In addition to a standard analog transmission, KNX-FM broadcasts in the HD Radio format and streams online via Audacy. KNX-FM’s HD2 subchannel carries Audacy's LGBTQ-oriented talk/EDM format "Channel Q", and KNX-HD3 features a non-stop dance mixshow format billed as "Fire Lane".
History
Early years
In 1954, the station signed on as KFMU and operated under those call letters during the 1950s and early 1960s. It was originally licensed to the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale and was owned by Nicolas M. Brazy.[1] KFMU aired an easy listening format known as "Good Music". The station was a subsidiary of Metropolitan Theatres Corp., which by 1959 was program testing KFMW in San Bernardino, and held a permit for a KFMX in San Diego as well as two other stations.[2]
In the late 1960s, KFMU was purchased by Storer Broadcasting and became home to KGBS-FM, as a sister station to KGBS (1020 AM). The two stations carried a country music format. Since its AM station was a daytimer, only authorized to be on the air during daylight hours, the FM station allowed the format to be heard around the clock, for those who had FM radios. In the early 1970s, the station experimented with rock and roll and pop music formats before switching to a soft country format in 1973, when it adopted the name "Gentle Country". During the July 8, 1972, edition of American Top 40, Casey Kasem listed KGBS as the show's affiliate in Los Angeles. In 1976, KGBS-FM continued with its country music format while its AM sister station switched to top 40. On August 28, 1978, the FM station changed its call letters to KHTZ while continuing with its country music format.
On July 31, 1979, Storer, after having sold the AM radio station which was now known as KTNQ (Ten-Q), moved its top-40 format to 97.1 FM and began broadcasting as KHTZ ("K-Hits"). For a few hours, the two stations simulcast the signal until KTNQ switched to Spanish-language programming at noon. Within a few weeks, KHTZ evolved into an adult contemporary outlet. On November 27, 1985, the station changed its call letters to KBZT and was known as "K-Best 97".
Classic rock era
On September 26, 1986, at 3 p.m., the station was renamed KLSX and flipped to a classic rock format.[3] The call letters KLSX were chosen to sound like the word "classics".
To demonstrate the vastness of the station's on-air library, KLSX advertised "no-repeat workdays", not playing any song more than once per day. An exception was when the station played one song twice as part of a contest; listeners could win a prize for being the destination caller and identify correctly the intentionally repeated track. Additionally, KLSX hosted an annual "A—Z" event where the entire library was played in alphabetical order by artist during weekday hours, a playlist that ran about 100 hours. Whenever the station played "Southern Man" by Neil Young, it was always followed by Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama".
In 1988, the long-running Beatles show Breakfast with the Beatles with host Deirdre O'Donoghue moved to KLSX from KNX-FM, a show which she began doing on KMET in 1983. After she died in 2001, the show was taken over by Chris Carter. On September 3, 2006, the station broadcast its last airing of Breakfast with the Beatles, which was then replaced by infomercials, drawing some local protest.[4][5] Then-host Carter has stated that the loss of the program can be attributed to the departure of Howard Stern.[citation needed]Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and Yoko Ono have all called into the program. In late November 2006, local classic rock station KLOS picked up the show.
On July 21, 1991, the station began to air the syndicated Howard Stern Show and took on the slogan "Howard Stern all morning, classic rock all day".
On July 31, 1995, KLSX changed to a hot talk format on weekdays and went by the moniker "Real Radio 97.1", and had hosts such as Susan Olsen and Ken Ober, Scott Ferrall, Riki Rachtman, Kato Kaelin, Mother Love, Carlos Oscar, Voxx, and the Regular Guys (Larry Wachs and Eric von Haessler).[6][7] Howard Stern was critical of this format change and referred to it as "Hindenburg Radio". In 1996, the station dropped the "Real Radio" name and became known as "The FM Talk Station", hiring new hosts; the following year, the station began carrying the syndicated Tom Leykis Show, becoming its flagship station. On April 1, 2002, KLSX temporarily brought back Kaelin and the "Real Radio" slogans and jingles as part of an April Fools' Day joke.
KLSX was owned by Greater Media until 1997, when Greater Media swapped KLSX and sister station KRLA for three stations: WMMR in Philadelphia and WBOS and WOAZ in Boston. The deal enabled Greater Media to operate larger clusters in these two markets while exiting Los Angeles. The swap led KLSX into the ownership of CBS Radio, where it joined FM radio stations KTWV and KCBS-FM along with AM radio stations KNX and KFWB.
