KMEL

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KMEL KMEL-1 KMEL-2
City of license	San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose Concord Walnut Creek
Broadcast area	San Francisco Bay Area
Branding	"106 KMEL"
Slogan	The People's Station, The Bay Area's Home for Hip Hop and R&B
Frequency	106.1 (MHz)
Format	Urban Contemporary (Mainstream Urban)
ERP	69,000 watts 600 watts(horizontal) 560 watts (vertical) 0.1 watts (horizontal) 6500 watts (vertical)
Class	B D D
Callsign meaning	CAMEL 106 (name of former branding and camel mascot)
Owner	Clear Channel Communications
Website	http://www.106kmel.com/

KMEL (106.1 FM) is an Urban Contemporary-formatted radio station located in San Francisco, California, and owned by Clear Channel Communications.

KMEL broadcasts at an effective radiated power of 69,000 watts from the San Bruno Mountain area south of San Francisco. The station's signal covers areas as far north as Santa Rosa, as far south as the Santa Cruz Mountains, and as far east as Concord and the Livermore Valley. It is currently one of the highest rated stations in the Bay Area, with the largest listening audience in the 18-to-34 demographic.

Contents 1 History 2 KMEL's current format and programming 3 Points of interest 3.1 Alumni 3.2 Role in the Hyphy Movement 3.3 The controversial firing of Davey D 3.4 Allegations of vandalism involving the KMEL Street Team 3.5 KMEL in Mexico 3.6 KMEL in Japanese pop culture 4 Station Lineup 5 Station Management 6 External links 7 References

[edit] History

RKO General was the owner of both Top 40 powerhouse KFRC and its sister station, KFRC-FM, playing oldies and soft rock as "K106". In July 1977, after Century Broadcasting purchased the FM station, K106 was rebranded KMEL, playing Album-Oriented Rock ("AOR"). Its mascot was a camel (hence the call letters) and was known on-air as "Kamel 106".

KMEL was a top-rated station during that time, and with newer rival KSFX helped force legendary rival KSAN to switch to country music in 1980. In 1980, KMEL signed popular New York radio personality and San Francisco native Alex Bennett as host of its new morning show. Bennett, along with newsreader/sidekick Joe Regelski, helped propel KMEL even higher in the ratings. During this era, afternoon DJ Geno Mitchellini also helped give KMEL one of the highest ratings in the Bay Area market for his afternoons time slot.

The year 1982 saw many changes at Bay Area rock stations. In January 1982, KMEL obtained a new rival when KCBS-FM (97.3) transformed itself from an Adult Contemporary-format station into KRQR, "The Bay Area Rocker," and began its long run as a dominant rock station. In May of that year, KSFX dropped rock and went to a talk format as KGO-FM. A month later, Bennett and Regelski both left KMEL in a disagreement over a newly hired consultant, only to resurface in August at new rock station KQAK, "The Quake". In September, KFOG entered the battle for rock-listener marketshare after dropping its Beautiful Music format in favor of an eclectic mix of rock.

With four AOR stations in San Francisco, in addition to two more in San Jose, KMEL faced stiff competition. Though KQAK gave up its AOR format the following April and picked up Modern Rock, KRQR and KFOG still put enough pressure on KMEL to bring about a significant programming change at the station.

KMEL began broadcasting in a mainstream, Contemporary Hit Radio ("CHR") format on August 25, 1984. The new "106 KMEL" was successful in capturing marketshare, and its success helped push main CHR rival KITS toward Modern Rock formatting. By 1987, the station's programming started to drift in a rhythmic direction under the slogan, "106.1 KMEL, Northern California's Power Station." Program director Keith Naftaly helped make this incarnation of KMEL again one of the top stations in the Bay Area.

In early 1987, KMEL hired popular club DJ Cameron Paul away from rival KSOL, gaining his forward-thinking mix show and its sizable audience in the deal. This was a harbinger of a very progressive change in format and, as the '80s gave way to the '90s, KMEL became one of the first crossover pop stations in the nation to target young multiracial audiences with not-yet-mainstream hip-hop, dance, freestyle, house, and reggae music. These parallel music and marketing developments paved the way for KMEL's evolution into its present-day Urban Contemporary format.

