KLOS
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the radio station. For the town in Albania, see Klos, Albania.
 |
|
| Broadcast area | Los Angeles, California |
|---|---|
| Branding | 95.5 KLOS |
| Slogan | Southern California's Only Classic Rock Station |
| First air date | 1947 (as KECA), 1969 (as KLOS) |
| Frequency | 95.5 (MHz) |
| Format | Classic Rock |
| ERP | 61000 watts |
| Callsign meaning | LOS Angeles |
| Owner | Disney/ABC |
| Website | http://955klos.com |
95.5 KLOS is an FM classic rock radio station based in Los Angeles, California that debuted in 1969. KLOS is owned by ABC Radio, an arm of The Walt Disney Company, which has announced that it would sell its ABC Radio holdings including KLOS to Citadel Broadcasting. The sale is expected to close by the end of 2006. It is home to the nationally broadcast Mark & Brian radio show and the last remaining free-form rock and roll show, hosted by Jim Ladd.
[edit] History
On December 30, 1947, KECA-FM began broadcasting on 95.5 MHz, simulcasting the programming of AM station KECA 790. The FM station was owned by ABC since the beginning, and the call letters of the AM and FM stations were accordingly changed to KABC and KABC-FM in the 1950s. In 1960, KABC adopted an all-talk format.
On January 1, 1968, due to new FCC rules requiring FM stations to have separate programming from their AM counterparts, KABC-FM experimented with an all-news format, the first station in Los Angeles to have such a format. This experiment did not last long, as the format was dropped on March 11, 1968, the day that KFWB started its own all-news format.
Adopting a progressive rock format, the station acquired its new call letters KLOS in 1969. By 1972, along with sister stations like WPLJ New York, KLOS had evolved into an album-oriented rock format.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s "KLOS 95½" was a broad-based album rock station, playing both classic and new rock mixed together. By the early 1990s, KLOS moved to a harder rock format but evolved back to a more mainstream rock format by 1995. By 1996 the station mostly played classic rock.
In 1999 KLOS adopted the slogan "Classic Rock That Really Rocks", staying away from softer pop rock. Today it is a classic rock station that also plays a moderate amount of newer alternative rock and pop rock.
KLOS became the only strictly-classic rock station in the Los Angeles area in 2005 when rival KCBS-FM, formerly Arrow 93.1, became Jack FM. Since then, KLOS began taking pot-shots at Jack FM using sound bites such as "They play what they want; We play what you want to hear", and one time announced the names of previous classic/album rock stations that are no longer in existence since KLOS's 1969 debut, such as KMET and KNAC.
"Uncle Joe" Benson, a former Arrow 93 DJ, has joined KLOS since the introduction of Jack FM, and is on weekday afternoons from 3 pm to 8 pm. Another former Arrow DJ, Bob Coburn was already at KLOS prior to the Arrow/Jack FM flip, and is heard Saturday mid-days from 10 am to 2 pm, as well as on "Rockline Replay" (a live call-in show with Bob Coburn, taped Wednesday nights, and broadcast Saturday nights, 10 pm to midnight). Both Benson & Coburn had enjoyed previous, lengthy runs as KLOS jocks, since the 80s. Coburn was also at KMET in the 70s.
Joe Reiling has also recently returned to KLOS after an even longer absence. He was last heard in the mid-to-late 70's. He can now be heard on Saturday evenings from 7 am to midnight, playing syndicated shows "The Front Row" (live archived concerts, hosted by Cynthia Fox, 9 pm to 10 pm) & "Rockline Replay", as well as the occasional fill-in.
Dion is another part-time jock at KLOS that has been on overnights for several years. He is currently the only part-timer that has more than one airshift per week, working Saturdays 1 am to 6 am (following Jim Ladd), and Sundays from midnight to 5 am. He runs the syndicated show, "The Deep End with Nick Michaels", which just recently moved from Sundays 8-10 am to midnight-2 am. Dion was also at KLSX when they played classic rock.
During the early years of KLOS, the station operated in the long shadow of its more eclectic and avantgarde neighbor down the dial at 94.7, KMET. KMET operated from June 1968 to February 14, 1987, leaving the field wide open for KLOS to dominate practically without competition.
Sunday nights/Monday mornings KLOS airs a public affairs call-in talk show hosted by long time KLOS personality, Frank Sontag. Frank also is part of the Mark & Brian morning team. He runs the control board, as is a frequent contributor on the show.
KLOS also airs a midday show hosted by veteran KMET/KLSX DJ Cynthia Fox called "In Tune at Noon" where she features a daily celebration of events in Rock n Roll History and events in the News.
Recently (October, 2006), KLOS restructured it's daily lineup of radio hosts, following Mark & Brian's show. Cynthia Fox is now on from 10 am to 3 pm, "Uncle Joe" Benson from 3 pm to 8 pm, and Jim Ladd from 8 pm to 1 am. All three of their airshifts have increased by one hour. However, this has resulted in the dismissal of former evening DJ Gary Moore. Former overnight jock (ex-KQLZ) Mark Miller is now only heard hosting Saturday morning's "The Best of Mark & Brian Saturday Special" shows, from 6 am to 10 am. Miller's daily shift was replaced with automated programming, billed as "KLOS, After Hours", which runs from 1 am to 5 am, Tuesday through Friday mornings.
Finally, the long-revered Sunday morning show, "Breakfast With The Beatles", hosted by Chris Carter, and until recently, heard on KLSX, has moved to KLOS, and is heard on Sunday mornings from 9 am to noon. Prior to hosting Breakfast With the Beatles, Carter was heard on Channel 103.1/KACD in 2000, when they played Adult Alternative music. He is also the former bass player & producer for Dramarama, and produced and supervised the music for the film Mayor of the Sunset Strip, a rock documentary about influential LA DJ Rodney Bingenheimer of Modern Rock KROQ-FM, which in 2003 was nominated for Best Documentary by the Independent Spirit Awards.
Although KLOS bills itself as "Southern California's only classic rock station", that is not entirely true as there exists KGB in San Diego, which can sometimes even be heard in Los Angeles due to tropospheric ducting. This might be considered by most listeners to be nitpicking, since although KGB can occasionally be received in the Los Angeles area, it is out of range most of the time. The only other station in the area that can be considered to carry classic rock is KRTH, which broadened its "goodtime oldies" format to include more album rock and material from the mid to late 1970s after Jack FM took over KCBS. However, the majority of KRTH's format would not be considered classic rock. Jack-FM plays considerably more classic rock than any other station outside of KLOS.
[edit] Logos
 KLOS logo from 1972 to early 1980s |
 KLOS logo from early to mid 1980s |
 KLOS logo from late 1980s to early 1990s |
 KLOS logo from early to mid 1990s |
 KLOS logo from mid to late 1990s |
 KLOS logo from late 1990s to the present |
[edit] External links
| FM radio stations in the Los Angeles market (Arbitron #2, 25, and 120) | |
|
|
|
|
(Arbitron #2) |
|
|
|
|
|
San Bernardino (Arbitron #25) |
|
|
(Arbitron #120) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