From 1995 until its acquisition by CBS in 1997, KLSX played alternative music on weekends. Instead of competing with its now-sister station, established modern rock outlet KROQ-FM, it was asked to switch to adult album alternative, a blend of album rock and alternative music that appealed to a 35-and-up age demographic. That format continued on weekends until 1999, when the talk format was expanded to weekends, leaving Sunday morning's Breakfast with the Beatles as the only program that played music. During that era and prior to being sold, KLSX boasted the only late-night talk shows in Los Angeles featuring women as hosts: Dr. X and subsequently a short-run of Shrink Rap. KLSX was also the local home of the syndicated novelty music program Dr. Demento.
A number of changes came to KLSX in 2005. On October 25, it was announced that Adam Carolla would take over as the station's morning show host in January 2006 due to Howard Stern's departure to satellite radio. On that same day, the station also became known on-air as "97.1 Free FM" — so-called to highlight that its stations broadcast free-to-air, funded by commercials, whereas satellite radio requires a subscription fee. In addition to KLSX, CBS Radio introduced its Free FM branding on KSCF in San Diego, KIFR in San Francisco, and other hot talk-formatted outlets. Those three California stations carried The Tom Leykis Show and The John and Jeff Show. Locally, Tim Conway Jr. and comedy writer Doug Steckler co-hosted the evening show (The Conway and Steckler Show) until June 2005, when Steckler's contract was not renewed. Funnyman/impressionist Brian Whitman was brought in as Steckler's replacement, and the show was renamed The Conway and Whitman Show. The Frosty, Heidi and Frank Show was picked up and, until January 2007, was syndicated to KSCF.
In 2007, KLSX added Danny Bonaduce to The Adam Carolla Show (replacing sportscaster Dave Dameshek). In 2008, he was given his own (local) one-hour show following Frosty, Heidi and Frank, in a timeslot that had been vacant since the departure of entertainment reporter Sam Rubin in 2003. Also in 2008, Brian Whitman unexpectedly left the station in March. Tim Conway, Jr. ended up hosting the evening show alone. Arsenio Hall was a semi-regular guest host with Tim on TheTim Conway Jr.Show on Wednesday nights in 2008–09.
KLSX was the last station to use the Free FM branding, having abandoned the moniker in early October 2008, signaling the official desertion of the brand nationally by CBS Radio.[citation needed] The program director for KLSX at this time was Jack Silver. The assistant program director and creative voice of the station was Rich Boerner, who also programmed the weekend music formats.
Top 40/CHR era
In early 2009, speculation arose on whether KLSX would be switching formats. On February 17, information started to emerge that KLSX was to drop hot talk on February 20 and flip to a top 40 format aimed at younger listeners, taking the "AMP" format that was created by KROQ-FM program director Kevin Weatherly and APD John Michael on the HD2 channel of KCBS-FM.
The station's main line up of The Adam Carolla Show, Frosty, Heidi and Frank, Danny Bonaduce (in a solo spot known as Broadcasting Bonaduce), The Tom Leykis Show, The Tim Conway Jr. Show, and The John and Jeff Show were all given advance notice of the format shift and afforded the opportunity to host final shows to explain the situation and say their goodbyes. "97.1 FM Talk" ended on February 20, 2009 at 5 p.m. (Pacific time), giving longtime radio veteran Tom Leykis the final sign-off and the opportunity to "blow up" the station (in reference to a catchphrase used by the show's callers, "Blow me up, Tom!").[9]
The new format, branded "97.1 AMP Radio", then launched with "Paranoid" by Kanye West featuring Mr Hudson (which coincidentally was also playing on its new rival KIIS-FM at the same time), beginning a commercial-free block of 10,000 songs, similar to the debuts of the current KDAY in 2004 and, in 1989, KQLZ (Pirate Radio). The launch of "AMP" marked the first top 40 radio battle in Los Angeles since KPWR switched to a hip hop-heavy rhythmic contemporary format in 1994. On June 30, 2009, the station changed its callsign to KAMP to go with the current format, and changed again on July 7 to KAMP-FM in order to avoid confusion with KAMP (AM), an unlicensed student-run radio station at the University of Arizona.
On January 4, 2010, KAMP-FM rounded out their on-air lineup, which featured Carson Daly in mornings, Chris Booker middays, Ted Stryker afternoons, and Casey McCabe at night. CBS Radio would later expand the "AMP Radio" brand to Detroit, Boston, Orlando, New York City, Philadelphia, and Dallas. As of 2021[update], all of these stations had dropped the "AMP Radio" brand and flipped to different formats, although the Los Angeles, and Philadelphia outlets have the same top 40 format under different brandings.
