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980 KFWB Am flipping?

I suppose this means one thing... CBS is not planning to flip 94.7 or another FM to Sports anytime soon. They likely wouldn't give affiliation to 980 if they were intending to use it on FM. Even though KFWB is in a trust controlled by CBS, I assume that will end shortly, and the relationship will be as a CBS Sports affiliate. If CBS were thinking the start of an FM Sports station were imminent, 980 could easily affiliate with NBC Sports or Yahoo Sports, which are also 24/7 networks.

When KFWB flips, that will give LA five Sports stations:

570 Fox
710 ESPN
830 also ESPN
980 CBS
1330 Deportes

And 1090 Tijuana-San Diego, also a CBS affiliate, can easily be heard in LA as well. Of course, 570, 710 and 1090 are mostly local, just relying on their networks overnights and weekends. Let's see if being the fourth English language Sports station brings much to KFWB's bottom line.
 
DavidEduardo said:


KLAC comes close, but even the great propagation of 570 can't make the signal totally usable in the farther reaches of the market, like the Antilope Valley, western San Fernando Valley and the southernmost parts of the OC.

After that, nobody has nearly a good enough signal to be fully competitive.
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I find it hard to believe that KLAC doesn't make it out to the west San Fernando Valley. (I can see it failing to reach Antelope Valley as the signal has to get over/past the San Gabriels, or south Orange County, which is halfway to San Diego, after all.) Are you talking West Hills/Calabasas/Chatsworth or perhaps farther out in say, Thousand Oaks or Newbury Park, which is really the Conejo Valley?
 
It turns out that the KFWB Asset Trust didn't really mean it when they told all the station employees that everyone would be terminated on August 31. Don Barrett is reporting that Joe Cala, Bob Harvey and Bill Seward will remain when the sports format debuts.
 
hm insulators said:
I find it hard to believe that KLAC doesn't make it out to the west San Fernando Valley. (I can see it failing to reach Antelope Valley as the signal has to get over/past the San Gabriels, or south Orange County, which is halfway to San Diego, after all.) Are you talking West Hills/Calabasas/Chatsworth or perhaps farther out in say, Thousand Oaks or Newbury Park, which is really the Conejo Valley?
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Conejo Valley is not in the LA market. I am talking about the farthest points in LA County along the 101 and 118. Noisy signal in the daytime, very inconsistent at night. Thousand Oaks is at the extreme of the 5 mV/m signal, and in the LA environment, around a 10 mV/m signal is needed. So the Agoura Hills and Calabasas areas are very marginal in cars and unlistenable in most homes and buildings.
 
Gregg. said:
I

1330 Deportes
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While it is a mouthful, the name of KWKW is ESPN Deportes en Español. "Deportes" just means "sports" and is used to define what ESPN is to listeners not familiar with the brand.

And 1090 Tijuana-San Diego, also a CBS affiliate, can easily be heard in LA as well.
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1090 may be somewhat usable along the coast, and in Orange County, but it is barely listenable elsewhere. Between the noise levels that have increased and the apparent poor maintenance of the facility since Ing. Wilkins passed away, 1090 is not a viable LA signal.
 
Okay, David, let's assume that the reason KWKW uses the Spanish word for sports in its identifier of "ESPN Deportes en Español" is to define the format for those who may be unfamiliar with ESPN. All right. But can you explain why KWKW uses the word "Español"? I'm guessing that a majority of Spanish-speaking people who turn on KWKW would be able to recognize the language.
 
LARadioRewind said:
Okay, David, let's assume that the reason KWKW uses the Spanish word for sports in its identifier of "ESPN Deportes en Español" is to define the format for those who may be unfamiliar with ESPN. All right. But can you explain why KWKW uses the word "Español"? I'm guessing that a majority of Spanish-speaking people who turn on KWKW would be able to recognize the language.
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It's likely for promotional purposes for people who haven't yet listened. If you were in a country where multiple languages were spoken, and there were 80 radio stations in your local listening area, if you saw the English word "sports", you might still have some doubt as to what language you'd hear when you tuned in. "ESPN Sports in English" would eliminate any doubt. Same here. It's "ESPN Sports in Spanish".
 
K.M. Richards has pointed out that Joe Cala, Bob Harvey and Bill Seward are heard on KNX and KFWB but are actually employed by Total Traffic. Today Don Barrett is reporting that Jim Rome will be heard live from 9 to noon on weekdays on the new "Beast 980." There is a KBST in Big Spring, Texas---BST, get it? Bill Earl, a friend and author and the official KRLA historian, thinks that KFWB will try to obtain those call letters. Has anybody heard anything to support that belief?
 
I don't know why a call letter change would be worth pursuing. It's two seconds at the top of the hour. KLAC didn't pursue KFOX for "Fox Sports" (and that would have brought those calls back to Southern California).

David, has something changed in the PPM world or are call letters more irrelevant than ever if you're branding with a name?
 
michael hagerty said:
I don't know why a call letter change would be worth pursuing. It's two seconds at the top of the hour. KLAC didn't pursue KFOX for "Fox Sports" (and that would have brought those calls back to Southern California).

David, has something changed in the PPM world or are call letters more irrelevant than ever if you're branding with a name?
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About the only thing calls are depended on for today is at the sales level where buyers use calls to identify stations they are likely unfamiliar with otherwise.
 
Remember when KGFJ was losing listeners to new R&B station KDAY and in 1977 changed their historic (since 1926) call letters to KKTT, "The Katt"? The "image makeover" wasn't successful and two years later the KGFJ call letters returned. Michael is right: many stations now use their call letters only at the top of each hour. I've seen several radio station websites where the call letters aren't even used on the "Contact us" page---just the cutesy name!
 
LARadioRewind said:
Remember when KGFJ was losing listeners to new R&B station KDAY and in 1977 changed their historic (since 1926) call letters to KKTT, "The Katt"? The "image makeover" wasn't successful and two years later the KGFJ call letters returned. Michael is right: many stations now use their call letters only at the top of each hour. I've seen several radio station websites where the call letters aren't even used on the "Contact us" page---just the cutesy name!
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What's odd about that was the timing. KDAY's numbers exploded back in '74. By '78, their numbers were half what they were.
 
KFWB's new program director is Owen Murphy, who programmed ESPN affiliate KIRO in Seattle, 2009-10, and has worked as a producer for ESPN hosts Dan Patrick and Mike & Mike (Mike Greenberg & Mike Golic).
 
And now KFWB has snatched the Westwood One NFL, NCAA Football and Basketball (including March Madness) packages away from KLAC. Anybody still think the station is not taking the new format seriously?
 
KFWB will also provide coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, August 5-21. Listening to the Olympics on the radio will probably be every bit as exciting as listening to a golf tournament on the radio or listening to a NASCAR race on the radio or.....
 
LARadioRewind said:
KFWB will also provide coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, August 5-21. Listening to the Olympics on the radio will probably be every bit as exciting as listening to a golf tournament on the radio or listening to a NASCAR race on the radio or.....
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Yep. You simply cannot appreciate the magic that is synchronized swimming until you hear it live on the radio.
 
New program director Owen Murphy just couldn't wait until September 1. He's announced that KFWB will join CBS Sports Radio at midnight on the night of August 24. A live and local morning show will debut on September 8. Does anyone have any guesses as to who it will be?
 
Juls from Philadelphia - CBS got tired of him ragging them about WPHT. He was advocating sports radio as he answer to AM's problems so they decided to give him a shot - just not in Philly.
 
He'll have a tough job because he is on the Clipper's station, but the proven formula for successful local based sports talk is Lakers, Lakers, Lakers...
 
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