Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Now....technically this is a music related forum....so I wouldn't be surprised if you guys thought I was crazy for mourning the loss of a wildly popular talk radio station...

but there are plenty of SoCal people on the board, and if anybody here is a fan of 97.1FREE FM KLSX talk radio, they are officially changing the format today at 5:00pm, to top forty radio (yes, that means Justin Timberlake, Rhianna and Ryan Seacrest).

The station has hosted the incredibly popular and controversial talk shows: Howard Stern, Tom Leykis, Adam Carolla show, Frosty/Heidi/Frank and many others....and has consistently held the highest talk ratings on the air.

Apparently, their parent company, CBS decided that they could sell more ads playing top forty music----I think it's a terrible shame, and a bad business move. Ad sales are down because everything is down right now, they will lose a fair slice of the radio market as myself and others turn back to satellite radio etc.

RIP.......(and now, after I forgave CBS for pillaging Fender in '65, they have to mess things up again... )



(ps-on the music side, this just follows highly influential Indy 103.1's abrut shift to spanish ranchero music a few weeks ago too....)

collin wrote:(ps-on the music side, this just follows highly influential Indy 103.1's abrut shift to spanish ranchero music a few weeks ago too....)

Well, it is So Cal, you know!

jps wrote:

collin wrote:(ps-on the music side, this just follows highly influential Indy 103.1's abrut shift to spanish ranchero music a few weeks ago too....)

Well, it is So Cal, you know!

yep, ain't that the truth? Radio is free, you know?

jps wrote:

collin wrote:(ps-on the music side, this just follows highly influential Indy 103.1's abrut shift to spanish ranchero music a few weeks ago too....)

Well, it is So Cal, you know!

Yes, this was quite infuriating. Aren't there enough Mexican Polka, Banda, Spanish Ranchero, or whatever-the-heck-it's called stations around here already?!

paologregorio wrote:

jps wrote:

collin wrote:(ps-on the music side, this just follows highly influential Indy 103.1's abrut shift to spanish ranchero music a few weeks ago too....)

Well, it is So Cal, you know!

Yes, this was quite infuriating. Aren't there enough Mexican Polka, Banda, Spanish Ranchero, or whatever-the-heck-it's called stations around here already?!

So, you Calyfornyans haven't heard the latest? The Governator is giving California back to Mexico.

Collin, I feel your pain.

Having been in this business for nearly 40 years, I understand where you're coming from, but owners generally don't. KLSX was just another victim. The station ranked 26th in the market, 3rd in talk. It's a lot cheaper for them just to VT a format and decrease overhead.
Commercial radio is rancid anyway. Just speakin' from experience.

I switched to sattlelight radio 2 years ago and between that, my vinyl records, and my iPod, I think I'm covered.

What's interesting (to me) is that when I did listen to regular radio..........those were the 2 stations I listened to most.

buzfluhart wrote:Collin, I feel your pain.

Having been in this business for nearly 40 years, I understand where you're coming from, but owners generally don't. KLSX was just another victim. The station ranked 26th in the market, 3rd in talk. It's a lot cheaper for them just to VT a format and decrease overhead.
Commercial radio is rancid anyway. Just speakin' from experience.

ah, radio biz , eh Stan?

Most, actually all, of the hosts completely understood--in fact, CBS was cool in that they gave all the hosts not one, but TWO days to say their farewells etc. Many of the shows on the station had been on for 12-15 years. Most other stations change-!poof! overnight with no warning.

It's an odd thing. I think I gravitated to talk radio because I couldn't stand the rubbish on pop music radio- only a jazz/blues station and (short-range) college or public radio was the exception. I think people, myself included, form a much closer bond to daily talk radio programs because they intently listen to every word spoken- often for years on end, unlike say- some seasonal TV show that they know is inevitably going to end. I guess losing the shows is disheartening, but business is business. CBS and it's affiliates need to watch their jobs as much as anybody- but I can't help but feel that it's going to backfire on them.

Cheers,
-C

collin wrote:

buzfluhart wrote:Collin, I feel your pain.

Having been in this business for nearly 40 years, I understand where you're coming from, but owners generally don't. KLSX was just another victim. The station ranked 26th in the market, 3rd in talk. It's a lot cheaper for them just to VT a format and decrease overhead.
Commercial radio is rancid anyway. Just speakin' from experience.

ah, radio biz , eh Stan?

Most, actually all, of the hosts completely understood--in fact, CBS was cool in that they gave all the hosts not one, but TWO days to say their farewells etc. Many of the shows on the station had been on for 12-15 years. Most other stations change-!poof! overnight with no warning.

It's an odd thing. I think I gravitated to talk radio because I couldn't stand the rubbish on pop music radio- only a jazz/blues station and (short-range) college or public radio was the exception. I think people, myself included, form a much closer bond to daily talk radio programs because they intently listen to every word spoken- often for years on end, unlike say- some seasonal TV show that they know is inevitably going to end. I guess losing the shows is disheartening, but business is business. CBS and it's affiliates need to watch their jobs as much as anybody- but I can't help but feel that it's going to backfire on them.

Cheers,
-C

Well. I could go on and on about the good old days of the 60's and early 70's of real radio. I have no idea of your age,but older demos tend to gravitate to talk radio. There's little else left on commercial radio for most everyone, regardless of age.
Sirius/XM will survive and most commecial stations will as well. However, their niche is getting tighter and tigher. Revenues continue to shrink.
Likely someone else will pick up some of what you like in your market.

There's always NPR. That is mostly what I listen to in the darkroom.

Stan, with all the programming changes at XM/Sirius in the merger and me now losing 3 of my 4 favorites, added to the coming price increase, I am reducing from 5 subscriptions to 2. Disheartening.

jps wrote:There's always NPR. That is mostly what I listen to in the darkroom.

Cleveland must have a good NPR station. SoCal has the best NPR station on the planet, bar none--KCRW, Santa Monica. I miss it dearly, though I listen on the Web at my office. Got to get the Sirius hooked up in my car--bad signal here in the Bay Area.

NPR here in NoCal mostly sucks. Weekends especially--too much bluegrass, WAY too much Garrison Keillor (BLECCCHHHH--one minute is too much--I turn off his "Writers' Almanac" every morning for five minutes, then switch back to get Terry Gross). "Car Talk" for TWO hours. Both public stations are mostly talk radio on weekdays.

jingle_jangle wrote:Cleveland must have a good NPR station.

WCPN is the one I primarily listen to but there is also this station when I want something a bit different.

jingle_jangle wrote:

jps wrote:There's always NPR. That is mostly what I listen to in the darkroom.

Cleveland must have a good NPR station. SoCal has the best NPR station on the planet, bar none--KCRW, Santa Monica. I miss it dearly, though I listen on the Web at my office. Got to get the Sirius hooked up in my car--bad signal here in the Bay Area.

NPR here in NoCal mostly sucks. Weekends especially--too much bluegrass, WAY too much Garrison Keillor (BLECCCHHHH--one minute is too much--I turn off his "Writers' Almanac" every morning for five minutes, then switch back to get Terry Gross). "Car Talk" for TWO hours. Both public stations are mostly talk radio on weekdays.

NPR is great radio, but each market differs due to programmers choice of what they want to carry. Funding plays a part. They aren't required to carry all NPR programs and some stations reflect some not so great taste in programming.

This program is one of my favorites that I listen to, quite a unique format I think.