Tales of 1260's transitions
After a previous weekend of stunting, specifically playing Alan Jackson's "Gone Country" looping all weekend (and a couple of weeks of all-Taylor Swift radio), AM 1260 has officially morphed from classical K-Mozart to "Go Country Gold AM Stereo 1260," streaming at gocountrygold.com. The playlist includes a range of artists from Kenny Rogers to the Judds, more traditional singers including LeeAnn Rhimes to George Strait, plus the Eagles "Lyin' Eyes" (though they lose points for playing an edited version).
The station is also simulcasting on FM 105.1-HD4, the former home of "LA Oldies K-Surf." On Monday morning, the station featured pop hits with titles featuring the word "gold," including "Fields of Gold" by Sting, "Gold" by John Stewart, etc. etc. before it also featured the country oldies.
Saul Levine (Damian Dovarganes, AP)
The first time I ever interviewed Saul Levine for LARadio.com was when he described switching his AM 1260 property from rock oldies to classical music. Back then, he said the station would take advantage of their HD radio technology to provide Southern California with a radio redux of K-Mozart, what he previously offered on his 105.1 FM property now known as GO Country 105 (KKGO).
Actually, the history's a bit more, er, interesting.
- Levine purchases KGIL from Buckley Broadcasting in 1992, which was offering the Big Bands. Prior to that, the station went through a variety of different formats and different personalities, many among the best known in Southern California radio -- think Dick Whittington, Thomas (Tom) Brown, Larry Van Nuys, Joe McDonnell, among so many others broadcasting from what Whittington referred to as the "Sin Fernando Valley." Though their directional 5,000 watt signal splintered out across L.A., the station was prominent on the local dial.
Gary Owens, Chuck Southcott, Tom Murphy, Wink Martindale
- From 1993-1995, the station was known as "K-JOY" (KJQI), simulcasting with AM 540 an automated adult standards format featuring Gary Owens, Chuck Southcott, Tom Murphy, and Wink Martindale.
Pete Arbogast, Jim Roope
- From 1995-1997, the station became K-NEWS (KNNS), featuring local news veterans Pete Arbogast and Jim Roope. The station also served as the flagship station for the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers.
- In 1997, the station reclaimed the KGIL call letters, offering all-Beatles, then Broadway show tunes before adapting the syndicated "Music of Your Life" format created by Al Hamm. Of note, this was before there was satellite radio. Though all-Beatles was a bit of a stunt, it did attract some loyal listeners and some attention to AM 1260.
- Next, the station changed call letters to KJAZ and offered two years of jazz.
- Another call letter change happens in 2002 when the station's moniker became K-Surf (KSUR), again offering adult standards, then an oldies rock-n-roll format. Three years later, the station reclaimed the previous call letters of their FM sister station, KKGO.
- Later that year, AM 1260 went country in December, 2006 after the demise of country KZLA in August. This was considered significant as L.A. had nothing for country listeners since the summertime, streaming out of town stations was still novel and not commonplace. KZLA morning man Shawn Parr now was heard in morning drive on the new country venture. Then with three days notice, the country format and the call letters migrated to their FM sister station, rebranding the previous K-Mozart to "GO Country 105" on February 6, 2007. They've been country ever since.
- AM 1260 would reclaim the KGIL call letters, eventually going talk with former KABC host Michael Jackson who was later succeeded by KFI veteran John Ziegler with the rest of the day filled in with syndicated talk programs.
Steve Tyrell
- After a couple of years of talk, the station offers "Retro 1260," an eclectic mix of everything from Frank Sinatra to the Beatles to Tony Bennett to the Beach Boys. To reiterate, eclectic. One prominent artist on the station was standards vocalist Steve Tyrell, who was prominent on "The Fabulous 570" (KLAC). The format lasted about two years.
Fred Missman
- Classical music returned to the station, followed by another run with adult standards, before debuting "LA Oldies K-Surf" in 2017, playing many of the rock and pop songs no longer heard on K-EARTH, which was transitioning to a 70s - 80s - 90s format. Mornings were helmed by AM 1260 veteran Larry Van Nuys, with the rest of the day offering a jukebox of early rock'n'roll One other feature was "Disco Saturday Night," hosted by Fred Missman, offering dance favorites heard on the pop charts, plus some deeper disco cuts. Of note, the station briefly paused streaming because of expenses, but would later restore the online access.
