Radio Waves Podcast #357

Radio Waves: October 14, 2022

Special series highlights American Experience on KBLA

Big news from KBLA (1580 AM) – the station is producing a series of special programs under the umbrella title of Agenda for America, an African-American Perspective. Every Thursday night from 7 to 9 p.m. through the end of October, a focus on different issues will be (or has been) presented. The State of Black Women in America was presented on the 6th; The State of Black Youth in America on the 13th; The State of Black Men in America on the 20th, and the big one hosted by station owner Tavis Smiley himself on the 27th will be Why we Can’t Wait – the Urgency of Now.

Missed them love or want to hear them again? No problems – the station has a full podcast lineup at kbla1580.com.

And while these are locally produced by hosts at KBLA, Smiley is making the programs available to stations across the country in a sort of loosely organized national network of stations, perhaps leading to official affiliates in the future.

KBLA just celebrated its first birthday as an “unapologetically progressive” talk station, having launched on June 19 — Juneteenth — of 2021. Primary hosts include Dominique Diprima, Lynn Richardson, Najah Roberts, DL Highly, Don Amiche, Zo Williams, Danny Morrison, and of course Smiley himself, who has experience both in talk radio and television, and is a successful author as well as the recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Not just politics … its also entertainment, crypto currency, humor, celebrities … kind of a modern version of what KABC (790 AM) did in their heyday. Smiley calls it a “conversation,” explaining that he feels “we are at our best when we are challenging (our listeners) to reexamine the assumptions that they hold; we are at our best when we are helping people to expand their inventory of ideas. That only happens through dialog, not monologue.”

New Programs

K-Mozart (1260 AM, 105.1 HD2) is adding some new programs to the lineup, including Broadway to Hollywood and The New Opera House. Both programs are hosted by opera performer Audrey Yoder.

Broadway to Hollywood debuts with Fiddler on the Roof — including a portion in Yiddish — Saturday, October 15th at 9 a.m. and will air weekly with repeats Sunday nights at 6 p.m. The program will air musicals from, well, anywhere from Broadway to Hollywood and all places in between … hence the name. Next week: Oklahoma!

The New Opera House launches Sunday, October 16th at 8 p.m. with an airing of West Side Story featuring the original cast. Future programs will run the gamut from “old school” to modern progressive; the intention is to expose music that is rarely heard on the radio in Los Angeles.

Yoder is a local opera performer heard in performances in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo opera houses. Station owner Saul Levine is extremely proud of the new programs, as well as the ability to add Yoder to the station roster. “At a time when the big shots are degrading radio, I am proud that a little family owned station is still creating interesting programming to serve the public and not Wall Street,” Levine said. 

In addition to the new programs, Levine says that the station will present a live direct feed to the Detroit Symphony at 7:45 a.m. and will be playing a full CD of Disney movie themes performed by Lang Lang. Both broadcasts will be on Friday, October 14th. 

September Nielsens

KOST (103.5 FM) maintained its ratings dominance in the September ratings released last week. Just shy of the holiday season when it switches to Christmas music, the station earned a 5.8 share of the audience, beating out sister station KBIG’s (My FM, 104.3) 5.5. KRTH (101.1 FM) was third at 5.1, followed by KFI (640 AM) at 4.7 and KTWV (94.7 FM) at 4.4.

Like the top-five, there were few surprises. Alt 98.7 FM (KYSR) was the alternative leader as it has been for a ling time now, beating out KROQ (106.7 FM) 2.7 to 2.1. That 2.1 finish is actually a blessing for KROQ, however, as it had been languishing in the mid to high 1s for a while. Go Country 105.1 FM (KKGO) was tied with KJLH (102.3 FM)  and KSCA (101.9 FM) for 16th at 2.4. Remember when former KZLA owner Emmis said Country doesn’t work in Los Angeles? (Where is Emmis now?) And Steve Wonder’s KJLH continues its success by maintaining its highest ratings trend in its history.

Power 106 (KPWR, 105.9 FM)? Still at 1.5 … far lower than the ratings the station had under Chuck Martin when it was top-40 K-WEST. Just sayin’ since the market is overcrowded with urban-leaning repetitive hit stations and is totally lacking a straight-ahead top-40 station attracting a broad audience matching the demographics of the city, as Martin had done at both KHJ (930 AM) and K-WEST … again, just sayin.’

Each rating is an estimate of listeners aged 6 and over tuned to a station between the hours of 6 a.m. and 12 midnight, as determined by Nielsen.

1. KOST (5.8) 2. KBIG “My FM” (5.5) 3. KRTH (5.1) 4. KFI (4.7) 5. KTWV “The Wave” (4.4) 6. KLVE (3.9) 7. KCBS-FM “Jack” (3.6) 8. KNX-AM/FM (3.5) 9. KIIS (3.2) 10. KLOS (3.0)

11. KRCD (2.8) 12. KRRL “Real,”  KYSR “Alt” (2.7) 14. KLAX, KPCC (2.6) 16. KJLH, KKGO “Go Country,” KSCA (2.4) 19. KBUE, KXOL (2.2)

21.KLLI “Cali,” KROQ (2.1) 23. KLYY (1.9) 24. KUSC (1.8) 25. KPWR “Power” (1.5) 26. KKJZ “K-Jazz” (1.3) 27. KLAC (1.2) 28. KCRW, KDLD (1.1) 30. KDAY, KFWB (1.0)

32. KEIB (0.9) 33. KRLA (0.8) 34. KABC, KFSH (0.7) 36. KCSN “88.5” (0.6) 37. KSPN, KWIZ (0.5) 39. KKLA, KRTH Online Stream (0.3)

41. KTNQ, KWKW (0.2) 43. KHJ, KIRN, KPFK, KROQ Online Stream, KTWV Online Stream (0.1)