Don't know if there's any other So Cal people that miss KZLA, so I was excited to hear that we're getting a Country station back again! Yee Haa!
Country music returns to FM radio in L.A.
In a related move, KMZT's classical programing will shift to AM.
By Lee Margulies, Times Staff Writer
February 23, 2007
KMZT-FM (105.1), the L.A. area's only commercially sponsored classical music station, will begin broadcasting country music on Monday and shift its classical content to an AM station.
Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters plans to flip the formats of KMZT and KKGO-AM (1260). Classical music will be featured at 1260, and the AM station's 2-month-old country format will move to FM.
Saul Levine, president of Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters, said the move was prompted by "overwhelming listener demand."
Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest market, has been without an FM country outlet since KZLA-FM (93.9) dropped the format in August. The station renamed itself KMVN and adopted a contemporary pop-R&B format.
For a time, there was no local country station at all until Levine began playing it on KKGO, employing some of the same DJs who had been on KZLA. That wasn't satisfactory to many country fans, since music quality isn't as good on the AM frequency as on FM.
Now it's classical fans who will be suffering, although Levine said the music on 1260 will be simulcast in a high-definition signal available to listeners with radio receivers that can receive such broadcasts.
The move is certain to upset KMZT's listeners, but Levine is used to controversy. When he installed the classical format on the 105.1 frequency in January 1990, he abandoned a 30-year history of jazz on that station, prompting outcries from fans of that music.
Classical music can still be heard full-time at KUSC-FM (91.5) and during the day Monday through Friday at KCSN-FM (88.5).
lee.margulies@latimes.com
Country music returns to FM radio in L.A.
In a related move, KMZT's classical programing will shift to AM.
By Lee Margulies, Times Staff Writer
February 23, 2007
KMZT-FM (105.1), the L.A. area's only commercially sponsored classical music station, will begin broadcasting country music on Monday and shift its classical content to an AM station.
Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters plans to flip the formats of KMZT and KKGO-AM (1260). Classical music will be featured at 1260, and the AM station's 2-month-old country format will move to FM.
Saul Levine, president of Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters, said the move was prompted by "overwhelming listener demand."
Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest market, has been without an FM country outlet since KZLA-FM (93.9) dropped the format in August. The station renamed itself KMVN and adopted a contemporary pop-R&B format.
For a time, there was no local country station at all until Levine began playing it on KKGO, employing some of the same DJs who had been on KZLA. That wasn't satisfactory to many country fans, since music quality isn't as good on the AM frequency as on FM.
Now it's classical fans who will be suffering, although Levine said the music on 1260 will be simulcast in a high-definition signal available to listeners with radio receivers that can receive such broadcasts.
The move is certain to upset KMZT's listeners, but Levine is used to controversy. When he installed the classical format on the 105.1 frequency in January 1990, he abandoned a 30-year history of jazz on that station, prompting outcries from fans of that music.
Classical music can still be heard full-time at KUSC-FM (91.5) and during the day Monday through Friday at KCSN-FM (88.5).
lee.margulies@latimes.com
