KMZT 105.1 gone country
Ralph
K-Mozart (KMZT) but some strident country music. At first I thought my
radio had drifted off channel but no luck.
Later on I read in the newspaper that Mount Wilson Broadcasters, the owners
of KMZT, had decided they could get a bigger market share by eliminating
Classical in favor of Country.
K-Mozart still broadcasts, after a fashion, on 1260 AM, which is prone to
static and drifting in and out, and on 105.1 FMHD, whatever that is. But
for me, K-Mozart is effectively gone. None of my home radios will pick up
1260 AM and listening in the car, along with the static and drifting, is not
pleasant,
KUSC, 91.5 FM, public supported radio, is now the only FM classical radio
station serving the Los Angeles/Orange County general area.
Rich and Laura, I miss you.
Ralph
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
Ralph wrote:
> I woke up monday morning, not to the soothing strains of classical music on
> K-Mozart (KMZT) but some strident country music. At first I thought my
> radio had drifted off channel but no luck.
>
> Later on I read in the newspaper that Mount Wilson Broadcasters, the owners
> of KMZT, had decided they could get a bigger market share by eliminating
> Classical in favor of Country.
Looks as though I left Southern California just in time!
There were many times when I found its programming more
welcome than that of KUSC. The only classical music station
here in Phoenix AZ seems to be in the condition KUSC once
was - owned and operated by the university. However,it DOES
play nothing but classical music (plus news, traffic, and
Garrison Keilor).
>
> KUSC, 91.5 FM, public supported radio, is now the only FM classical radio
> station serving the Los Angeles/Orange County general area.
>
> Rich and Laura, I miss you.
I do, too, and have ever since I moved. What are they doing
for jobs, if KMZT is defunct? (It's true Rich has been
around for a long time - he went to KMZT after many years
with KUSC - but I don't think he's quite retirement age,
yet, is he?)
Shawn Thuris
> I woke up monday morning, not to the soothing strains of classical music on
> K-Mozart (KMZT) but some strident country music. At first I thought my
> radio had drifted off channel but no luck.
>
> Later on I read in the newspaper that Mount Wilson Broadcasters, the owners
> of KMZT, had decided they could get a bigger market share by eliminating
> Classical in favor of Country.
>
> K-Mozart still broadcasts, after a fashion, on 1260 AM, which is prone to
> static and drifting in and out, and on 105.1 FMHD, whatever that is. But
> for me, K-Mozart is effectively gone. None of my home radios will pick up
> 1260 AM and listening in the car, along with the static and drifting, is not
> pleasant,
I was very disappointed at first -- I have listened for years and
actually did a Sunday morning show with them once -- but reading this
I realize that they just turned the LESS valuable part over to
country.
HD Radio, like High-Def. television, will probably be the standard
very soon, and anyone who buys a spiffy new radio should have access
to a HIGHER quality signal from KKGO, er, I mean KMZT, than they had
before.
There was an LA Times piece about the owner of the station a few years
ago. He had refused offers from many companies for what is one of the
most valuable transmitter sites in Southern California, so I was
surprised that he seemed to have turned his back on classical. But
knowing they've taken the High Def. frequency, it all makes sense.
Brendan R. Wehrung
Yes, well, maybe... Classical is a nice cheap pioneer format to try in
High Def. but 5 years from now when there are lots of Hd radios on the
road will he feel the same? We can all keep our fingers crossed and
bother local broadcasters about trying a similar solution. It's a rich
demographic, after all, or they 9we) wouldn't shell out for the receivers
in the first place.
Brendan
Ralph
L.A./Orange/Ventura/San Bernardino/Riverside County area. And the only
one that catered to advertisers. Some avid (rabid?) classical music fans
called their programming "classical lite" but I enjoyed it to the extent
that all of my radios (cars, house, garage) were always tuned to it. Only
time I didn't listen to it was when I wanted a traffic bulletin from one of
the "all news" stations. I sure don't know where their AM antenna is but
I sure can't receive a signal that doesn't fade in and out.
I have briefly looked into HD radio. By the time I replace the 3 car
radios, the stereo receivers in the house and garage, the boom box for the
back yard, and my clock radio, I will have spent a serious chunk of dough.
