Radio Waves Podcast #337

 Radio Waves: April 22, 2022

Gunslingers on the air

A radio show about guns? In Southern California? And Los Angeles, no less?

Absolutely. It’s the Gunslingers hour and has been heard on KABC (790 AM) Saturdays at 8 a.m. Effective immediately, the show is transitioning to KRLA (870 AM) Sundays at 8 p.m.. Currently the program is airing separate editions for both stations, but the final KABC show will air July 30 … after that it will be exclusively heard on KRLA

The program is hosted by Jeff Taverner, owner of Gunslingers Gun Shop and Gunslinger Auctions in Glendora; co-host Mark Romano is a political science college professor. Both are expert shooters and in fact, both are Cowboy Action Shooting Champions.

The shop opened almost 25 years ago as a way for Taverner to make some money selling part of his own personal collection. He is very proud of the fact that he made a sale on his very first day open, back on June 1st, 1998 … “unfortunately the sale was denied” from the background checks, he says, “but it was a sale!”

The program evolved out of his own advertising. He created an ad to air on KEIB (1150 AM) that he purposely made a bit quirky and different to stand out, voiced by himself. It worked, both as an advertisement and a side career as a talk host: the ad was heard by someone at KABC, who suggested he start his own show.

For the first month they made him pre-record the program, but he wanted to go live and convinced KABC to let him do so. Since that time he has been able to take listener phone calls along with presenting information and interviews in order to help people learn about such things as firearms history, safety, collecting, purchasing, and the paperwork involved.

“I try to make the show as lively and fun as I can,” says Taverner. “I hope to reach people on the fence and help them realize that they don’t need to be scared, that it’s actually fun to go shooting at ranges and competitions.”

No politics allowed, though. “This is not a political show by any means,” he insists. “That would take the fun out of it.”

Taverner is more than firearms. In addition to being what Brian Tominaga — one of his listeners who told me of the show — described as “a walking encyclopedia of guns and firearms history,” he is also a collector or cars, a collector of guitars, and a musician who toured with his band around the world, later booking acts for some of the clubs in Hollywood.

It’s only an hour, but it is a fun little show. Past recording of it are on the KRLA and KABC websites (870theanswer.com and abc.com, respectively), as well as https://gunslingerradio.com.

High Fidelity Broadcasting

Ask almost anyone under the age of 50 if AM radio sounds good, and — if they even know what AM is — the likely answer will be “no.” Indeed, even one of the inventors of AM — Amplitude Modulation — radio, Edwin Howard Armstrong, so hated the sound of AM that he went out and invented an entirely new broadcasting method: Frequency Modulation, or FM.

But what most people don’t understand is that it is not the fidelity, per se, that caused Armstrong to head back to the lab. It was interference. Lightening, for example, makes AM broadcasts crackle. The problem with fidelity is entirely different, though very much related: in an effort to reduce interference from the atmosphere, man-made sources and from adjacent stations, radio manufacturers long ago decided to limit the fidelity of most AM receivers by reducing he audio bandwidth, or the range of sounds heard, to little better than the sound of a telephone.

It wasn’t always that way. Back in 1959, WLW/Cincinnati  installed a new transmitter and built new studios, the combination of which allowed them to broadcast from as low as 17 Hz to as high as 21,500 Hz — better than typical adult human hearing. For comparison, analog stereo FM broadcasts from 20 to 15,000 Hz.

Station management began calling WLW “the nation’s highest-fidelity station” when the station debuted its new facilities in January 1959. R. J. Rockwell, vice president of WLW engineering at the time told Broadcasting Magazine, “There seems to be a prevailing misconception that AM stations are limited in their permissible bandwidth … (we’ve proven that) high fidelity transmission can be accomplished in the AM band.”

Unfortunately, Rockwell and his associates couldn’t do anything thing about interference, which is the AM band’s kryptonite. Modern technology can fix some of it, but crackles and static will always be a problem. So what is the the future of AM? Opinions vary, and I have my own ideas. Stay tuned …

Radio: April 29, 2022

A slightly more normal ratings period, to a point — no major holidays or locally big events … though the Ukraine invasion is certainly having an effect — led to a March ratings period with few surprises. Nielsen released the results last week.

Of note, however, is the Ukraine effect: with KFI (640 AM) and KNX (1070 AM, 97.1 FM) both up substantially. In KFI’s case, it was a jump of more than half a point from February,, a full point since January, and almost 2 points from the holiday season making for a 57 percent increase in the ratings so far this year and a solid 5th place finish. KNX was not as dramatic, but rose substantially as well - up 39 percent so far this year, seventh place overall in March.

