Retro Friday: L.A. Radio, Back in the Day

Wow, this 1991 spot for KPWR "Power 106" screams, well, "1991." From back when Power 106 was "L.A.'s Hottest Music."


KLAC is now all-sports, but back in 1985 it was a country station. This low-rent spot seems like it was made for some small radio market, not Los Angeles.


In 1993, KNX and KFWB were still owned by different companies -- KNX by CBS, and KFWB by Group W. Here's an animated spot from all-news KFWB.


A rock spot from KLOS in the mid-1980s.


KDAY goes disco in 1979.


Space-age KRTH in 1980.


KROQ's famed "Roq of the '80s" logo and spot in the 1980s.


KOST, from its "beautiful music" days. Remember when elevator music was played on the radio? Yikes!

With Dr. Laura Gone, KFWB Tweaks Weekday Schedule

Now that the Dr. Laura show is heading out of syndication and on to satellite radio, KFWB is switching up its weekday program lineup. The station is sticking with a mix of news and talk, even though its seen its Arbitron ratings decline since switching formats.

KFWB first added talk to its longtime news format after "Dr. Laura" was dropped by KFI and became available. But with her out of the picture, KFWB said it will now air a new show from "Total Money Makeover" creator Dave Ramsey from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., as well as business reporter Bob McCormick (also featured on all-news sister KNX) from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., and "life coach" Les Broan from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Changes were announced Thursday by CBS Radio Los Angeles Senior Vice President and Market Manager, Steve Carver.

“I’m very excited about this new schedule on many levels,” said Carver. “Airing Dave Ramsey’s program entirely live will give Southern Californians a much bigger opportunity to call into the show. And like Dave, Bob McCormick and Les Brown are all about helping people live better lives with information many people are seeking out in today’s challenging times.”

KFWB continues to broadcast news in the morning with Penny Griego and Phil Hulett (6 a.m. to 9 a.m.) and Maggie McKay and Michael Shappee in afternoons (4 p.m. to 7 p.m.).

John Beard to KFWB?

It's still a shame that former KTTV/Fox 11 (and before that, KNBC) anchor John Beard is off the air in Los Angeles.

Now, Beard revealed Thursday (via his Twitter account) that he is talking to KFWB about joining the former all-news station's new talk lineup:

Just interviewed w/ KFWB 4 the open 3-6 slot in their new talk format...I could have sum fun w/ that! But not sure I'm gonna stay in LA

Beard -- now free from having to hide his opinions -- definitely has some things to say about what's going on in the news, if his past Tweets are any indication. Of course, he'd be an unusual match for KFWB's new lineup -- he's definitely not a Conservative in the vein of the station's syndicated fare of Laura Ingraham and Michael Smerconish.

But it also appears that KFWB is looking for someone with more of a local news background in the 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. slot. And perhaps Beard could thrive in that spot, much like another former TV newsman, Warren Olney, transitioned to radio 15 years ago, via KCRW.

Meanwhile, writing about John Beard always allows me the chance to run this classic 1970s promo pic:


"Stay sexy, KFWB!"

BREAKING: After 40 Years, KFWB Dumps All-News Format

Just days after my Variety colleague Brian Lowry trashed KFWB for its weak "Hollywood news" format, KFWB has dropped all-news all together, and will now feature talk -- including Dr. Laura as its centerpiece.

Not a huge shock -- KFWB has dropped even further in the ratings since focusing more on Hollywood. If anything, it's surprising that CBS Radio kept all-news on both KFWB and KNX for so long, given the duplicative nature.

CBS long ago went to just one all-news station in Chicago (although it still does all-news on two AM outlets in New York). CBS first acquired KFWB as part of the 1995 CBS-Westinghouse merger. (KFWB had been owned by Westinghouse's Group W.)

Of course, before going all-news in 1967, KFWB was a popular top 40 radio station.

Here's the press release from CBS Radio:

DR. LAURA JOINS KFWB-AM AS CENTERPIECE OF STATION’S UPDATED NEWS-TALK LINEUP BEGINNING ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8

Program Schedule to Feature Well-Known Personalities, Along With Array Of News, Sports And Entertainment Coverage

(Los Angeles, Calif. Aug. 10, 2009) Dr. Laura Schlessinger, world-renowned radio host and best selling author, will join KFWB 980 AM beginning on Tuesday, Sept. 8, the same day the station launches its new news-talk format featuring a host of first-class local and national programming. The announcement was made by CBS RADIO Los Angeles Senior Vice President and Market Manager Ed Krampf. Dr. Laura’s popular program will be broadcast weekdays on-air and online (www.kfwb.com) from 12:00Noon–3:00PM, PT.

"When the opportunity to add Dr. Laura - one of radio's preeminent talk talents - to our lineup became available we moved swiftly to bring her award-winning program to KFWB," said Krampf. "Throughout her more than 30-year career, Dr. Laura has built an incredible following by connecting to her audience on a personal level many other talk talents have tried unsuccessfully to replicate. She is an established voice in the Los Angeles community and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have her on our team."