In 1992 KSOL retooled itself and became "Wild 107.7" (KYLD), quickly emerging as KMEL's prime competitor for their mutual core audience demographic. The fierce competition over the coveted 18-34 "urban" listening audience continued for another four years until the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 made it substantially easier for radio stations to solve their problems with competitors by simply buying the competition. KMEL's owner, Evergreen Media, ended the ratings war with KYLD by purchasing it ­later that year.

Chancellor Broadcasting (later AMFM Inc.) later purchased Evergreen Media (along with subsidiaries KMEL and KYLD), and AMFM was then swallowed up by Clear Channel Communications via a $24 billion deal in 1999.

The station's slogan has changed numerous times over its history, most recently changing from "The People's Station" to "The Bay Area's Home for Hip Hop and R&B."

[edit] KMEL's current format and programming

The majority of KMEL's playlist features music under rubric of the Urban Contemporary format, heavy with hip-hop and R&B. In addition to competing with sister station KYLD, which uses a Rhythmic Contemporary format, KMEL also competes with its Urban Adult Contemporary ("Urban AC") counterparts: sister station KISQ and pioneering Urban AC station KBLX (owned by ICBC).

In addition to its typical daytime mixture of hip hop and R&B, KMEL plays R&B slow jams at night Sunday through Thursday and urban gospel Sunday mornings. KMEL is the only hip-hop/R&B station in its market to do this, though Urban AC-format stations KISQ and KBLX follow the same practice.

In line with its former slogan, "The People's Station," KMEL provides a home to the long-running and influential community-affairs show Street Soldiers, hosted by Dr. Joseph E. Marshall. However, the station's commitment to community activism in its programming was notably questioned by the activist community in the aftermath of the post-September 11th firing of DJ and long-time Community Affairs Coordinator David "Davey D" Cook. Though the station stated that economic considerations had forced it to let Cook go, many felt that he had been dismissed for programming decisions and on-air remarks construed as "unpatriotic" in light of the country's earnest mobilization for the War on Terror.^[1] (See "The controversial firing of Davey D," below)

[edit] Points of interest

[edit] Alumni

KMEL is noted as the station that helped launch the careers of many "West Coast" hip hop artists in the 1990s, such as Tupac Shakur, Hammer, and E-40, though it denied airtime to other local artists such as Too $hort and Mac Dre.^{[citation needed]}

Many popular Bay Area and national media personalities either got their start or spent time working at KMEL, including Theo Mizuhara, John London, Cameron Paul, Michael Erickson, the late Rick Chase, Rosary, Lisa St. Regis, Efren Sifuentes, Renel Lewis, and MTV's Sway and King Tech, as well as such up-and-coming stars as Short-E at KBMB in Sacramento and SliM at KQKS in Denver.

[edit] Role in the Hyphy Movement

The station has played a significant role in the genesis and promulgation of the "Hyphy Movement" in the San Francisco Bay Area by playing music from many of the local artists associated with hyphy. KMEL's mixshows have long contained exclusive hyphy music which can seldom be heard over the airwaves elsewhere in the country. Because the station broadcasts live via streaming audio from their website, it gives the genre a platform for possibly worldwide exposure (see "KMEL in Mexico," below).

[edit] The controversial firing of Davey D

On October 1, 2001, radio personality and hip-hop activist David "Davey D" Cook was terminated, due to what the station said were consistently low ratings. His dismissal occurred after new Program Director Michael Martin took charge of the station, happened at the same time as the station changed many programming elements, and closely coincided with the layoffs of several other station personnel, including on-air personalities Trace-Dog Nunez, Rosary Bides, and Franzen Wong. Cook, however, claims his departure was due to his having aired statements from California Congresswoman Barbara Lee and rapper Boots of The Coup voicing opposition to the War in Afghanistan.^{[citation needed]}

Cook's Street Knowledge program debuted in 1995 as a talk show for the hip-hop generation. The show, alongside sister show Street Soldiers, brought problems that faced the urban community of the Bay Area to the forefront of discussion. Cook said the termination of his show seemed to symbolize the end of an era in which community input, local music, and progressive politics were valued at KMEL.^{[citation needed]}

Cook charged that the last remaining community-affairs program, Street Soldiers, excludes his views. He noted that local artists,­ who make up one of the most vibrant and diverse rap music scenes in the country, are not heard on the station, and that he refused to listen to the station anymore.^{[citation needed]}

Since then, the forces of competition, particularly in the form of radio station Power 92.7, which briefly switched from a dance format to a hip-hop/R&B format similar to KMEL's, have led to a partial resolution to some of the issues raised by Cook, leading the station to reintroduce local artists to the station's playlist and to become somewhat more community oriented.

