KLSX

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KLSX 97.1, Free FM, is a talk radio station in Los Angeles. It is the flagship station for the nationally syndicated Adam Carolla, Tom Leykis, and John and Jeff shows. Local shows include Frosty, Heidi and Frank, Danny Bonaduce, and The Tim Conway Show (Tim Conway Jr. is the son of actor Tim Conway). The station once broadcasted the long-running Beatles show "Breakfast with the Beatles" with host Chris Carter on Sunday mornings. The Beatles show is now on from 9 a.m. to noon on 95.5 KLOS.

Currently, KLSX is the only station that still uses the Free FM branding, although even they have reduced the usage of the brand. The program director for KLSX is Jack Silver.

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

In the late 1960s, 97.1 FM became home to KGBS-FM, a country music station owned by Storer Broadcasting. Since its AM station KGBS 1020 was only authorized to be on the air during daylight hours, this allowed the format to be broadcast 24 hours a day. In the early 1970s, the station experimented with rock 'n' roll and pop music formats before returning to country in 1973, when it adopted the name "Gentle Country". In 1976, KGBS-FM continued with its country music format while its AM sister station switched to a top-40 format. On August 28, 1978, the call letters changed 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 1020 (Ten-Q), moved its adult contemporary format to 97.1 FM and began broadcasting as KHTZ (K-Hits). For a few hours the two stations simulcasted the signal until KTNQ switched to Spanish language programming at noon.

On November 27, 1985, the station changed its call letters to KBZT and was known as "K-Best".

On September 26, 1986, the station was renamed KLSX and became a classic rock radio station. The call letters KLSX were chosen to sound like the word "classics".

In 1988, the long-running Beatles show Breakfast with the Beatles with host Deirdre O'Donoghue moved here 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 broadcasted the last airing of Breakfast with the Beatles which is now replaced by infomercials that has drawn some local protest. [1][2] Current host Carter has stated that the departure of Howard Stern can be attributed to why the program is being dropped. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and Yoko Ono have all called in to the program. In late November, 2006, local classic rock KLOS picked up the show, and broadcasts it Sundays, from 9 am to noon.

On July 21, 1991, the station began to play the syndicated Howard Stern show, and took on the slogan "Howard Stern all morning, classic rock all day."

[edit] Real Radio/FM Talk

In August 1995, the station changed to an all-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, and the Regular Guys, the radio duo of Larry Wachs and Eric Haessler. 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," hired new hosts and in 1997, the station began carrying the syndicated Tom Leykis show, becoming its flagship station. On April 1, 2002, KLSX temporarily brought back Kato Kaelin and the "Real Radio" slogans and jingles as part of an April Fool's joke.

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". In addition, two new Free FM stations opened up in California, KSCF in San Diego and KIFR in San Francisco, both of which carried the Tom Leykis and John and Jeff shows. The Frosty, Heidi, and Frank Show, which until January 2007, was being syndicated to the San Diego station. On October 25, 2005, it was announced that Adam Carolla would take over as the station's morning show host in January 2006 due to Stern's departure to satellite radio. On that same day, the station also became known on-air as "97.1 Free FM".

The year 2007 saw the addition of Danny Bonaduce to The Adam Carolla Show (replacing sportscaster Dave Dameshek), marking the beginning of Bonaduce's career at KLSX. In 2008, he was given his own (local) one-hour show following Frosty, Heidi & 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; as of April 2008, Tim Conway, Jr. hosts the evening show alone.

Many others have come and gone as hosts on KLSX, they have included former KIIS FM disc jockey The Nasty Man [3], Jonathan Brandmeier aka: Johnny B [4], KTLA morning host Sam Rubin [5], Doug Steckler (former partner for Tim Conway Jr.), Edward Tyll otherwise known as simply Ed Tyll [6], Thom (The) Looney [7], porn director and star Ed Powers, Sheena Metal [8] (at one time partnered with former model Sam Phillips), Comedian Jeff Duran, Galen Brown and Tina Jordan [9] (both at one time teamed with Kerri Kasem--daughter of Casey Kasem, and Dangerous Dick and Skibba which was on 103.7 Free FM in San Diego [10]. KLSX also used to be a syndicate of The Kim Komando Computer show until March 2001. [11]

KLSX was owned by Greater Media until 1997, when Greater Media swapped KLSX and sister station KRLA for three stations: WMMR in Philadelphia, WOAZ in Boston, and WBOS 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 radio stations KTWV and KCBS-FM.