And then who's to say that they might put some other programming in the HD?
Oh well. It's called free enterprise. A few years ago another classical
station went out of business. Many of us thought it was the end of the
world but another station (KMZT?) rose to carry the torch and classical
programming got better.
Am now wondering about satelite radio? I hate to pay a fee for radio but
maybe that's the way to go.
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
Ralph wrote:
> Oh well. It's called free enterprise. A few years ago another classical
> station went out of business. Many of us thought it was the end of the
> world but another station (KMZT?) rose to carry the torch and classical
> programming got better.
IIRC, there was a big broadcast "handover" between KFAC and
KUSC, with speeches about KUSC (Public Radio) "taking up the
torch" when KFAC switched over to crap. KKGO at that time
was broadcasting Pop music "oldies" (the "GO" stood for
Garry Owens). I'm not sure when KKGO switched from those to
classical, but for a while there was only KUSC (and Pasadena
City College and Cal State Northridge, in their limited
areas) broadcasting classical music. I'm not sure when KKGO
changed its format to classical, but it was our commercial
alternative to Bonnie Grice for a good many years before it
changed its name to KMZT.
Soundfield
preparing to merge, you will soon see classical reduced from six
channels to three for starters, maybe less over time as Sirius absorbs
the best of XM and tosses out the rest. And the monthly fee will
probably rise to $20/month from $13.
Yeah, let's hear it for free enterprise.
On Mar 6, 12:00 pm, "Ralph" <ralphcomp...@earthlink.net> wrote:
[...] It's called free enterprise. [...]
misterioso
I'm a jazz and classical listener in Los Angeles since my teens.
My classical station was KFAC (am/fm) and jazz was KBCA/KKGO
at 105.1 for quite a few years. Then KFAC-AM gave up the ghost
and struggled on FM, until that dark day when its lights went out.
Saul Levine, owner of KKGO, deciding that Los Angeles deserved
a full time classical station, switched KKGO. Later it, became KMZT.
That's as brief as it can be, I know. KUSC has always been there
as a very good alternative. KKGO-AM is the former KGIL, whose
transmitter is in the San Fernando Valley so their signal doesn't go
very far south and east. Please correct any flaws in the narrative,
Evelyn. It's all off the top of my septuagenarian head.
Steve de Mena
You're crazy, ad revenue is zero on HD Radio. I
was pricing a new car and HD Radio is a $500
option. If 5% of people buying cars get it I
would be surprised. Everyone watches TV so HDTV
is a no-brainer, but there are too many
alternatives to FM Radio these days. iPods,
satellite, etc.
Steve
Steve de Mena
KKGO-FM was Jazz when KFAC dropped classical.
They almost immediately changed from Jazz to
Classical.
I think Gary Owens was on KKGO-AM (oldies) and
KKJZ (former name of KKGO).
Steve
misterioso
>
> - Show quoted text -
Actually, KKJZ is the jazz and blues station of Cal State
Long Beach at 88.1and their format is rumored to be at risk
(and of interest to Saul Levine, among others.) Whether jazz
radio will survive the shifting winds of demographic change
is in doubt.
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
Oh, yes, KUSC WAS "always there"! Did I give the impression
it was not? Sorry! (It's just that KFAC's "final"
broadcast was a simulcast with KUSC, with all the "passing
of the torch" nonsense.)
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
misterioso wrote:
Pity! Although jazz is not my first choice in music, it IS
"music" (requiring a musical ear and knowledge of one's
instrument). IMO that's more than can be said for what
passes as "pop" music nowadays!
Steve de Mena
No, KFAC's final broadcast was not a simulcast
with KUSC. We did not pass any torch to them.
Steve (former KFAC employee for many years)
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
Steve de Mena wrote:
In that case, KUSC must have made the whole thing up! (Even
featuring "live" appearances by a couple of the regular
KFAC announcers.) I remember the broadcast vividly - if it
was not what they were claiming it to be, the listeners had
no way of knowing that!
Steve de Mena
I think someone's memory is faulty. Not only was
I at KFAC for many years I actually engineered the
final few hours before the station changed over to
rock music. There were no live announcers that
last day, it was on tape, and we concluded with
the Mozart "Requiem".
