KWOD

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KWOD
City of license	Sacramento, California
Broadcast area	Sacramento, California
Slogan	Everything Alternative
First air date	1957
Frequency	106.5 FM MHz
Format	Modern Rock
ERP	50,000 watts
Class	B
Owner	Entercom
Website	www.kwod.net

KWOD is a commercial radio station in Sacramento, California, broadcasting on 106.5 FM.

KWOD airs a modern rock music format.

Contents 1 History 2 Trivia 3 External links 4 References

[edit] History

The 106.5 frequency in Sacramento signed on in 1957 with the call letters, KJML, which adopted a number of format changes before settling with the beautiful music format - or what some have called "instrumental elevator music." Royce International Broadcasting acquired the station in 1977 dropping the beautiful music format in favor of an adult contemporary/jazz music hybrid with a change of call letters to the current, KWOD, which was named after quadrophonic sound, as the station was one of the first to experiment with the technology that never caught on.

From 1977 to 2003, KWOD was independently-owned by Royce International Broadcasting headed by Edward R. Stolz II.

In the late 1970's, the adult contemporary/jazz hybrid music format was dropped in favor of aTop 40 music format.

In 1985, KWOD was rated as the second most listened to station ages (12+) - under the programming of PD Tom Chase and MD Mr. Ed Lambert behind cross-town KSFM. The popular morning show of this period was "The Masters & Johnson Morning Radio Clinic" featuring Doug Masters and Marty Johnson. Other jocks throughout the Chase era included Dave Diamond, Dean Stevens, Dave Skyler, Greg Lane, Melanie Evans, John Edwards, Panama Jack, Rick Foster, Russ Martin and Alex Cosper. Chase left in late 1987 to program competitor KROY and Mr. Ed followed to become KROY's MD in early 1988.

In 1988, the morning show became "Sterling and Steele in The Morning" featuring PD Jeff Hunter (Terry Steele) and Charlie Simons (Tom Sterling) following the resignation of Marty Johnson, as Doug Masters moved to middays. The rest of the full-time line-up of this period included "Jammin'" John Edwards and Panama Jack in afternoons, Pat Garrett "The Night Hawk" in evenings and Alex Cosper in late nights. Other jocks included "Wild" Bill Shakespeare, Vince Simon, Rick Neal and Rick Foster. Rex McNeill did weekend overnights and was responsible for cleaning the KWOD Power van after late night station parties. Sterling and Steele left in 1989 to do mornings in San Jose and were replaced by a temporary irreverent show that failed called the Renegades.

Gerry Cagle arrived in late 1989 to oversee programming as Operations Manager. Ratings fell sharply beginning in 1988 (as documented in the Sacramento Bee) as KWOD fell into third place in a three way battle with cross-town competitors KSFM and KROY. Even after KROY changed to The Eagle as a classic rock station, the ratings remained dismal leading to a change of format in 1991 to a Top 40/modern rock music hybrid which evolved into a modern rock music format.

After Cagle's departure in 1993, programming decisions went to Alex Cosper, who shifted the format to full-time Alternative without the top 40 music. This change of format proved to be a success as noted by a ratings surge. The line-up included the morning team of Shawn Cash and Jeff Jensen followed by Cosper in middays, Brad Adams in afternoons and Nick Monroe in evenings. Later in 1993, Monroe moved to afternoons and Joe Gomez moved to nights. By the summer, Giles Hendriksen from the U.K. became the afternoon host and Ally Storm began doing evenings in 1994. The station reached its ratings peak as an alternative station in the summer of 1995 with a 5.2 (12+) share, making it one of the highest rated alternative stations in America at the time (as documented in the 12/9/95 issue of Billboard). It also beat all four other rock stations in the market. Cosper left the station in 1996 and later did radio in Milwaukee and San Francisco. Cosper later wrote a book about his experience called, "The Rise of Alternative Radio."

Ron Bunce assumed control of KWOD's programming in 1997, and took the station to an edgier harder rock direction, which peaked at 4.5 (12+) in the Arbitron ratings. Throughout the 2000s KWOD stayed below a 4 share, but at times was competitive with rock station KRXQ. Over time, there was a lot of staff turnover. Morning personalities Shawn & Jeff left for KZZO in 2001 and were succeeded by Boomer and the Dave. Andy Sims also came on board in 2001, and in 2003, Entercom acquired KWOD after a seven-year court battle, stemming from an apparent deal to sell the station, back in 1996. Comedian Kelly Pryce eventually replaced Dave and the show later featured DJ Mervin and Ian Gary.

In Spring, 2005, KWOD was fully overhauled, and became "KWOD v2.0", with a more Modern AC approach. Artists such as John Mayer and Tracy Chapman were added as harder rock bands like KoЯn and Deftones were dropped. The entire air staff was also replaced. The station has since shifted back toward its original approach, but the heritage KWOD airstaff (Boomer and The Dave, Andy Sims, Nick Monroe, and Capone) did not shift back with it, setting KWOD back to square one. The 18-34 ratings for KWOD, which were consistently ranked in the top 5 in the market before the sale, have improved, although not to previous levels. Since the sale, KWOD's overall 12+ ratings have been under a 3 share.

In early 2006, KWOD picked up the syndicated Adam Carolla show for morning drive, and since has grown into a more focused project led by its disc jockeys and a strong program of music complemented by a successful "Never More Than 2 Minutes of Commercials" campaign.

[edit] Trivia

• Rex McNeill started his legendary career at KWOD after Alex Cosper helped McNeill get the job at KWOD based on his acting ability.

• The last song ever played on the original KWOD 106.5 was the Incubus song "Nice To Know You".

• After all the DJ's where let go after it changed to KWOD 2.0, jock Nick Monroe opened up a Beach Hut Deli in downtown Sacramento.

• Capone and Andy Sims are the only jocks to have worked at both the original and newer versions of KWOD. Andy Sims is now heard mornings on KWOD's sister station KCTC as one-half of the Morning Retort with Scott and Sims.

[edit] External links

• KWOD website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for KWOD

[edit] References

• "The Rise of Alternative Radio", by Alex Cosper
• Arbitron, Radio & Records, Billboard, Sacramento Bee, All Access