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom.[10] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on November 17.[11][12]
Many personnel changes have occurred in the years following the merger. Carson Daly left KAMP-FM on July 28, 2017.[13] The morning drive timeslot remained open until February 2018, when the station introduced a new morning show hosted by former WBMP New York morning host Edgar "Shoboy" Sotelo, former WWWQ Atlanta morning show co-host and comedian Brian Moote, and Billboard news correspondent Chelsea Briggs.[14][15] Moote left KAMP-FM in July 2019,[16] while Sotelo left in October 2019. The departures would result in the on-air lineup being revised, making Booker move from afternoons to mornings, and adding former KPWR morning co-host Krystal Bianca to mornings, Christen Limon to middays, and Yesi Ortiz to afternoons, while McCabe remains as night host.[17] Booker was cut by Entercom due to layoffs from the COVID-19 pandemic on April 3, 2020.[18] On August 3, 2020, The Morning Mess from Phoenix sister station KALV-FM, hosted by Joey Boy, Aneesh Ratan, Jeana Shepherd, and Karla Hernandez, began broadcasting on KAMP.[19]
"97.1 AMP" logo used from March-September 2020
On March 30, 2020, KAMP-FM dropped "Radio" from their moniker and re-branded as "97.1 AMP". At some point the following September, it reverted to the original "97.1 AMP Radio" branding.
"97.1 NOW" logo used April to December 2021
On April 15, 2021, KAMP rebranded as "97.1 Now", and the slogan changed to "LA's Party Station." The station concurrently applied to change its call letters to KNOU, which took effect on April 22.[20] At the time of the rebrand, KAMP was the last remaining "AMP Radio" branded station launched by CBS.
KNX simulcast
On December 6, 2021, Audacy announced that KNOU would flip to a simulcast of KNX; the change took place at 3 p.m. that day, dropping the "Now" format about 30 seconds into "Sunflower" by Post Malone and Swae Lee. With this move, KIIS-FM remained as the only top 40-formatted station in the Los Angeles market.[21]
On December 21, 2021, KNOU changed their call letters to KNX-FM, further reflecting the station's primary signal shift to the return of FM band, while maintaining its existing 1070 AM frequency.
HD Radio
KNX-FM broadcasts in HD Radio with three digital subchannels:
KNX-HD1 is a digital simulcast of the FM analog signal.
KNX-HD3 airs a non-stop dance mixshow format billed as "Fire Lane".
HD2 history
On January 8, 2018, Entercom entered a deal to bring the New York City-based dance/EDM webcast Pulse 87 to the Los Angeles airwaves as a HD2 subchannel of KAMP-FM, billing it as "Pulse 97.1 HD2". The subchannel replaced the simulcast of KNX, which moved over to the HD2 subchannel of KCBS-FM.[22][23]
On August 31, 2018, KAMP-HD2 dropped Pulse 87 to make room for the newly launched "Out Now Radio", an talk/EDM format targeted to the LGBTQ community.[24] Many of the hosts on Out Now Radio were based at Entercom's Los Angeles studios. On November 1, 2018, Out Now Radio rebranded as "Channel Q".[25]
HD3 history
On March 14, 2019, KAMP-FM launched an HD3 subchannel with a nonstop dance/EDM mixshow format, billed as "Fire Lane". The music and presentation is similar to Pulse 87's format. Entercom expanded the brand to its Radio.com platform on August 5, 2019.
Related Research Articles
WTDY-FM is a commercial radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. and broadcasts a Top 40/CHR format. WTDY's studios are co-located with located within Audacy's corporate headquarters in Center City, Philadelphia, while its transmitter is located off Domino Lane in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia, a site where other local FM and TV towers are located.
KNX is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California. It airs an all-news radio format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. KNX is one of the oldest stations in the United States, having received its first broadcasting license, as KGC, in December 1921, in addition to tracing its history to the September 1920 operations of an earlier amateur station. The studios and offices—shared with KNX-FM, KCBS-FM, KROQ-FM, KRTH and KTWV—are located on Los Angeles' Miracle Mile.
KCBS-FM is a radio station in Los Angeles, California, serving Greater Los Angeles on 93.1 MHz and owned by Audacy, Inc. KCBS-FM airs an adult hits music format branded as "93.1 Jack FM".
KIIS-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, United States and broadcasts to the Greater Los Angeles area. The station airs a contemporary hit radio (CHR) or "top 40" format. Owned by iHeartMedia, KIIS-FM is the origin of the KISS-FM brand, and serves as the flagship station for the radio program On Air with Ryan Seacrest. The KIIS-FM studios are located in Burbank, while the station transmitter resides on Mount Wilson north of Los Angeles.
