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[AmpedNow]

KLSX in LA will flip from hot talk to a CBS-created format called "Amp" tomorrow at 5 WC time. It will be labeled "Amp 97.1".

Displaced are talkers Adam Corolla and Tom Leykis, among others.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/cbs- ... ack-format

Tom Leykis among KLSX hosts going off air

The station will switch to a Top 40 music format called 'AMP RADIO.'

By GARY LYCAN

Talk KLSX/97.1 FM will flip to a new Top 40 format called "AMP RADIO" at 5 p.m. Friday, CBS announced Wednesday.
Current talk show hosts Adam Carolla, the team of Frosty, Heidi & Frank, and Tom Leykis will do their final shows live Friday, with Leykis tossing the switch at 5 p.m. to "AMP RADIO," which will begin with 10,000 songs in a row with limited commercial interruption "or about 28 days of just full-on music," according to Dan Weiner, senior vice president and market manager for CBS radio in Los Angeles.

The format, described as playing "all the hits," will also be online at http://www.ampradio.com. Artists will include Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, Rihanna, T.I., Kanye West, Usher, Britney, Pink, Kelly Clarkson, and Katy Perry, among others.

Running "AMP RADIO" will be Kevin Weatherly, who also programs KROQ-FM and JACK-FM.

No word on if or where Adam and Tom will show up next, but neither are ready to quit working.

While I love a good CHR war as much as anyone, it's sad that talk not related to politics or sports is disappearing from the airwaves.

WJFK in DC is the last CBS hot talker left standing (and also their first), and even they are rumored to be flipping to sports talk very soon.

I now return you to your regular-scheduled 10 in a row whatever...

[Ace Purple]

It will be interesting to see what happens with Adam Carolla's affiliates (which are mostly west coast stations).

[Mr. Jones]

It will be interesting to see what happens with Adam Carolla's affiliates (which are mostly west coast stations).

From what I've read elsewhere, there is no more Carolla show once he's done tomorrow, outside of best-of shows for a while longer.

[Dave Loudin]

I've heard ads in WJFK's web stream touting AMP radio for weeks. It's positioned as free access to 100,000 songs.

[Arp2]

It's -- what? -- 1983 all over again.....

[AmpedNow]

I caught some of Adam's podcast yesterday, and this is what it comes down to:

$$$.

Even though the station is doing well in its target demo (M 18-49, #2 overall), a format like Amp will be much cheaper to run. Heck, it's marketed as a jukebox... There won't be much well-paid talent hanging around.

The whole point of this format is to eat into KIIS-FM's huge numbers. Kind of a "get you back" to CC for them flipping KYSR to alternative lat year to eat into KROQ's market share.

Adam will continue to do a podcast on his website, which can be heard anywhere, at anytime.

He also called the LA market was full of "a bunch of dummies", and called the pending format "the nectar of the retards".



It's well documented that radio has shot itself in the foot over the last decade. It looks like it's getting ready to slit its throat and be done with itself.

[AmpedNow]

Anyone hear/record the flip? Ace?

Anyway, here's a sample hour this afternoon.

Lady Gaga - Just Dance
2pac - California Love
TI - Dead and Gone
MIA - Paper Planes
Ne-Yo - Miss Independent
Pink - Sober
Kanye West - Heartless
Usher - Yeah
Britney Spears - Womanizer
Akon - Dangerous
Beyonce - Single Ladies
Soulja Boy - Kiss Me Through the Phone
Rihanna - Disturbia
Metro Station - Shake It

A few observations...

They are running the music slightly pitched, about 2%.

The imaging is about the best I've ever heard for a CHR.

Reports from the RI boards say the on-air signal processing is the best they've ever heard. I'd like to hear some sample audio from it.

The webstream is still at 64k, still labeled "97.1 FM TALK". lul

They're leaning slightly rhythmic, directly attacking KIIS-FM. No flanking going on here...

What's interesting is everyone thinks this is a brand new format, but it's been incubating on KCBS HD-2 for the last year or so.

Oh, Lady Gaga is repeating at 75 min. Tight rotations.

[Ace Purple]

Anyone hear/record the flip? Ace?

I was (for the most part) out of the loop from Friday morning till now. Luckily the flip was recorded -- this website has the audio available for download. It's nice quality at 160 kbps. I'm not sure how long the audio will be up there, so get it while you can.

The station ended with the great Tom Leykis, then silence, tone, a legal ID, and some interesting sounding modern music mixes (in snippets) leading to the introduction of Amp Radio. I heard the positioning statement "Hit Music Channel", which is something I associate with Clear Channel CHRs (like WFLZ-FM in Tampa), but it works for me.

For what it's worth, Amp Radio is actually not new to Los Angeles; it was on the HD2 feed of Jack FM (KCBS-FM). I'm not sure what will be replacing Amp Radio on KCBS-FM-HD2. This article from FMQB has comments from Kevin Weatherly (who is the head honcho of Amp for CBS Radio) where he said, "Incubating Amp Radio online and on HD 2 allowed us to experiment with different ideas, build brand loyalty, and analyze listener feedback."

As for KLSX, it's another in a string of stations to lose their way without Howard Stern. One of these days I'm going to do a station-by-station breakdown of what losing Stern meant to terrestrial radio (both for Clear Channel in the hell of February 2004 and then the rest of the industry when he left for Sirius in December 2005).

[AmpedNow]

As for KLSX, it's another in a string of stations to lose their way without Howard Stern. One of these days I'm going to do a station-by-station breakdown of what losing Stern meant to terrestrial radio (both for Clear Channel in the hell of February 2004 and then the rest of the industry when he left for Sirius in December 2005).

That would be interesting... Let me know if you need any help with the time frame of the show, and its affiliates. I followed it closely in the 90's.

One could argue that CBS, and radio in general, is still suffering from his move to satellite. It's clear in retrospect that he anchored all of these hot talk stations when he was on. It helped the other hosts that was on throughout the day. A good percentage of his legion of fans hung around and listened to the station until the next morning. Once he was gone, there wasn't any reason to listen anymore, so the ratings of these stations tanked, and the rest is history.

In this particular instance, though, Adam and Tom held their own. It wasn't bad ratings that got them; it was the lousy economy. Playing music is much cheaper than paying people to create original content.

Never mind that CA is in a full-blown depression compared to the rest of the country... This was likely a decision based on local realities, such as a rapidly-shrinking pool of advertisers. Even the nation's highest-billing market isn't immune.

With a small handful of exceptions, it appears that the days of morning DJs and talk show hosts with million-dollar salaries are gone...