Country KZLA Gives Way To Movin Format

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Rick Dees' New Home
EMMIS COMMUNICATIONS and DEES ENTERTAINMENT have announced the launch of MOVIN 93.9, "The Mix That Makes You Move," and former KIIS-FM/LOS ANGELES morning legend RICK DEES will do morning drive. The format change replaces the longtime Country format of KZLA. This leaves both NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES without Country stations.

"We’re overjoyed that RICK DEES will be joining EMMIS COMMUNICATIONS and Movin 93.9,” said EMMIS VP/Programming.JIMMY STEAL who also program the station replacing PD R.J.. "RICK’s passion for LOS ANGELES’ morning radio is legendary and his live & local show is a perfect fit for MOVIN 93.9. We can’t wait for him to start! He’s the perfect compliment to this exciting new format."

"EMMIS is the perfect fit," said RICK DEES. "I’ve been presented with many opportunities, and the new Movin 93.9 gets me excited like I’ve never been before! We will have an All-Star team ready to deliver a great morning show for SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA."

EMMIS VP/Radio Division VAL MAKI said, "This is one of the most exciting opportunities we’ve seen in any radio market. The potential audience has told us that they want something new and fun. The combination of this music and RICK DEES make this the perfect answer to the needs of the marketplace. We are privileged to launch this station and I applaud the entire team."

STEAL is the process of assembling an airstaff. Look for a call letter change, soon. And expect marketing featuring airplane banners, bussides, viral marketing and TV ads to begin shortly.

The MOVIN 93.9 Rhythmic Pop Contemporary format is a creation of ALAN BURNS & ASSOCIATES, and features Rhythmic Pop Contemporary, with artists like BEYONCE’, GWEN STEFANI, USHER, JENNIFER LOPEZ, BLACK EYED PEAS, MADONNA, JANET JACKSON, and GNARLS BARKLEY.

KZLA continues to be available via Internet streaming as well as on MOVIN 93.9’s HD Radio side channel. Got to www.kzla.com for more info.

http://www.allaccess.com

Tinsel Town Trauma: The Country radio and record industries suffered a major blow today when Emmis Communications flipped KZLA/Los Angeles to a Rhythmic AC format as "Movin' 93.9." While the fate of the staff is not known, PD R.J. Curtis will stay with the station in the near term to help with the transition.

In the most recent Arbitron ratings, KZLA scored a 1.7 12+, which ranked it No. 20 in the market. In the 25-54 demo, KZLA ranked No. 21 in Los Angeles with a 1.8 share.

While KZLA will live on as an Internet stream and HD2 side channel, those distribution vehicles, at least for now, won't afford country music the same-sized audience it enjoyed via KZLA's over-the-air signal.

Los Angeles is the No. 1 market for country sales YTD, with roughly 1.3 million units sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It was also the top market in 2005, with 2.1 million country albums sold.

If there's any solace to be found in all of this, it's that despite the fact that there's no terrestrial country station in New York City, it remains the No. 2 market for country album sales, behind Los Angeles. The Big Apple hasn't had a country station since 2002. www.kzla.com

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KZLA had long been one of the nation's top country stations, and billed itself as "America's most listened-to country station." But its ratings had steadily slipped in recent years, dipping from a 2.9% audience share five years ago, which placed it at No. 11 in the L.A.-Orange County ratings, to a 1.7% share in the most recent survey, tying it with KLSX-FM (97.1) at No. 20.

"It's definitely going to leave a big hole in the national country music radio landscape," said Wade Jessen, director of Nashville-based charts for Billboard magazine and country editor for Radio & Records, which Billboard recently acquired. "L.A. is such an important market. The business leaders here in Nashville are not going to see that as any sort of good news, and for good reason."

L.A. joins New York without a country radio station, although Emmis is continuing the KZLA country format and streaming it at www.kzla.com and on Movin 93.9's HD Radio side channel.

"It seems like in the biggest markets with high ethnic diversity that country radio has been challenged for quite a while," Emmis' Steal said. "We just saw an opportunity that was a business decision to go after a group of folks who were underserved and disenfranchised with the radio choices available. Our research definitely pointed out a target audience that has the potential for a much bigger payoff than we could target with KZLA."

....
KZLA's fortunes had not paralleled those of country music record sales, which had been on a modest upswing compared with an overall slump affecting most other genres. San Bernardino-based KFRG-FM (95.1) still has a country format, but its signal does not reach all of the L.A-Orange County area.

"It's like in some other major metropolitan areas where country radio is a tough format," Billboard's Jessen said. "L.A. being the size of market it is, it's tough. In today's radio business, those stations have to be profitable in a short amount of time.

"The upside," Jessen said, "is that we would certainly expect somebody in a radio market like L.A. to give country an opportunity."

http://www.calendarlive.com/music/cl-et-dees18aug18,0,6255479.story?coll=cl-music

[vidaurri]

never really cared for that "country station" anyway. hardly ever played shania.:smirk:
gg

[Alex]

Uhmm.. I only hear Shania on my computer:D But interesting articles:p

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Country Fans To Protest KZLA Flip
In light of yesterday's news about LOS ANGELES losing its only Country station, as KZLA flipped to its new Movin Pop/Rhythmic format, Country fans have already started to ban together to protest. According to PR WEB NEWSWIRE, "KZLA listeners are up in arms." Thousands of angry fans jammed the KZLA phone lines yesterday (8/17), and are upset at the fact that when they call, they get an automated reply.

The release is also reporting that KZLA Country listeners are planning a protest, outside the EMMIS offices and studios on Olive Ave., in BURBANK this morning at 10a (PT).

-allaccess

[Alex]

A new one entry. Thanks.

[vidaurri]

though i did not like kzla, the way they were pulled off the air was pretty rude. it should not happen this way to anyone. they are playing morning country show at 10 am on thurs. and at 10:15 am, they start playing the black eyed peas or somethin. no warning at all. must have thrown everyone listening and the people working at that time for a big loop.:shocked:
kzla had to go but not in this way.
gg

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Radio 540 AM goes country
By Fred Shuster, Music Writer

Country has found a trail back to local radio.
In a surprise move, Mount Wilson Broadcasting this week abandoned pop standards on its 540 AM signal and began spinning contemporary country music instead.

The format flip comes two months after the city's last full-time country outlet, KZLA-FM (93.9), lost faith in Faith Hill and booted the music off the air.

The new station now known as 540 Country will be DJ-free until Oct. 28, when a stampede of ex-KZLA announcers, including Whitney Allen and Brian Douglas, come aboard.

Station owner Saul Levine says he made the change to serve the area's large number of country listeners. Los Angeles has the nation's second-highest country album sales and fans regularly sell out local arena stops by major acts.

"When KZLA went off the air, a lot of people wrote to us and said we were their only hope since we're the last independent

station owner in the area," Levine said. "When we decided to do it, one man said he was actually crying."
Prompted by stagnant audience growth, the owners of KZLA abruptly switched to an r&b format in August, bringing in Rick Dees to headline mornings.

"Country on KZLA left town because it wasn't making $40 to $50 million a year," said Levine, who also owns and operates classical K-Mozart (105.1). "We'll be happy with a fraction of that."

Levine said Country 540 will pick up where KZLA left off — spinning top-selling artists like George Strait, Josh Turner and Vince Gill, bringing touring acts to the station and broadcasting the Grand Ole Opry, the longest continuously running radio show in the nation, on Sunday evenings.

As for standards, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra and Rod Stewart continue to shine on Levine's 1260 AM signal.

http://www.dailynews.com/entertainment/ci_4511201