Airwaves: August 15, 2008
A Brand New K-Day
KDAY (93.5 FM) is making some big changes, scheduled to take place today.
First and foremost, the station is breaking up its simulcast, finally returning
the two local stations, KDAY/Redondo Beach and KWIE/Ontario to independent
programming for their respective audiences.
The call letters will remain on each station as they are now, but KDAY will
no longer refer to itself as K-DAY. It will now be called 93.5
The Beat and play a format a bit more old-school than before as it appeals
more generally to 18-49 year old black adults. Think of it as a cross between KJLH (102.3
FM) and Power 106. The station calls the format adult urban with
a playlist including artists ranging from Earth Wind and Fire to Marvin Gaye,
George Clinton to Snoop Dogg.
Jocks include Steve Harvey, mornings, followed by Wendy Williams,
MoNique, Michael Baisden, and Theo. The station is even moving
its transmitter site from Torrance to Baldwin Hills in an attempt to reach
a larger audience in metro Los Angeles.
In the Inland Empire, KWIE takes on a new urban-slanting oldies format featuring
artists such as Sly and the Family Stone, Color Me Badd, the Pretenders, Bobby
Brown, Journey, Alicia Keys and Beyonce. The station hopes to take listeners
away from both KGGI (99.1 FM) and KOLA (99.9 FM).
My opinion: aint gonna happen. First, in an insult to the IE, the station has
no plans to ever have personalities. People say, shut up and play the
music I know, manager Roy Laughlin told Don Barretts laradio.com.
Translation: Were too cheap and lazy to find good personalities,
so we hope that youre too stupid to notice. Translated roughly,
at least. Remember, KOLA itself never had ratings until they brought in jocks,
now they are one of the top-rated stations in the area.
Secondly, the name is hideous: Flo 93.5 FM. I Personally, Ive
had it up to here with Jack, Jill, Alice and the like. Flo takes the cake.
Regardless, it is nice for the IE to have another local station. Id say
thats progress ... at least a little.
Bloodletting
KLOS (95.5 FM) and its listeners set a record for the number of pints
of blood collected during a four-day drive that ended August 2nd. Over 8,900
pints were collected during the event, bringing the total collected since the
drives began in 1981 to almost 106,000.
Each year over the past few years, KLOS sets new records for blood units collected
during their multi-day event. Last years record was also set by KLOS
over three days, when 5764 pints were collected. And to think it all started
with a single -day drive back in 1981 when 250 pints were donated. Good job,
KLOS. Nice to see a station that still gets involved with the community to
make things better.
Making Miracles
My FM (KBIG 104.3), led by morning man Valentine held a radiothon
last week benefitting Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles (wasnt
that Charlie Tunas gig?), raising more than $750,000.
The money was raised through both on and off-air events, including online donations
and an eBay auction, and was held August 7th and 8th.
Temporary Static
More than a few people have written in to ask why KFI (640 AM) is suddenly
filled with static in certain parts of the area. Turns out that the station
is using a backup-backup transmitter off their regular site as they once again
rebuild their main transmitter.
The station had been using a secondary transmitter on their normal site, but
they had to turn that off as construction workers began erecting the full-size
replacement tower that was knocked down by a small plane in late 2004. Pesky
RF radiation isnt good for tower construction. Expect a return to their
real full-power status on their brand-new stick soon.
No Answers
I try to all answer questions you send in, even if it takes me a while to find
the answers. Unfortunately, last week
I lost a hard drive for the first time ever ... which included over 200 emails.
If I havent answered a question you sent, please send it again.
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Copyright © 2008 Richard Wagoner and Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
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