FM talk radio format all talked out? KLSX-FM (97.1) going top 40 Friday [UPDATED]

Good news for local fans of Rihanna, bad news for older talk radio listeners in Los Angeles. 

Beginning Friday at 5 p.m., boosters of urban-skewing artists such as Beyoncé, Pink and Britney Spears will have another top 40/"CHR" (contemporary hit radio) station to sing along to in their cars, as L.A.'s only "all-talk" commercial FM station now appears to be all talked out.

KLSX (97.1 Free FM) will switch formats Feb. 20 to CBS Radio's latest concept, titled AMP Radio (not to be confused with the now-defunct Amp'd Mobile, a company that heavily pushed mobile radio to cellphone users in 2006 but filed for bankruptcy protection in 2007). 

A CBS Radio news release says the new station (its tagline is "all the hits") will "combine the power of its on-air position with myriad online and digital applications creating a full 360 degree audio and visual experience."

Translation? Listeners of KLSX were probably too old.

AMP Radio originally bowed early last year as an online/HD2 station affiliated with KCBS-FM in L.A.  Apparently, the test run was successful enough to convince CBS radio executives that young, texting-and-Twittering teens -- the ones who spend money at malls while listening to music via their cellphones -- just can't get enough of artists such as Kanye West and T.I. This is despite the fact that there is plenty of competition in the space -- see KPWR (105.9), KIIS (102.7) and KDAY (93.5) -- all of which mine similar musical territory in the same market.

"Creating a successful radio station not only means focusing on what you hear over the air -- it's that, yet it's so much more and as evidenced by what we're announcing today, the possibilities are endless," said Kevin Weatherly, senior vice president of programming for CBS Radio, in a news release announcing the format change today.

On-air talent at the new AMP Radio is expected to be announced in coming weeks. "They will be added after the station launches," said Karen Mateo, vice president of communications at CBS Radio in New York.

During the last three months of 2008, KLSX averaged a 1.3% audience share among listeners 12 and older, which placed the station at No. 27 in the market. In fact, KLSX never truly recovered in the ratings after losing its major morning lead-in, Howard Stern, to satellite radio. When Stern was still on the air in late 2005 at 97.1, the station enjoyed a 2.2 share.

Despite the less-than-stellar ratings, KLSX still enjoyed a rabid fan base for several of its marquee shows, including Adam Carolla's morning show, "The Adam Carolla Show With Teresa Strasser," which replaced Stern, and Tom Leykis' widely syndicated afternoon program "The Tom Leykis Show." Both Carolla's and Leykis' shows proved popular with 25-to-54-year-old men (with Leykis' afternoon drive time exploration of all things from the male perspective, in particular, a notable hit nationwide).

Beginning next week, new episodes of Carolla's show will no longer broadcast in any market, although it is believed that "best of" shows may air in some territories. It is not yet known what will happen to Leykis' show in syndication. Leykis told the Orange County Register earlier this month that he "should have something to announce shortly" regarding the syndication of his shows.

But none of KLSX's success stories ("The Frosty, Heidi and Frank Show" also enjoyed decent midday ratings) were enough to stave off the format change. CBS Radio clearly sees an advertising opening with the AMP format, and KIIS-FM's continued success with a similar music strategy (think Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Ne-Yo) may have forced CBS Radio's hand in an increasingly dire economy.

KLSX rolled out its all-talk format in 1995; before that, it aired classic rock.

A full story is forthcoming in The Times about the switchover.

UPDATE 02/19: Carolla announced Thursday morning on 97.1 that he would start podcasting "The Adam Carolla Show" beginning Monday at adamcarolla.com. 

-- Charlie Amter

Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images

Correction: An earlier version of this post misidentified the call letters of 102.7 as KISS. The correct call letters are KIIS. Also, KPWR's frequency was misidentified as 106; the correct frequency is 105.9.

Comments

[Jay Bingham]

PLEASE DO NOT TAKE TOM LEYKIS OFF THE AIR!!!

[JB]

This sucks 97.1 will be removed from my preset in my car at home and on my phone.

[Miss Nelly]

Good Riddance to Adam Corolla show, I can not stand his voice and he honestly thinks he is FUNNY, he is not. They should of replaced Stern with some one comparible. Oh well, NOW SEE WHAT HAPPENED

[Miss Nelly]

Good Riddance to Adam Corolla show, I can not stand his voice and he honestly thinks he is FUNNY, he is not. They should of replaced Stern with some one comparible. Oh well, NOW SEE WHAT HAPPENED

[Ken]

The highlights of the station was AC and Conway.
Having said that, the station wasnt all that great. It is what radio is, time filler.
Even Carollas show wasnt something i HAD to listen to.
the rest of the lineup was horrible
I hate FHF. Terrible

There are only 2 shows that was tolerable.
If anything, they should of tried to switch the on-air talent.
I will miss it though.
Better than the same crappy music.