Steve
Brendan R. Wehrung
Not that it's a sparkling success story yet), but what did a satellite
radio cost as an addition to a luxury-class car not that many years ago?
These things tend to come down quickly with volume. Were the American
auto industry in better shape they'd be making all sorts of deals to
promote this or that company's tuners and making them standard on top-end
cars. What's it take, perhaps 15% market penetration before the great
unwashed begins asking for the newest and bestess? Oh, was that Betamax?
Brendan
Steve de Mena
I'm pricing out a new BMW and it's $595 for
Sirius. The same as it was 3 years ago. Maybe
it's cheaper on American cars? I just don't think
there is much knowledge out there as to what HD
Radio is.
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
Steve de Mena wrote:
> EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:
>
>> Steve de Mena wrote:
>>
>>> EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:
EVG:
>>>> Oh, yes, KUSC WAS "always there"! Did I give the impression it was
>>>> not? Sorry! (It's just that KFAC's "final" broadcast was a
>>>> simulcast with KUSC, with all the "passing of the torch" nonsense.)
>>>>
SDM:
>>> No, KFAC's final broadcast was not a simulcast with KUSC. We did not
>>> pass any torch to them.
>>>
>>> Steve (former KFAC employee for many years)
>>
EVG:
>> In that case, KUSC must have made the whole thing up! (Even
>> featuring "live" appearances by a couple of the regular KFAC
>> announcers.) I remember the broadcast vividly - if it was not what
>> they were claiming it to be, the listeners had no way of knowing that!
>
SDM:
> I think someone's memory is faulty. Not only was I at KFAC for many
> years I actually engineered the final few hours before the station
> changed over to rock music. There were no live announcers that last
> day,
Perhaps because they were all over at KUSC? I was at the
time a confirmed KUSC listener, so my office radio was tuned
there, not to KFAC, on the day KFAC went AWOL. Obviously,
we must be talking about two distinct broadcasts, not the
"simulcast" my faulty hindsight assumed - I can only report
what happened on KUSC, and what was claimed by the
announcers during the broadcast. If their claim was false,
KUSC listeners had no way of knowing. (IIRC, it was the
noontime program on KUSC.)
...Anyway, KUSC effectively DID "take up the torch" for
classical music until KKGO switched formats - if it was not
with KFAC's official endorsement, KUSC listeners were misled
into believing it was, due to the presence of some of KFAC's
(former) announcers on that "special" broadcast.
Steve de Mena
I know Rich Capparella went to KUSC. John Santana
and Jan Simon went to KKGO. Mary Fain, I think
KING in Seattle.
Wikipedia says KUSC got the KFAC record library,
which is not true, it went to an archives up north.
Steve
did Barney@earthlink.net David Gray Porter
news:et1ud...@news2.newsguy.com...
>
> ...Anyway, KUSC effectively DID "take up the torch" for classical music
> until KKGO switched formats - if it was not with KFAC's official
> endorsement, KUSC listeners were misled into believing it was, due to the
> presence of some of KFAC's (former) announcers on that "special"
> broadcast.
By the end of 1991 KUSC was doing almost nothing but Italian opera and
K-whatever it was then was doing "lite classics." At least, that was what
one complaining listener to my 12-hour Ives program told my assistant during
that broadcast. (Poor fellow, he felt nothing was playing "the mainstream"
anymore.)
did Barney@earthlink.net David Gray Porter
news:45f323b2$0$18890$4c36...@roadrunner.com...
>
> Steve (former KFAC employee for many years)
Steve -- KFAC was for many years the only classical radio outlet in LA. It
could be real fun in the early '70s. One morning an announcer spend a good
5 minutes on mispronouncing "Joss-kwinn Dezz Prezz." Another time someone
spun the Bernstein LP of Ives's 2nd Symphony with the sides reversed, so we
began with mvts. iii+iv of the Symphony, then the separate piece "The Fourth
of July" (this is why a friend of mine insisted this was the third piece in
the Symphony for years), and then Symphony mvts. i+ii. And then there was
the Saturday Night Ghetto for "avant garde" works (this is the same evening
they'd play that silly show by Carl Princi "A Thousand and One Nights" with
Princi doing a terrible job at being an Arabic-music announcer) and the DJ
played the LP of Stockhausen's "It" from "The Seven Days" at 45 instead of
33.