KXNT is a commercial AM radio station licensed to North Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It is owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. and carries a talk radio format. The radio studios are located in the unincorporated Clark County area of Spring Valley, while KXNT's transmitter is located on U.S. Route 93 at Great Valley Parkway in North Las Vegas.
KMXB is a commercial radio station licensed to Henderson, Nevada, and serving the Las Vegas radio market. KMXB airs a hot adult contemporary radio format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. The station's studios and offices are located in the unincorporated Clark County community of Spring Valley, while its transmitter is atop Black Mountain in Henderson.
KXST is a commercial AM radio station licensed to North Las Vegas, Nevada, and broadcasting to the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc., and airs a sports gambling format, carrying programming from the BetQL network. The studios and offices are located in the unincorporated Clark County area of Spring Valley. In April 2018, KXST became the official Las Vegas affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers Radio Network.
WBGB – branded as Big 103 – is a commercial adult hits radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves Greater Boston. The WBGB studios are located in the Boston neighborhood of Brighton, while the station's transmitter resides in nearby Newton. Besides a standard analog transmission, WBGB broadcasts over three HD Radio channels, and is available online via Audacy.
WQMP is a radio station licensed to Daytona Beach serving the Orlando and Space Coast areas of Central Florida. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format branded as "FM 101.9". Its studios are located in Maitland and the transmitter is in Orange City.
Free FM was a short-lived, mostly-talk-radio format and brand name for eleven FM CBS Radio stations in the United States, and was created because of Howard Stern's departure to Sirius Satellite Radio in January 2006. Free FM was given its name to highlight that its stations broadcast free-to-air, instead of requiring a subscription fee like satellite radio services. Launched on October 25, 2005, Free FM was phased out over the course of 2007, with the final station using it, KLSX, dropping the brand in November 2008.
KWFN – branded as 97.3 The Fan – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to serve San Diego, California. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station covers both the Greater San Diego market and the San Diego–Tijuana transborder agglomeration, and is the flagship station for the San Diego Padres Radio Network, in addition to being the market affiliate for CBS Sports Radio.
WFUN-FM is an FM radio station in St. Louis, Missouri. The station airs an Adult R&B radio format branded as "96.3 The Lou". Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station's studios are located on Olive Street in St. Louis, while its transmitter is located off Watson Road in Shrewsbury.
KRLD-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Dallas, Texas, and serving the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. KRLD-FM is owned by Audacy, Inc., and airs a sports radio format. The station's studios and offices are located along North Central Expressway in Uptown Dallas, and the transmitter site is in Cedar Hill.
KJKK is a commercial FM radio station in Dallas and serving the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. It is owned by Audacy, Inc., and airs an adult hits radio format known as "JACK FM." The station's studios and offices are located along North Central Expressway in Uptown Dallas.
KQPS is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Palm Desert, California, United States and serves the Palm Springs—Coachella Valley radio market. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. KQPS's transmitter is off Varner Road in Cathedral City, amid other Palm Springs-area FM and TV towers.
KKHH is a commercial FM radio station in Houston, Texas. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs an adult hits radio format. The studios and offices are located in the Greenway Plaza district of Houston.
KAMP – branded as 1430 AM The Bet – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Aurora, Colorado, and serving the Denver metropolitan area. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station's format focuses on sports betting, and is the market affiliate for CBS Sports Radio and the BetQL Network. The KAMP studios located in the Denver Tech Center, while the transmitter is located in nearby Highlands Ranch, near Colorado State Highway 470. In addition to a standard analog transmission, KAMP is also available on the second HD subchannel of KQMT, and is available online via Audacy.
Pulse 87 is an online radio station with an EDM music format. It started out as the audio feed of a channel-6 “Franken-FM” television station in New York City, audible on traditional FM radios at 87.7, before moving solely to streaming online.
KSON is a commercial radio station licensed to San Diego, California. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station broadcasts a country music format.
Channel Q is an LGBT lifestyle talk and EDM top 40 radio network created, owned, and operated by Audacy, Inc. The network airs on the Audacy internet radio service, as well as on Audacy-owned terrestrial radio stations throughout the United States. Channel Q's programming schedule consists of LGBT-centered talk shows, most notably a rebooted version of Loveline, along with Dance/Top 40 music on afternoons, late nights, and weekends.
* = Audacy operates under a CBS Brands License Agreement as producer with distribution handled by Westwood One. † = Operated by Bloomberg L.P. pursuant to a time brokerage agreement.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