[Ken]

The highlights of the station was AC and Conway.
Having said that, the station wasnt all that great. It is what radio is, time filler.
Even Carollas show wasnt something i HAD to listen to.
the rest of the lineup was horrible
I hate FHF. Terrible

There are only 2 shows that was tolerable.
If anything, they should of tried to switch the on-air talent.
I will miss it though.
Better than the same crappy music.

[Lysette]

I agree that it is time to remove 97.1 from the presets. Kevin Weatherly's statement about how "the possibilities in radio are endless" is laughable given their choice to go same 'ole, same 'ole CHR. How uncreative can he be? More Britney and Rhianna ... woo, hold us back!!! Given the crowded market in this category already, 97.1 will be flipping to Spanish soon enough.

[Aaron Skau]

I AM APALLED! I am sad and mad at the same time. CBS you need to stick to ruining tv not the radio. This was clearly a station that us blue collars could really enjoy. I clean pools, straight up, not the greatest job in the world, dont plan on doing it the rest of my life, but im 20, going through college , and my day consist of me being by myself. Driving from pool to pool i would catch little parts of the lineup. After about 3 months of rushing to hear what was being said,i decided to buy a portable radio. Whoever invented the portable radio should be beaten with a pillowcase filled with bars of soap. The name of the thing is called "PORTABLE radio." The dang thing lost its reception every 4 feet. Not very portable. So after that upset, i bought the iphone and downloaded the radio app. AMAZING. I was able to listen un-interupted all day. Since then i have called in to FHF 3 times. (on air) Made my day a helluva lot better. Many times i would be in the middle of work and just erupt with laughter. Danny Bonaduce is my man. I feel that he could be one of the most interesting men in entertainment today. Tom Leykis, well, i may not always agree with, but none the less he has a good head on his shoulders when it comes to wooing the opposite sex. haha. I think i speak for all avid listeners that this station wasnt just a station, wasn't just a pre-set on the radio, wasnt just a lesbian, a fat guy, and a dude complaining about stuff, they were my friends. Adam, Danny, and Tom, all of them...were simply friends. I am going to deeply miss them all. If they go to satellite, i will gladly follow. We dont need another horrible radio station playing the same stupid stuff over and over. I will remove my 97.1 preset on monday and never go back. I cant beleive they are trying to target the younger age. The youth these days are incredibly rediculous . Have you ever heard of a thing called YOUTUBE and how many assanine videos are made and watched. Some are hilarious... some, i wish i could take a picture of my "what the hell are you doing" look and send it to them. The youth is horrible. PERSONALLY THERE IS NO USE TO TARGET THEIR SMALL AND UN-INSPIRING MINDS.

Goodbye 97.1, i'm sorry you had to be a conforming tool.

[brian]

why am I not supprised. FM Talk reduced to mindless teenie bop pop. Nice going CBS! I hope you fall hard.

[Rick]

weak....cbs really weak. no support from me. there goes that preset. hope tom, keeps the podcast going and he's way too talented too be off the air. he'll be back, so i'm not that worried.

[Rick]

weak....cbs really weak. no support from me. there goes that preset. hope tom, keeps the podcast going and he's way too talented too be off the air. he'll be back, so i'm not that worried.

[Rick]

weak....cbs really weak. no support from me. there goes that preset. hope tom, keeps the podcast going and he's way too talented too be off the air. he'll be back, so i'm not that worried.

[rostaman]

Adam, Teresa and the gang will be missed by folks like me that listen on their affiliate stations. I live in NorCal's East Bay, but listen to the show on KWOD/Sacramento, a great station that covers Sacramento and part of the Bay Area. Adam seemed real popular here, and losing him will hurt KWOD as well. I hope they can pick up some sort of syndication deal. It doesn't seem fair that since the flagship station decides to chase teen dollars, the whole network should collapse.

[Carlo]

this is a sad and horrible day in LA radio. a great station for us mature audience members is giving into the pressure, and making way for another redundant music station for tweens. do we really need another top 40 station, really! I will miss you Adam Corolla, Frosty Heidi & Frank, and John & Jeff, you gave me some great laughs throughout these years.

[John Barnes]

If you like talk, you'll like Sirius XM. There are at least a dozen talk stations, including Howard Stern. There's plenty of other great stuff on there, too. The music channels have zero commercials, also. I love mine!

[Kage]

Well, CBS has just committed radio suicide.

They are honestly dropping the 3 top rated shows to switch to a format cornered by KIIS FM?