Oh yes, I noticed these things when they happened!
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
Apparently Wikipedia FREQUENTLY gets things wrong! However,
in this case, that's what KUSC listeners were led to
believe, too. (I'm sure you're in a better position to
really know, but listeners only know what they're told.)
>
> Steve
Steve de Mena
Yes, many mistakes like that were made. MANY.
Internally we had a "Mongo of the Month Award" for
the biggest goof of the month. I won my share.
Steve
did Barney@earthlink.net David Gray Porter
But with the Stockhausen piece, I came to think that the guy did it
deliberately. Of all the sides that were released outside the box set (and
I almost had a chance to buy that set in Switzerland, but it was on a
Sunday), that side had to be the thorniest, and it was as if the guy played
it fast to get it over with!
Our late dear prof of music history told us one day, "And in between ads for
Forrest Lawn and flyin' me to Miami, they manage to play a little classical
music." Then he went into the "Joss-Kwinn Dezz Prezz" comment. "If this is
our only radio outlet for classical music, you'd think they'd get someone to
figure out the names of composers before they go on the air!"
I remember "Executive Report!" to Holst's "Jupiter," amd "Luncheon at the
Muzack Center!" with some big fanfare music intro and the clinking of
glasses and silverware. In 1981 John Allison appeard on "Luncheon" to hawk
our first outdoor season of the Grove Shakespeare Festival and he was a
laffable fool, but they loved him. I also remember the day in Feb, '74 when
John Kirkpatrick was on "Luncheon" and he did an example of "Ives swearing"
on-air. I thought they had some foley guy adding all the effects in to make
it sound like a luncheon room.
Ralph
advertising on stations where the usual piece of music is 1-1/2 to 2 minutes
in length. And commercial radio (mostly) exists to make a return on
investment for the owners/stockholders.
Steve de Mena
Hmmm... Seems strange that would happen. We had
some real Stockhausen fans on staff there in the
70s. Too bad all those recordings are so expensive
now on his own issued CDs.
> Our late dear prof of music history told us one day, "And in between ads for
> Forrest Lawn and flyin' me to Miami, they manage to play a little classical
> music." Then he went into the "Joss-Kwinn Dezz Prezz" comment. "If this is
> our only radio outlet for classical music, you'd think they'd get someone to
> figure out the names of composers before they go on the air!"
>
> I remember "Executive Report!" to Holst's "Jupiter," amd "Luncheon at the
> Muzack Center!" with some big fanfare music intro
Wagner - Entry of the Guests from Tannhäuser (or
Meistersinger?)
> and the clinking of
> glasses and silverware. In 1981 John Allison appeard on "Luncheon" to hawk
> our first outdoor season of the Grove Shakespeare Festival and he was a
> laffable fool, but they loved him. I also remember the day in Feb, '74 when
> John Kirkpatrick was on "Luncheon" and he did an example of "Ives swearing"
> on-air. I thought they had some foley guy adding all the effects in to make
> it sound like a luncheon room.
No, it was really the 5th floor restaurant at the
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for years, and later
moved to one on the ground floor. They had a
dedicated table with a little cupboard which had
the Mic (one, originally) , a little mixer and a
telephone (to communicate back/forth with the
studio). I went a few times to have lunch and
meet some people I was interested in.
Thanks for the memories,
Steve
did Barney@earthlink.net David Gray Porter
Gallery" through the front glass door (back door, facing the parking lot).
Skinny didn't even begin to describe it. I thought, "Jeez, with my
shoulders I'll never fit through that hallway!"
"Steve de Mena" <ste...@stevedemena.com> wrote in message
news:45f90cdc$0$24705$4c36...@roadrunner.com...
Steve de Mena
Yes, it had different artwork every month, usually
local artists. They could display their artwork
in that little area for free and the radio station
would get to choose one of the paintings to keep,
as payment. I had not thought about that for years.
Steve