Having KFWB serve as the flagship station of the Dr. Laura show comes on the heels of
the recent announcement that Talk Radio Network (TRN) is involved in the syndication of her program, which reaches approximately 8.25 million weekly listeners in markets across the country. Dr. Laura is currently heard on KFI in Los Angeles where she is the top-ranked talk show host with Women 25-54 in her daypart.

"I'm unbelievably thrilled to join KFWB," Dr. Laura said. "We worked closely to create an opportunity that was too good to turn down, including unprecedented marketing support. In teaming up with the award-winning KFWB news team and terrific hosts like Laura Ingraham, we'll be able to reach more listeners and be part of an exciting new chapter further up the AM dial."

Added Krampf, "As a result of this acquisition we looked to build a station that would continue to provide our listeners with thorough reporting on local news, including entertainment industry updates, while at the same time offering programming that features an array of opinions and advice on a number of topical issues. I believe that with the new lineup that launches next month we have achieved both goals."

Following is the lineup for KFWB NEWS TALK 980 beginning on Tuesday, Sept. 8:

6:00-9:00AM: Local News hosted by Phil Hulett and Penny Griego
9:00AM-12:00Noon: Laura Ingraham
12:00Noon-3:00PM: Dr. Laura
3:00-6:00PM: Local Talk/News (host TBA)
6:00-9:00PM: Michael Smerconish

Local news updates will also be broadcast at the top of every hour 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Watch Out, KIIS: Amp Gets Amp'ed

In case you haven't seen the March Arbitron ratings for L.A. yet... here's the latest top performers among listeners 6+ (which is only used for bragging rights; it's not a demo sold to advertisers) via All Access.

Top 40 KIIS (102.7) is still on top, but is starting to see some erosion. New rival "97.1 Amp" (KLSX) appears to be having an impact, as it shot up to a 3.2 share, better than anything it ever did in its "FM Talk" days. Also of note: All-news KNX appears to be benefiting from KFWB's decision to focus slightly more on Hollywood news. That has led to a sizable drop at KFWB.

Covering the Fire Coverage: A Return to Normalcy?

Above, coverage of the San Diego fires from that market's CBS affiliate, KFMB Channel 8.

As San Diego becomes the focal point to the fire disaster, Los Angeles' TV stations are finally pondering a return to normal programming.

KABC, for example, is expected to return to "Good Morning America" this morning for the first time this week. But every station is still likely to go back on the air this morning at 4 a.m. with the latest local coverage.

Stations again spent much of Tuesday commercial-free, broadcasting non-stop news as the Southern California inferno got more out of hand. With nearly 1 million people evacuated from their homes, the story continued to grow in scope.

One local TV general manager I spoke to said he knew exactly how much money he had lost so far -- "down to the penny" -- by dumping commercials. But in cases like this, it's important to take a leadership role -- partly because community service is still a factor in TV licenses, and partly because it brands you as the go-to TV station in times of crisis.

Meanwhile, over at KNBC, the station once again bucked the trend and kept much of the "Today" show on the air -- while KABC jettisoned "Good Morning America" (actually, it ran "GMA" on its digital sub-channel) and KCBS pre-empted "Early Show." Why? According to KNBC news director Bob Long, he's trying to send a message to the East Coast "Today" show folk, who were already producing a special live west coast edition. By airing "Today," which was pretty much wall-to-wall fire coverage anyway, Long is still trying to get the New York news operations to pay more attention to the world out west.

In radio, L.A.'s all-news KNX and KFWB stuck to the story, but for the most part kept their ads (after all, this is more their usual duty). In evening, however, the fire coverage waged enough out of the control.

In San Diego, radio stations banded together to share resources and simulcast feeds, much like the New Orleans radio stations did in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. All of the Clear Channel stations, for example, went with one feed, from news/talk KOGO. Also, in the spirit of cooperation, alternative rocker FM 94.9 turned its signal over to public broadcaster KPBS, after the station's transmitter was shut down by the fires.

KFWB Broadcast Tower? CBS Broadcast Center? Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

They're located 10 steps from each other, but to hear newsradio outfits KFWB and KNX give their weather reports, you'd think they were in completely different complexes.

When it comes time to give the temp, I heard one KFWB anchor say, "It's (blank) degrees at the KFWB Broadcast Tower." KNX, on the other hand, has its anchors say, "It's (blank) degrees at the CBS Broadcast Center."

Both are totally made-up names, so I guess it doesn't matter. The truth is, both are located in the Wilshire skyscraper right next door to Variety (where E! Entertainment Television once resided, before joining Variety in the Wilshire Courtyard complex).

But I love that KFWB goes beyond exaggeration (not only are many CBS radio stations in the tower, but CBS Radio is just one of many, many tenants in the tower) while KNX is a bit more modest.