The billboard, of course, is in response to KRCA-Channel 62's now notorious "Los Angeles, Mexico" billboard. Matt pointed out the irony, that in their rush to mock KRCA, KFI also got its geography wrong: Their billboard wasn't in Los Angeles at all, but in Long Beach.
Neil responds:
KFI AM 640 did not put up any "You are here-Los Angeles" billboards in Long Beach as you previously reported. The billboard is located on the way to Long Beach.
In a rather kindly written email, Neil sent a PDF file showing exactly where the billboard is located. And indeed, he's right -- it's not in Long Beach.
It's in Bellflower.
Still not Los Angeles -- so Matt's point still remains.
I sent Neil another email asking him about the geography problem. He responded:
My understanding from Clear Channel Outdoor, the company we rented the space from (part of our parent co. CC Radio), it is in fact considered LA...although the spirit of the message would stand even if it wasn't...you see it was "California" that was the issue, not so much "Los Angeles".
Also, since our billboards were a response to Ch. 62's billboards they (except for the one located on Ventura blvd.) were place in close proximity to Ch. 62's billboards...we didn't randomly pick locations.
He has a point in that it might be a quibble over semantics -- Maria and I live in Glendale, for example, but still identify ourselves as Angelenos (even if we don't have a say in Hahn v. Villaraigosa -- thank God).
I'd argue, though, that the uproar over the KRCA billboard got a little ridiculous -- and it's kinda strange to see a radio powerhouse go after a tiny TV station that had gotten very little ink before the "Los Angeles, Mexico" controversy.
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