- Stating he wasn't able to make any profit from the oldies format, Levine moves the oldies to his FM station's HD-4 and offers classical music on AM station, once again returning the K-Mozart (KMZT) call letters to AM 1260. He believes listener sponsorship could help make the station financially viable.And now it's "GO Country Gold." There's been a lot online about the format change at AM 1260, though its arguable the buzz is largely limited to radio enthusiasts. Levine is one of the last to offer AM HD (KBRT is the other), which greatly improves fidelity but only in the Valley and parts of West L.A.
It also brings up the more general question about anything that's practicable on the AM dial. Even in the popular media there's been discussion about requiring AM radio in autos sold in the US, primarily as an information source during emergencies, especially natural disasters. But is that enough to keep AM radio viable? We'll have some thoughts in the next few days, feel free to share your thoughts. And please stay tuned.
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ReplyDelete"Levine purchases KGIL from Buckley Broadcasting in 1992, which was offering the Big Bands. ..." Uh, not exactly. For at least three years prior to Saul's purchase of the venerable signal, KGIL was offering a hybrid local/syndicated all-Talk format, which included shows and features (such as Bruce Williams, Sally Jessy Raphael and -"First Light") from NBC. Local Talk was centered around Carole Hemingway, and L.A.'s most highly UNDER-rated Morning Show (in all contexts of the term) helmed by the brilliant and late John Swaney. John was the kind of host who could interview Jesus in one segment, then have you driving off the road with insane laughter in the next. I worked with him for a while in a certain capacity, and the first word that comes to my mind thinking of John Swaney, is "genius". Buckley gave him exactly NO promotion, and really proved their corporate idiocy with that inexcusable approach. John was certainly aware of that, but nonetheless gave 150% effort in his daily show, which was the only true "Talk" format offering in L.A. Morning Drive for several years, despite fighting physical disabilities about which he never spoke--nor will I, beyond the brief mention. And although this was during the period of Rush Limbaugh's ascendance into legendary status, John's show was never laced with the mouth-foaming far-right-wing garbage which nowadays pollutes and corrodes most of the AM dial into a state of constant nausea. I cannot argue with the rest of your AM-1260 History rundown; certainly there was too much of it for me to keep up with over the years. But to ignore KGIL's final Buckley life as a Talk outlet does an unnecessary disservice to the memory of the outstanding John Swaney.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, I just listed the last format before Saul Levine purchased AM 1260. But I do recall the time when John Swaney, Carole Hemingway, Jackie Olden, and others were part of "News Talk 1260," including Bruce Williams and (I think) Sally Jesse Raphael via NBC's Talknet. My understanding was the phone bill alone was over $20,000 / month. After they pulled the plug on the talk format, they simulcast the FM and AM before settling on the big bands format on AM 1260. I would still argue it was during the first run of Dick Whittington, Thomas Brown, and Larry Van Nuys was when the station had their greatest prominence. The News Talk format was done well but as you said, there was no promotion at all and didn't get noticed as much as it should have been. Thanks for your reply.
DeleteWe may be splitting hairs here, but I do recall KGIL keeping the Talk format, right up until the time of Saul's purchase. I was one of the many visitors to the old KGIL studios at 14800 Lassen St. in Mission Hills, on their last day as a Buckley station. Along with many others, I was briefly on the air, sitting at the main board noting KGIL's many years as "The Station" in the San Fernando Valley. Buckley-KGIL signed off the air later that day, and remained off for a number of days until Saul took over with--I believe--a Big Band format. The co-Buckley-owned FM was KMGX "Magic 94.3", programmed by Mark Eliot. And so the FM remained for a few weeks (or perhaps months? Memory fogs about that!), until being purchased by Art Astor, who then ironically brought his "Kick-FM" Country menu to the SFV (KYKF, simulcasting Art' s KIKF/94.3 in Garden Grove).
DeleteI definitely remember hearing the authoritative, yet slightly sad voice of John Swaney providing the sign off to the news / talk format, "this is KGIL." What I'm trying to remember was the period in which AM 1260 was offering music and / or being silent until Mt. Wilson Broadcasters took over, so your memories may be more accurate than mine.
DeleteRe Swaney, he was a pro's pro from his time at KFWB to creating Newstalk 1260. I also remember on April Fool's Day when Dick Whittington was heard in the AM, with the claim Swaney was going to relinquish mornings to his "Sweetness." Interestingly, Whittington proved his ability to do general interest talk when he did overnights at KIEV. Again, thanks for your comments.