the daytime.
Another good Top 40 that got into much of the High Desert was KERN 1410 from Bakersfield which covered a lot more than one would think back then.
I listen to some of the KRLA airchecks and there are an awful (truly awful) lot of songs I never heard or heard of. And the jocks opened the mike without a vision of when they would close it.
I never got a chance to ask TR or Jacobs when I was working with them about how they concluded that Casey was the person for AT40; he was not spectacular when on the radio yet with guidance from two of the country's best programmers he became a legitimate star.
I give more credit to the writers than Casey himself. Although he had a unique and identifiable voice.
It was a collaborative effort. They molded the copy / notes to what they thought was Casey's best style. But it was not 100% scripted; more like fill-in-the-blanks notes so Casey could be himself but not stray out of the corral.
It was really Tom Rounds' and Jacobs' structure... the show was tightly built on a framework that the two of them put together. Remember, Rounds and Jacobs had been together at KPOI in Honolulu as Poi Boys long before Jacobs went to San Berdoo and Fresno.
And they were Drake's first two PDs at KFRC and KHJ, respectively. So they could do structure.
As for Casey, he was popular in L.A. Reportedly, he and Dave Hull were both offered slots at KHJ by Drake himself and both passed.
He had been doing the little biographical "story behind the record" thing since '62 or so up in the Bay Area, so it's possible that Rounds and Jacobs figured he'd be good at the stuff they needed beyond the mere mechanics of a countdown.
We should factor in overall AM signal degradation between the 60s/70s and your time there, too, David. I drove from Los Angeles up to Bishop at night in early '77 shortly after KGBS became KTNQ and went 24 hours and kept TenQ all the way. It got a little shaky, with a bit of fade, from about Lone Pine on, but Lancaster was no issue.
And, in California, the night pattern is only a handicap for a few months. I wanna say pattern change in June was as late as 9, but certainly no later than 8:30.
I lived in Lancaster from 1969 to 1989, and yes, I used to regularly listen to all of the L.A. AM stations there during the day. At night, pattern changes and propagation caused them to be un-receivable, so it was back to KUTY, although as I recall, they too changed power and pattern at night and became noisy in Lancaster. As an aside, Billy Pearl spent time DJing at KUTY. He was later on KHJ. We used to listen to KKDJ-FM and K-earth quite a bit too. My favorites though were KHJ and KTNQ. There was also a fun period in there with KDAY-AM. By the way, we used to be able to get the legendary KCBQ-AM from San Diego in Lancaster, albeit with noise, and on some days, propagation clobbered it. While I am reminiscing, I'll mention that I often modified the AM antenna on my tabletop radios back then, adding some sort of long wire out the window, and would listen in to KSL (Salt Lake), KOMA (Oklahoma City) and CKLW up in Ontario, Canada. Once in a while, KFRC (Fresno) and KYA (SF) would be receivable as well. Good times...
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