Was some of the KNX increase due to the new FM simulcast? Possibly, but in my opinion unlikely. As the ratings are released as a combination, only insiders know and they aren’t saying. Interestingly, however, outside of KFI and KNX, the other talk or information stations were essentially unchanged.

The overall winner for the month, of course, was adult contemporary juggernaut KOST (103.5 FM), which settled down to a post-holiday 5.5 share of the audience, more than half a point above second-place KRTH’s (101.1 FM) 4.9. Third place was a tie between KTWV The Wave (94.7 FM) and My FM KBIG (104.3 FM) at 4.8, showing just how close those stations are. In fact, statistically speaking, I’d consider places two through five as a tie.

KLOS (95.5 FM) is on fire … earning the highest rating the station has seen in quite some time: 3.0, and 11th place overall. Go Country KKGO (105.1 FM) did very well, too, tying Spanish adult hits station Jose-FM KLYY (97.5) at 14th with a 2.7. Right above that? Real (KRRL, 92.3 FM) and another Spanish adult hits station Recuerdo KRCD (simulcast on 98.3 and 103.9 FM) tied for 12th at 2.8. Can you say close?

Alt (KYSR, 98.7 FM) — still calling itself  “LA’s New Alternative” more than a decade after it actually was “new” — once again beat format originator KROQ (106.7 FM),  but the two were closer than they’ve been in a while: 2.2 vs 1.4 overall, respectively. I still think changes are coming to KROQ, sometime sooner than later.

The highest-rated public station? 16th place KPCC (89.3 FM) with a 2.4 share of the audience.

You may wonder why the station streams toward the end of the list are not included in the main station ratings. This is due to the streams not being 100% duplicative. For example, some commercials may be changed or removed. The m Ian programming is the same, however, so I’d personally count them together if I had the choice. This would move Jack, KRTH and The Wave all up by 0.2 shares. 

Each rating is an estimate the percentage of listeners aged six and older, tuned to a station between the hours of 6 a.m. and 12 midnight. © 2022 Nielsen. May not be quoted or reproduced without prior written permission from Nielsen.

1. KOST (5.5) 2. KRTH (4.9) 3. KBIG, KTWV (4.8) 5. KFI (4.7) 6. KLVE (4.4) 7. KNX (3.9) 8. KCBS-FM (Jack), KIIS-FM (3.7) 10. KLAX (3.2)

11. KLOS (3.0) 12. KRCD, KRRL (2.8) 14. KKGO, KLYY (2.7) 16. KPCC (2.4) 17. KSCA (2.3) 18. KJLH, KXOL, KYSR (2.2)

21. KBUE, KCRW, KPWR (2.1) 24. KLLI (2.0) 25. KUSC (1.8) 26. KDAY, KLAC, KROQ (1.4) 29. KKJZ (1.0) 30. KABC, KEIB, KFWB, KRLA (0.9)

34. KDLD (0.8) 35. KCSN, KFSH, KSPN, KWIZ (0.7) 39. KKLA (0.3) 40. KCBS-FM Stream, KPFK, KRTH Stream, KTWV Stream (0.2) 44. KHJ, KMZT, KROQ HD-2, KTNQ, KWKW (0.1)

Tribute

Shana — aka Shana LiVigni, though she never used her last name on the air, was a pioneering woman on local radio. Making her big-city debut on San Francisco’s KFRC, moving South to KHJ (930 AM) and later to FM via KLOS and many more, she was equally at home playing the hits on legendary top-40 powerhouses as she was introducing album cuts on the album rock leaders.

Always a fan favorite, she passed away far too young at the age of 62 back in 2015 (https://www.dailynews.com/2015/07/22/female-radio-pioneer-shana-livigni-dies/).

Retro Radio Joe just posted a tribute to Shana, where you can hear her evolution through time and formats from 1975 to 2001 It’s a real treat! Check it out at https://bit.ly/3v56jrJ

Radio Waves Podcast #336

 Radio Waves: April 15, 2022

The Radio Return of Bryan Suits

One of the more popular specialty hosts on KFI (640 AM) was Bryan Suits, especially when he hosted The Dark Secret Place on weekends in which he spoke of military operations and related subjects. Suits left the station in 2021 to focus on a paid podcast program.