On weekends they continued to play classic rock until 1999 when the talk format was expanded to weekends, leaving only Sunday morning's Breakfast with the Beatles as the only program that played music. In 1997 KLSX was also playing a "Triple-A" (adult album alternative) rock format blending classic rock, softer new rock and deep retro alternative rock hits on weekends only. During that era and prior to being sold (swapped), KLSX boasted the only late-night L.A. talk shows featuring women as hosts: "Dr. X" and subsequently a short-run of "Shrink Rap." KLSX was also the local home of the syndicated show of novelty music host Dr. Demento.

[edit] Weekday Show Lineup

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• The Adam Carolla Show 5:00 am - 10:00 am (replays all day on HD2)
• Frosty, Heidi & Frank 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
• The Danny Bonaduce Show 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
• Tom Leykis 3:00 pm - 8:00 pm (replays 5:00 am - 10:00 am on HD2)
• The Tim Conway Jr. Show 8:00 pm - 11:00 pm
• John and Jeff 11:00 pm - 3:00 am

The station's HD Radio subcarrier operates as "Free2HD" and features replays of The Adam Carolla Show throughout the day, and replays of Tom Leykis during Carolla's live show.

[edit] Weekend Show Lineup

Weekends on KLSX can be quite varied during day parts as the station sells each individual hour up until 5 pm as block programming to various businesses. It is not uncommon to hear the best of The Adam Carolla Show or The Tom Leykis Show in hours that were not sold for that week. Veteran block shows that have been on for a long period of time on the station include Moe Ansari, Gabriel Wisdom, Car Calls w/Dan Rosenberg, and House Calls.

However, after 5 pm the station kicks back into fm talk mode and takes on a more niche programming model.

Saturday Evening Lineup:

• Merrill Shindler 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
• Leo Quinones - The Film Freak 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
• The Single Life with Sam Phillips 9:00 pm - 11:00 pm

Merrill Shindler's show is based around food and restaurants. Callers usually call in to review restaurants and give their opinion. He often features guests from various restaurants from around the southland area. Leo Quinones does a show about movies for the cinematic fan. He takes pride in his non-critic like approach towards movies and often discuss' films at their face value of just being fun. He features A list celebrity interviews weekly- examples include Will Ferrell, Jack Black, and Orlando Bloom.

Sam Phillips and co-host Chris Leary host "The Single Life."

Sunday Evening Lineup:

• Media Whores with Dave Adelson 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
• The Tasting Room with Tom Leykis 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
• Linda Salvin 9:00 pm - 11:00 pm

KLSX used to broadcast a show hosted by actor C. Thomas Howell but it was cancelled as of June 18, 2007. Kirk Fox was Howell's cohost.

Media Whores is a music industry based talk show that used to air on KLSX 97.1 in Los Angeles, they aired Sunday evenings from 5-7 pm. The show bases itself around its laid back atmosphere and ability to have random and candid interviews with bands, musicians, and singer songwriters from all grounds of the music industry playing field while still providing intimate and once of a lifetime in studio live performances. Guests have included Sean Lennon, Brian Wilson, Nickelcreek, Kenna, Rooney, and a wide variety of others.

[edit] Sports

KLSX is the Los Angeles-area radio home of the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League.[12] Previously, the station aired games from the Jones Radio Network's Sports USA service and NFL on Westwood One. In 2001, it carried the Los Angeles Xtreme of the XFL. KLSX has also aired a sports year-in-review show from Westwood One.

[edit] External links

• 97.1 Free FM
• The Adam Carolla Show
• Frosty, Heidi & Frank Show
• Conway & Whitman Show
• John & Jeff Show
• Tom Leykis Show
• Query the FCC's FM station database for KLSX
• Radio Locator information on KLSX