Ratings Are Up At L.A.'s Country Music Station

[davideduardo]

Isn't this the audience that KRLA used to court? Did they all move away?

KRLA, in its lowrider days, had pretty weak numbers...

 

[ercjncpr]

I'll wager a return to standards - maybe even the old KGIL calls - as the next roulettte wheel stop for 1260.

He's done standards before. There is no one alive In Los Angeles who wants to listen to that format. Give it a few weeks, he'll have classic country on 1260.

540 will soon be classic country via Jones Radio Networks

 

[briancraig]

--KRLA, in its lowrider days, had pretty weak numbers...--


David, it seems you and I had this discussion once before. I dug out some old numbers that showed they had pretty good 12+ numbers and then you started saying they were weak in some demo.

But your statement "KRLA, in its lowrider days, had pretty weak numbers..." is simply not true as a broad statement.

 

[davideduardo]

--KRLA, in its lowrider days, had pretty weak numbers...--


David, it seems you and I had this discussion once before. I dug out some old numbers that showed they had pretty good 12+ numbers and then you started saying they were weak in some demo.

But your statement "KRLA, in its lowrider days, had pretty weak numbers..." is simply not true as a broad statement.

It was not a leading station, and its audience... more to the point... was not all second genreration and on Hispanics.

 

[BACKnUSSR]

--KRLA, in its lowrider days, had pretty weak numbers...--


David, it seems you and I had this discussion once before. I dug out some old numbers that showed they had pretty good 12+ numbers and then you started saying they were weak in some demo.

But your statement "KRLA, in its lowrider days, had pretty weak numbers..." is simply not true as a broad statement.

It was not a leading station, and its audience... more to the point... was not all second genreration and on Hispanics.

But as you've pointed out many times before, one does not need to have a "leading station" to be profitable and successful in a major market. Was KRLA profitable at that time?

 

[davideduardo]

But as you've pointed out many times before, one does not need to have a "leading station" to be profitable and successful in a major market. Was KRLA profitable at that time?

According to the PD of the co-owned FM at the time, it was breaking even. It's biggest problem was being a music AM long after music was a hard sell on AM.

 

[semoochie]

This is pretty hazy for me because I don't live there but it seems like I read that during the years that they had an interim operator, KRLA successfully courted listeners in(I believe)East Los Angeles. This was a long time ago and KRLA was still in the top 10 along with several other AM stations. I'm thinking late 70s/early 80s. When a new owner came in and they stopped doing that and the ratings fell because they didn't understand what made the station a success in the first place.

 

[davideduardo]

This is pretty hazy for me because I don't live there but it seems like I read that during the years that they had an interim operator, KRLA successfully courted listeners in(I believe)East Los Angeles. This was a long time ago and KRLA was still in the top 10 along with several other AM stations. I'm thinking late 70s/early 80s. When a new owner came in and they stopped doing that and the ratings fell because they didn't understand what made the station a success in the first place.

The population of East LA in the 70's was about 100,000. The area at the time was preedominantly Spanish speaking... Hispanics who "moved up" were buying in places like Montebello, etc., to the East. You could not have had ratings if you were programming in English to East LA:

Yes, KRLA did have half-decent ratings... for an AM... in the 80's when it went more to the lowrider Art Laboe style (1984 was when they went totally oldies) after fighting a losing battle to first KHJ and then the boom of the FM band. By the late 70's, over half the LA audeince was on FM, and staitons like KHJ and KRLA were relegated to a second tier of stations.

In the full year average in 1974 KRLA was 9th, by 1978, it was 15th... in 1980 it was 9th... in 1982 it was 22nd... in 1984 it was 20th... in 1986 it was 17th. So, while it had a couple of years wher eit actually became top 10, it was, mostly, near 20th most of the time.

Here are the KRLA ratings for the late 70's.... (This was the era of KMPC and KABC leadership)

October/November '76:
KRLA 3.3

January/February '77
KRLA 4.1

April/May '77
KRLA 2.6

July/August '77
KRLA 2.9

October/November '77
KRLA 2.5

January/February '78:
KRLA 2.1

April/May '78
KRLA 2.4

July/August '78
KRLA 3.1

October/November '78
KRLA 2.6

January/February '79
KRLA 2.2

April/May '79:
KRLA 3.5

July/August '79:
KRLA 3.2

October/November '79:
KRLA 3.7

 

[Marv-L.A.]

David---Would you happen to know when did KHJ flip to country and what its final ratings and market rank were as a top 40 station?

 

[rwagoner]

David---Would you happen to know when did KHJ flip to country and what its final ratings and market rank were as a top 40 station?

The flip to country was November 1980. I can't recall the last rating but can probably find it in my files.

Richard Wagoner

 

[rwagoner]

But as you've pointed out many times before, one does not need to have a "leading station" to be profitable and successful in a major market. Was KRLA profitable at that time?

According to the PD of the co-owned FM at the time, it was breaking even. It's biggest problem was being a music AM long after music was a hard sell on AM.

The real lowrider days were a little before music was tough on AM, weren't they? The late 1970s were still OK for AM music; KRLA went more mainstream in 1981 (maybe a little later, as I recall many East LA requests when I was in college) or so.