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
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