Suits was an Army medic during Operation Desert Storm, served in the National Guard, and was deployed as part of a NATO mission to Bosnia and as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and more. He was awarded a Bronze Star Medal and was wounded in action several times, eventually being awarded a Purple Heart. 

His experience combined with superb storytelling made for a must-listen program; my email was filled for weeks when he left the local airwaves.

Reader Nancy J. recently brought it to my attention that Suits is back on the air. “Don’t know if you’ve covered the most recent whereabouts of Bryan Suits but he has moved back to the Seattle area and, since early February, has a regular drive-time gig on conservative talk radio KTTH,” she wrote.

“From the sounds of it, many SoCal fans are listening via livestream because he reads texts on the air and notes the area codes – 714, 949, 909, 562, etc. including a recent 661 from Bakersfield. The podcasts are available on all platforms. 

“The nice thing is to be able to hear salient, intelligent information about the war in Ukraine. He also throws in current references to CA politics as a cautionary tale to the local Washingtonians,” she concluded.

Suits’ new show is live and local for the Seattle area, airing over KTTH from 6-9 a.m. locally. Beginning on February 7th, the program is part of a total revamp of the station’s programming day, though he is among the few local programs. Others include Dan Bongino, Michael Medved, Jason Rantz, Ben Shapiro, Michael Knowles and Mark Levin … outside of Suits, only afternoon driver Rantz is local to the area.

“When we moved back to Western Washington, the last thing on my mind was radio,” Suits told Radio-Online.com at the launch of the daily show. “After filling in on KTTH mornings, I realized that I was born to do this. This is where I started and found my voice. Someone has to reflect what the sensible people are thinking and thankfully, KTTH is doing that. I’m humbled and grateful to be part of the team that tells the truth every day.”

Suits was previously heard in Seattle on sister station KIRO; in 2002 he left the area to work at KOGO/San Diego (600 AM) and later, KFI.

KTTH programming is available on various apps or through their own podcasting network, but like many stations across the country, the station streams its programming. Access it on the website at https://mynorthwest.com/category/ktth/. 

Best April Fool’s “News” Story

“ Audacy Surrenders KNX-AM license, keeps KNX-FM,” screams the headline of an April 1st posting on Facebook’s I Love AM Radio group. The story goes on to say that the city of Torrance has sold the land on which the transmitters are located to developers, so it made sense to just turn in the license. 

The tremendously well-done story  — good enough to fool a few people — was written by Steve Mittman, who posted a story last year that KHJ (930 AM) was going back to playing music of its Boss Radio days.

Alas … the KHJ story would be great, if it were true.

How’s School?

KCRW (89.9 FM) wants to hear from students by asking the question: How has this school year treated you? The followup? What does “normal” now link like?

KCRW has always been active in reporting on local education issues. If you want to give your perspective on the study, head over to https://kcrw.co/3uoY5uu.

Quick Takes

According to one study, more than one-third of regular radio listeners own a turntable. I do myself, though it is rarely used. Are these listeners/owners hip, or just old? … 

The FM simulcast of KNX (1070 AM), heard on 97.1, is no longer in stereo. Is owner Audacy doing this to try to extend the usable range of the signal? With rare exception, monaural signals have a larger clean reception area than do multiplex stereo signals, and without the ability to manually select mono on most receivers, it is a plausible reason. I don’t believe the station has broadcast in mono in my radio listening lifetime … 

Radio Waves Podcast #335

 Radio Waves: April 8, 2022

Your Favorite App Stations

Two weeks ago I asked for some suggestions regarding what online streams and/or podcasts you liked. Here are some musically tasty treats:

“Love your column in the Press Enterprise.

“We use StreamS to listen to martiniinthemorning.com. Brad “Martini” Chambers and Miriam give us some fun in our mornings. Since it’s a subscription station it’s sort of a family. He usually comes to LA once a week every month and does some great studio interviews like Steve Tyrell, Dave Damiani, Jonny Blu, etc. 

“Thanks to Brad we have become friends with many of the artists who carry on the American Songbook today. They are called The Wolfpack (the new Rat Pack), led by Dave Damiani with Landau Eugene Murphy, Sal Valentinetti, Jonny Blu, James Torme, Haley Reinhart, and Renee Olstead. It’s great fun to listen in and hear the classics and the new artists carry on the music.”  — Joe B 

Chambers should be programming an on-air station, and the fact that he isn’t is an indictment of radio. While at KLAC (570 AM) and XETRA (690 AM), he not only got ratings and brought new listeners to the AM band, he was successful at bringing younger people to the format via playing standards from contemporary artists.