[edit] Allegations of vandalism involving the KMEL Street Team

Early 2004, KMEL again found itself embroiled in controversy. Members of the station's Street Team were accused of vandalism and of threatening employees of a competing hip hop station in the Bay Area market.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] KMEL in Mexico

KMEL has numerous fans in Mexico City, and there are rumors that KMEL's live webstream is being surreptitiously rebroadcast from an antenna located in a neighborhood somewhere in the northern part of the city. This is significant for hip-hop fans there, as the Federal District and environs have no dedicated hip-hop radio station of their own. A growing number of Mexico City-based fans of the hard-to-find hyphy music in particular are, reportedly, thrilled to have the signal available.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] KMEL in Japanese pop culture

The station's name and logo appear briefly as an Easter egg in the Japanese animated movie The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?

[edit] Station Lineup

Weekdays

• Chuy Gomez in the Morning with Chuy Gomez, Lady Ray, DJ Mindmotion, & Rommel 6-10AM
• Sana G (Throwback Mix with DJ Wilsey Wood at 11:50 AM-1PM) 10AM-2PM
• Super Snake (SBC DJ Rick Lee at 4:50 PM-6PM) 2-6PM
• Big Von (Top 7 songs at 7 PM, Chop Shop with DJ Scotty Fox at 7:45 PM-9PM) 6-10PM
• The 106KMEL Lounge (slow jams) 10PM-2AM
• Damn Its Late! with Big Von, Box Kev and Friends 2-5AM

Friday Mornings

• Flashback Fridays with Chuy Gomez (old school hip hop, R&B etc.) 8AM-10AM

Friday Nights

• Big Von The 106KMEL Chop Shop (mixshow with DJ Scotty Fox) 6:00PM-10PM
• School House Knock with Big Von (unreleased tracks and world premieres) 10PM-2AM

Saturdays

• The Hot Box with Box Kev & DJ Amen 2-4AM
• Cuddy Mac 6-10AM
• Chuy & Sana G's Top 20 Songs of the Week Countdown 10AM-Noon
• Chuy or Sana G Noon-2PM
• Drew Hef 2-7PM
• Big Von (Club 106 mixshow) 7PM-12AM
• The Wake Up Show with Sway & King Tech Midnight-2AM
• Drew Hef & ODC 2-4AM

Sundays

• Keep Hope Alive with Rev. Jesse Jackson - 5AM-6AM
• World Hit Gospel Show with Tinka 6-10AM
• Lady Ray or Cuddy Mac or Box Kev 10AM-3PM
• E-Feezy Radio (Mixshow with DJ Knuckles) 3-5PM
• Live in the Den with Big Tigger 5-8PM
• Street Soldiers with Dr. Joseph E. Marshall 8-10PM
• The 106KMEL Lounge (slow jams) 10PM-2AM
• Music 2-6AM

(On some holidays that fall on the weekends, KMEL will feature mixshows with various DJs that will last throughout the entire weekend.)

[edit] Station Management

• General Manager Kim Bryant
• Program Director Stacy Cunningham
• Music Director Big Von Johnson
• Public Affairs Director Dr. Joseph E. Marshall

[edit] External links

• 106KMEL, The People's Station, The Bay Area's Home for Hip Hop and R&B
• KMEL Summer Jam - The Original "Summer Jam" concerts by Andrew Knyte of NJS4E
• Cameron Paul Blog
• Kava: For 20 years, KMEL has been king of the hip-hop hill
• Query the FCC's FM station database for KMEL

[edit] References

1. ^ Baudry, Jennifer. ""Another 9/11 Media Scapegoat?"", AlterNet.org, December 19, 2001. Retrieved on March 1, 2007.