Radio: I had the craziest dream. I got to remake KABC 790 AM
Richard Wagoner is a columnist covering radio in Southern California.
I had a dream … a very weird dream. Perhaps it is related to my work as a supervisor in the old San Pedro Sears Surplus Store — which I still occasionally dream about even though it closed 35 years ago — when I made the work schedule for the each week.
My dream had me surrounded by some people in radio, personalities and executives. They just happened to be there as I was putting together the program list for KABC (790 AM), the once-powerful talk station that brought the format to Los Angeles. It would fall on hard times due to a lack of promotion and what seems to be a lack of any will to succeed on the part of management.
For whatever reason, KFI (640 AM) morning man Bill Handel was there; he’s the only one I can remember from the dream, though I do remember running ideas past some important radio people. Unfortunately, I woke up before the schedule was finalized. In fact, it was undetermined whether I’d keep the station talk at all.
I know that idea ruffles feathers, but it is one that needs to be discussed. It has been years, decades actually, since KABC was relevant. The station primarily broadcasts podcasts and has only one local show that consistently makes a mark: John Phillips, heard from noon to 3 p.m. weekdays. Lack of music on local AM stations is one reason that younger people don’t tune into the band; my opinion is that regardless of perceived sound quality, it is the lack of music that pushes people to other sources.
Regardless, before I pontificate, I wanted to do another round of “What would you do with KABC?” It can’t be just doing what they are doing … that is definitely not working. Would you change the hosts? Add different topics? Top 40 with traffic reports every ten minutes? I obviously have the power to make big changes … in my dreams. Let me know what you think.
Why no promotion?
I recently drove to Fresno/Clovis to see the CIF Swimming and Diving Championships held yearly at the wonderful Clovis West High School swim complex. One of the swimmers that my wife coaches was a participant.
On the way up there something struck me. No matter what town we went through, I saw no advertisements for any radio stations. None. That doesn’t mean there actually were none, but certainly none stood out and the lack of said advertisements was notable.
In the past, you had busboards, billboards, bumper stickers … even T-shirts all over a city to get people to sample your station. Why do stations no longer promote themselves? I saw ads for beef jerky… Apple Annie’s … a museum. Radio? Nothing.
It’s an industry that lives on the idea of promotion (commercials). How does a station expect potential listeners to find them if they don’t let people know what they have to offer? Is this one reason younger people aren’t tuning in?
Retirement
Jennifer York, a longtime traffic reporter at KNX (1070 AM, 97.1 FM) and previously on KFWB (980 AM), KFSH (95.9 FM) and even KTLA-TV Channel 5, has retired. May 10 was her last broadcast day on KNX, where in addition to traffic she occasionally handled breaking news.
Congratulations on a long run, Jennifer!
Low-power FM in Laguna Beach
“We will deliver more highbrow music, more radio theater, more storytelling from our gifted writers, more laughs, more local arts and entertainment, more health and wellness, more on our local food scene, more hometown sports like surfing, mountain biking and skateboarding, more high school sports, more youth shows, more weather, community affairs, politics, and even cultural offerings from surrounding areas. And much more live, remote broadcasting from every nook and cranny of this remarkable place.”
So says the article written by Billy Fried in the April 12th Laguna Beach Independent (https://bit.ly/KXRNWelcome)
“We want to be an invaluable guide for visitors, he continues. “We want to be a critical partner to our local merchants and cultural institutions and, most importantly, a critical communication beacon for our police, fire, and marine safety personnel. One thing we won’t be is opinionated or biased, but instead we will offer a balance of divergent (yet civil) opinions.
“Because if radio can do one thing, it’s to remind us that we’re all in this together. And, of course, embedded in all of this will be the best in eclectic and surprisingly delightful music (both live and recorded) from our many music lovers and musicians.”
Fried is leading of a new Board of Directors of the low-power station KXRN (104.7 FM FM), which uses the on-air name of “KX-FM.” He hopes to take the station higher than before and reverse the fortunes of the station that found itself struggling over the past few years. He calls it “golden.” I agree.
KX-FM has been on the air for 11 years; I wrote about it in late 2012. Back then, they used 92.5 FM as their assigned frequency, but there was too much interference from stations on the same frequency. In 2020, they moved to 104.7 FM and increased both power and transmitter height, making the signal much stronger locally.
Since Laguna Beach is somewhat blocked signal-wide, this makes for a strong local presence … exactly what low-powered FMs were designed to do. You can also listen online at https://www.kxfmradio.org/. I’ll be following this — and numerous other LPFMs — to see what changes are in store.
Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Email rwagoner@me.com