“I don’t remember how I found this site, but they are 3 stations in 1 from the University of Pennsylvania that is such an eclectic mix! I’m an elder, but get so tired of ‘classic rock’ stations, and this has opened up such new stuff to me! PLEASE give it a long listen! bit.ly/38n7b2b. Thanks!” — Sonni Hopkins

I feel the same way … I get tired of the same songs over and over. Frankly, I actually like new music and there is some research I’ll share at a later date claiming that listening to new music is actually good for your brain.

“Oldies – Big 8 Radio.com (programmed by radio vet Charlie O’Brien)

“Indie rock-  BAGeL Radio (live-hosted 480 Minutes show, originating on Fridays, is ‘The Place’ to go for breaking new music mixed with deep-cuts classic alternative) Both are available via several streaming aggregators as well as directly at the own websites. Cheers! —Mark, London, UK

Wow … a true long distance listener!

“Some time back you wrote about Accuradio. Another very similar service is SomaFM (https://somafm.com/). Like Accuradio they offer a variety of stations, and like Accuradio they claim that their music is hand-selected and not generated by algorithm. I have listened to some of their stations and haven’t like many of them much, but one I really do enjoy is Left Coast 70s. It’s roughly similar to Yacht Rock in SiriusFM. Left Coast 70s is available via TuneIn, so it makes it easy to listen to on my Amazon Echo.

“By the way, I have The Mellow Sound set up as an Alexa routine, so I just say ‘Alexa, play the Tribute Station.’ That works much better as Alexa easily gets confused about stations on myTunerRadio.” — Mike Christie, Hemet

It’s an art sometimes getting some stations to play on smart speakers, but well worth the time. The shortcut you mention (and a similar one with the others) is a great way to make it work better.

“We found Q102.3 Palm Springs when we were there a few years ago. It is a locally owned radio station that plays classic rock and we LOVE it. Hope you like it as well.” — Tish Husak

KRHQ is available on TuneIn and the station website at https://q102classicrock.com

“I watched a movie, ‘Music In Exile’ about the effects of Hurricane Katrina at the end of November 2021. Two public radio stations were mentioned, WWOZ (90.7 FM)  in New Orleans and KRVS (88.7 FM) in Lafayette.  Both play all the types of music I love. I was able to find them on the Radio Garden app and stream them frequently via my phone and JBL Bluetooth speaker. I also listen to Xpression3.16 and Radio Panamericana from Peru as my wife is from there and we both enjoy the music.” — Bob Beberfall, Ontario, CA

I have to try the Radio Garden app … you are not the first to suggest it.

“Enjoy your column immensely. Here are my favorite streaming radio stations: https://www.psychedelicjukebox.com; WWOZ for New Orleans music; and WPKN and WKZE  for eclectic” — Bob Andrews, Huntington Beach

WWOZ, WPKN and WKZE are all found on the various tuner apps.

“One of my favorite online stations is KFXM 98.3 Lancaster. An oldies that is similar to K-Earth of days past. Not being able to get 91X here on LA radio it is another fav …  Both are on MyTunerRadio and other apps. — Bill “telephonebill” Lodge, Redondo Beach 

“My wife and I have close ancestral ties to England which may explain why our musical tastes are somewhat reserved.

“1.  Smooth Radio London (FM 102.2).

“2.  Exclusive Radio, from Dubai. Over 500 “stations” of a wide variety of music. No commercials, just a brief station ID between songs. Our favorite station is the Moody Blues.

“3.  Classic FM, London. Perfect for a quiet Sunday morning.  Includes interesting background about the classical music they play

“We enjoy your weekly columns in the Riverside Press Enterprise.” — R/John, Riverside.

“I saw you asking for people’s favorite online station and thought I’d offer mine. It’s laoldies.com. I used to listed to it on AM when there and then on HD radio, but now listen via app or online at home. The songs of my life are always good to hear again.”  — Susan B

“I have been listening to the ACCU Radio app quite frequently since you had it in your column. They have quite a range, and I listen to new music, to me anyway, almost every day.

“There is a great radio station that I listen to out of Auckland, New Zealand. It is ‘The Sound.’ I like to listen to it over the website at https://www.thesound.co.nz/home.html, but it can also be found on myTuner and TuneIn Radio. — Jere Seitz

All great suggestions … keep them coming; I’ll check all of them out.