Radio Waves Podcast #220

Radio: May 11, 2018

Dave Beasing isn’t your normal radio guy. He spent ten years designing and programming The Sound (now KQLZ, 100.3 FM) and developing it into a ratings leader. Previous experience had him working with radio stations nationwide as a consultant with Jacobs Media, and he programmed KYSR (and its predecessor KXEZ) before the current alternative format.

He’s always been an innovator, looking for ways to push the medium forward while recognizing its history. At The Sound he knew the importance of social media and websites as extensions of stations, and he made TheSoundLA.com into one of the most visited station websites in town. The Sound was more than a station, he explained to me long ago, it was a full brand of entertainment designed especially for Los Angeles.

So with a long history of success with radio programming, consulting and innovating, what’s he doing now?

Podcasts.

Podcasts? Yes, podcasts. The anti-radio.

 

Borrowing on his experience putting content on his own station website as well as on Facebook and more, Beasing has produced all types of podcasts. More recently he moved into a new field: branded podcasting, designed to be a part of a brand’s marketing. Think infomercial, but better - designed to be interesting enough to compel people to download and subscribe.

He recently had one of his podcasts -- nameless, due to the wishes of the company behind it -- debut toward the top of the podcast chart with thousands of subscribers. But Beasing is very happy with the success. Marketing, after all, is in his blood and is one of the reasons The Sound was such a success. Beasing knew that the most successful stations throughout history were not only well-programmed, they were well marketed.

Check out SoundThatBrands.Com.

Withdrawal

I am having withdrawal symptoms ... dry mouth, can’t sleep ... due to the sudden shutdown of ReelRadio.Com, the virtual museum of classic top-40 radio stations. Here you once found recordings of stations dating back to the 1920s.

The founder of the site, Richard Irwin shut-down the site, hopefully temporarily, due to health issues. Posted on his Twitter page and reposted on the Fans of ReelRadio Facebook page, Irwin wrote, “REELRADIO will be taking a break until my body is healed. My hands may be broken but my heart is thankful for all the support over 22 years. Thank You!”

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Big Birthday

I missed this one - KNX (1070 AM) just celebrated 50 years as an all news station, having launched the format way back on April 15, 1968.

But that’s not all. May 4th marked the 96th birthday of KNX itself, or at least since the station adopted the KNX call letters.

The station had its genesis as Fred Christian’s amateur station 6ADZ, which went on the air on September 20, 1920 at 1500 AM. It moved to 833 AM and shared time as KCG with other stations by government decree that made all local stations use the same frequency and broadcast different hors of the day.

Power increased to 50 watts on May 4, 1922 when it became KNX, a far cry from the 50,000 watts it broadcasts with today from a transmitter site off of 190th Street in Torrance. It became a CBS-owned station in 1938 and stayed with CBS until it was sold to Entercom last year.