Whosoever is in charge is a total idiot.

[asd]

adasdasd

[LOL]

First Joaquin Phoenix, now CBS radio.

There must be a lot of drug doing going on.

[clarkj]

FHF Forever. This really is very sad

[Ned]

Isn't this about being competitive against Clear Channel too? CC's 98.7 has fragmented KROQ's audience so now CBS wants to get back by fragmenting KIIS's audience.

[Jennifer K]

This is absolutely devastating. As if we need another station playing the same 20 songs over and over again. Frosty, Heidi and Frank added levity to the afternoons. I will never listen to 97.1 again but I will follow them wherever they go.

[Bu]

The new format will tank.
This is a very, very sad day
in the Los Angeles radio market!
Thank You guys, and you will be missed:
Adam/Theresa
Frosty Heidi and Frank
Danny
Tom
Tim/Gina/Arsenio
Sam/leary
Leo
Gretchen/Lukes
John&Jeff

[Josh]

Warning VERY long post

Quoting PJ:

"They've manipulated a generation of music listeners that it's important to fall in line and like what everyone else likes.

I believe many people listen to Rihanna and T.I., not because they legitimately like them, but because that's what every one else listens to. Really, if Rihanna and T.I. (I'm using these people for examples) have such hard-core followings, how come they're not selling out stadiums on tour? Because their popularity is hollow. And ultimately, they'll flame out, no longer make money for their labels, and get replaced by someone as trite and insipid as them."

End quote

I am a part of this generation, and PJ you hit that right on the nail. My generation have became desensitized, they don't know why the like something when you ask them, they'll tell you "I just do."

I, myself, am somehow immune to this plague of mediocrity. I'm unsure exactly why but I believe it be a combination of certain things, the biggest of which is that I've been a "self educator" almost instinctively my entire life.

When I ask my peers what they read, the normal response is "Only what I have to in school."

They all only play video games, watch television, and get drunk. It's pathetic really. We used to have MTV, they used to play music television. Now it's MusicTV 3-4 AM, (M)RealityTV 4 AM to 3 AM, in other words 23 hours of "The Real World" bullshit.

And then the music. This "Lil Wayne" I'm always hearing about? I was finally forced to listen to him on CNN's New Years broadcast. And it was horrible, how can people listen to this garbage. And don't get me wrong there is rap I like, music with a point that is. 2Pac for example was an excellent rapper. There are only maybe 10-15 recent(came out within the past 5 years) bands that I "like" or can tolerate. As compared to the musical genius of earlier generations, literally hundreds of "album oriented"(and that's an important phrase) bands. My music library has over 25,000 songs in it. And the vast majority is the music of past generations: bands like Rush, The Rolling Stones, U2, The Allman Brothers Band(currently playing), Metalllca, Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty, Electric Light Orchestra, U2, etc...

Once again PJ you hit it right on the nail, you didn't "believe" it right, what you stated simply "IS" right and I say this as a peer to this generation. And the next generation truly scares me, I look at my little brother and sister and I'm worried about what's gonna happen to this worl when their generation is in control.

Now the reasons for why it's this way are simple:

Corporations - They have been completely deregulated and can do whatever they want, corporations are the reason why progressive talk radio is on the verge of destruction, why because they own everything. Liberals would like them regulated, conservatives are the ones promote conformity and reject individuality.

The Record Industry - If you want know why music sucks today it's because the record industry wants absolute control and they have it. The practice anti-polarization, in other words if bands rated a "1"(horrible) or a "5"(sublime) in a focus group those bands don't get sponsored(television also practices this policy).

Something I'd like to add about "The War On Drugs" -
Marijuana - One of the safest substances known to man, I can tell you from personal experience and scientific documentation backs me up 100%. It's physically impossble no matter how you try to overdose on marijuana. You can, however, consume too much water and die from water toxicity. Marijuana is the biggest cash crop in our country, the government admits to this. Why not tax it, take the money out of drug dealers and put in state and federal hands. There's two wins at the very same time. It's easier for your child to go to a dealer and get pot at age 13 than it is for them to get a pack of smokes. What does this tell us I wonder. Huh maybe it would be better legalized and with the same restrictions that alcohol and tobacco have. Why let the DEA waste your money and resources chasing pot dealers when you can simply cut the head off the snake(the dealers) by legalizing it and making it unprofitable for them? Marijuana DOESN'T make you: crazy, a rapist, Satan's devote follower, etc... Does anybody still believe that propaganda anymore? Harry J. Anslinger is the man almost solely responsible for marijuana prohibition. On his deathbed he denounced his life's work and I believe the quote was that his part in marijuana prohibition was "... an abomination". Now some interesting marijuana facts:
Death toll statistics!
Tobacco kills roughly 440,000 on a yearly basis
I believe Alcohol gets between 40-70,000 yearly
Aspirin roughly 7,000 yearly
All illicit narcotics combined roughly 5,000 yearly
Marijuana *drum roll* to this very date 0(zero) deaths

Then the greatest problem is that our government, corporations, television, music, Hollywood, and everything in between greatly supports conformity it makes us easier to control and manipulate. If you don't like these simple facts help do something about it, your children are being led as lambs to the slaughter, and yet again I say that as their "peer".

