Radio AM to FM

Radio AM to FM: December 28, 2001

KRLA Goes for the Roses

KRLA (870 AM) will be broadcasting live from the 113th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena this Tuesday, January 1st starting at 6 AM.

News director Larry Marino will be stationed at the starting point of the parade at Orange Grove and Colorado Blvd., and will give minute by minute (play by play?) coverage of the parade as well as interviews with the Rose Parade Queen and her Court. The station will also be providing extra traffic reports to assist those coming to Pasadena to view the parade live -- and those that are just trying to avoid the traffic jams altogether ...

It's official

The Dodgers are leaving. Their current broadcast home of KXTA (1150 AM), that is.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Infinity Broadcasting's KFWB (980 AM) announced an agreement this month for a five-year broadcast contract that calls for Dodger games to be heard on the all news station beginning in 2003.

"We are extremely excited about this announcement," said Derrick Hall, communications vice-president for the Dodgers. "KFWB has a tremendous reputation and has been a legendary source of news and information in the city for 35 years. Vin Scully, Ross Porter and Rick Monday are looking forward to being a part of this top-notch station beginning in 2003."

As per official policy, KXTA management tried to put a positive spin on the loss of the Dodgers to KFWB, stating that they would have come to a deal had it been good for both organizations. But the truth is that the Dodgers are one of the few sports teams that attracts a sizable radio audience in Los Angeles; for a station that tries to bill itself as the region's sports leader, the loss is somewhat embarrassing. Rumor had it that the Dodgers were unhappy with KXTA for years.

As to KFWB, which for years has billed itself as "All News All the Time" and used to poke fun at competitor KNX (1070 AM) for running programs other than news, it needs a new slogan. I suppose "All News All the Time (except when the Dodgers are playing)" will suffice for now. If you have any ideas, let me know.

Review Revue

KCRW (89.9 FM) celebrates New years Eve Monday at 6 PM with a special edition of The Capitol Steps entitled The Year in Review Revue.

According to station spokesperson, the show consists of musical mayhem and political parody filling the hour with nonstop laughs from the bipartisan masters of satire in song. Sounds like fun.

Then on New Years Day from 9 AM to 3 PM, KCRW presents a six-hour marathon of storytelling, featuring classics from Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

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