Some of my favorite quotes:
"When governments fear the people there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny." - Thomas Jefferson

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive." - Thomas Jefferson

"The greatest service that can be rendered to any country is to add a useful plant to its culture." -Thomas Jefferson

"If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." - Thomas Jefferson

"An acre of the best ground for hemp, is to be selected and sewn in hemp and be kept for a permanent hemp patch." - Thomas Jefferson's Garden book 1849

"The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this." -Albert Einstein, My First Impression of the U.S.A., 1921

"The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are constitutional rights secure." - Albert Einstein

"[There is] a duty in refusing to cooperate in any undertaking that violates the Constitutional rights of the individual. This holds in particular for all inquisitions that are concerned with the private life and the political affiliations of the citizens." - Albert Einstein

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God cannot long retain it. - Abraham Lincoln

"Make the most of the Indian hemp seed, and sow it everywhere!" -George Washington, The Writings of George Washington Volume 33, page 270 (Library of Congress), 1794

"Congress should definitely consider decriminalizing possession of marijuana... We should concentrate on prosecuting the rapists and burglars who are a menace to society."-Dan Quayle, U.S. Representative and Vice president under President Bush, March 1977

"Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they should be changed. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against possession of marijuana in private for personal use...Therefore, I support legislation amending Federal law to eliminate all Federal criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce [28g] of marihuana." -Jimmy Carter, U.S. President, Message to congress, 1977

"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves." -Ronald Reagan, U.S. President

"In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. It is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death. Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man." -Francis L. Young, Administrative Law Judge of the US drug police DEA, September 6, 1988

"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws. But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws." - Martin Luther King Jr.

"When they took the 4th Amendment, I was quiet because I didn't deal drugs. When they took the 5th Amendment, I was quiet because I wasn't a criminal. When they took the 2nd Amendment, I was quiet because I didn't own a gun. Now they've taken the 1st Amendment, and I can say nothing about it." - author unknown

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair, The Jungle

"Cannabis is not an addictive substance. Less than 1 percent of marijuana consumers are daily users." - Ontario Justice J.F. McCart, 1997

"I’d always done a lot of (sniffing) glue as a kid. I was very interested in glue, and then I went to lager and speed, and I drifted into heroin because as a kid growing up everybody told me, ‘don’t smoke marijuana, it will kill you’ ..." Irvine Walsh, author of the best-selling novel about heroin addiction, Trainspotting, recalling his own experience with drug abuse.

"We in this country have to make up our minds -- -- we can not have it both ways: we cannot be both drug-free and free." Lester Grinspoon, M.D., Harvard Medical School, Co-author Marihuana, The Forbidden Medicine, Marihuana Reconsidered.

"Marijuana gives rise to insanity -- not in its users but in the policies directed against it. A nation that sentences the possessor of a single joint to life imprisonment without parole but sets a murderer free after perhaps six years is in the grips of a deep psychosis." - Eric Schlosser.

"My only complementary therapy is marijuana. I've tried Marinol .. but if you have appetite loss you want to deal with it immediately. Marinol doesn't kick in immediately, and honestly, it's not as effective as pot. I'd smoked pot before, and I enjoy it. It's essential in preventing weight loss. When I was in Yokohama in 1994 for the International Conference on AIDS, I couldn't get any pot because of Japan's strict laws. Without access to marijuana, I lost 18 pounds in 18 days. I also operate the only cannabis buyers club that distributes marijuana for free. We distribute half an ounce every two weeks to 30 different clients."-Kiyoshi Kuromiya

[Brett]

From the other side of the world (Australia) I podcast the Adam Carolla Show. I can't believe that people in your fair city don't tune in in droves. You are losing a gem.

Get his 2008 interview with Randy West, where Adam improvises West's biography to the tunes of Simon & Garfunkel.

As Adam would say: Mahalo.

[dan]

i can't beliive this. do we really need another music station. there is now honestly going yo be nothing to listen to now. thank you cbs for ruining the lives of not only the lives of the people woth great shows on yout program but the fans especially. you obviously don't care about the fans and didn't have them in mind when you made this decision. i will definitely not be listening to 97.1 now.