Radio Stations Los Angeles

Latino organizations continue to express outrage over comments made by radio talk-show host Howard Stern in the wake of last month's shooting death of Selena, the tejano music superstar. The National Hispanic Media Coalition, during a news conference Monday in City of Commerce, called for stations to pull the nationally syndicated program off the air and said it would file complaints against Stern with the FCC.

Onetime smooth jazz station KTWV-FM (94.7) has been through myriad changes this year, and another is coming Tuesday when morning-show host Brian McKnight is scheduled to announce his departure. McKnight, a multi-platinum R&B star, has also hosted his own TV show, a syndicated radio show, toured the world and is writing a book — a schedule that forces him to prerecord some programs for KTWV. Station management now prefers a live and local host every day. McKnight said that his weekday 6- 9 a.m. show hampered his playing live concerts, except on the weekends.

Determined to tap into the "truly huge" Latino market, KLYY-FM (107.1) will begin broadcasting contemporary Spanish hits on Monday, including rock en espanol and ballads, said the station's general manager, Sean O'Neill. It has been an English-language alternative rock outlet. The new format is aimed at listeners 25-34, said Bryan Subotnick, executive vice president of Big City Radio, which owns the station.

Despite its somewhat tongue-in-cheek slogan about being "world famous," KROQ-FM (106.7) has not been able to lay claim to being the top-rated radio station in the Los Angeles-Orange County market during its 25-year history. Not, that is, until now. The alternative rock station finally finished first in the recently released Arbitron ratings covering March 29 to June 30.

When the National Hispanic Media Coalition filed a petition to deny the license renewal request of Spanish-language radio station KKHJ-AM (930) 16 months ago, some of the loudest huzzahs came from the offices of Heftel Broadcasting, programmer for three of KKHJ's chief rivals. At issue was Alfredo Najera's adult-relationship show, "Alfredo Contigo," which, the petition claimed, was "crude, vulgar and graphic."

As any listener to its music can tell you, the Wave, otherwise known as radio station KTWV-FM (94.7), does not make waves. It's mellow, New Age, feel-good butter music. Music that reminds you not of waves crashing against a shore but of the tinkly ripple of a waterfall. Smooth jazz, fans dub it. New adult contemporary, the radio industry calls it. Elevator music, some critics snipe.

Overall radio rankings for the first three months of the year showed little change from the last quarter of 1995, though there was a decided uptick for KKBT-FM (92.3)--also known as "The Beat"--and its "House Party" morning show. Release of the latest Arbitron ratings on Tuesday showed that the Los Angeles audience pretty much kept to its regular listening habits since the last three-month survey. Spanish-language music station KLVE-FM (107.5) retained the top slot with an average 7.

Deejay Gillian Harris was a jumble of emotions as she prepared to say goodbye to her listeners and to R&B oldies station KACE-FM (103.9), which goes off the air at midnight tonight. Angry that a station with a loyal core of listeners will no longer be accessible. "At a corporate level, this is all about money," she said of Hispanic Broadcasting Corp.'s acquisition of the station and its impending switch to Spanish-language.

He calls himself the Rush Limbaugh of the Afghan community. By day, Farouq Tamiz is a real estate broker in Van Nuys, but every Tuesday night, his voice booms controversy into the homes of thousands of Afghan immigrants living in Southern California. In the eight years since he created the Radio Voice of Afghanistan on KFOX 93.5-FM to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the 47-year-old Kabul native said he has endured threats, nasty letters, even a monthlong suspension by the station.

Last month's high-profile switch by KSCA-FM (101.9) from English-language pop to Spanish-language music brought home to a lot of listeners the phenomenon of the Southland's rapidly changing radio market. Suddenly, you could tune in to 17 Spanish outlets out of 82 stations in Los Angeles and Orange counties--the largest and fastest growing Spanish radio market in the nation. Forty years ago, there was one full-time Spanish-language station here, KWKW-AM (1330).

On the heels of Steve Harvey's arrival in morning drive, another established comedian, George Lopez, completes his first week today as a morning personality on KCMG-FM (92.3), known as Mega 92.3. Station management is hoping the addition of Lopez, a longtime fixture in local comedy clubs and on the road, will help solidify and build on the pop and R&B station's following in the English-speaking Latino community.

Two media watchdog groups have called for protests today at 9 a.m. at North Hollywood's KPFK-FM (90.7), as well as four other Pacifica Foundation-owned, listener-supported radio stations nationwide, in response to what they're calling censorship and intimidation of the network's highest-profile journalist. Amy Goodman, award-winning host of "Democracy Now!

Some listeners tuned to 90.7 FM over the weekend got to hear a new kind of classic rock--the eclectic pop programming of "The Cosmic Barrio" on North Hollywood's KPFK meshed with the classical music of Tijuana's XLNC1. The musical fusion was neither intentional nor easy on the ears.

Last summer, KFI-AM (640) radio hosts Karel Bouley and Andrew Howard faced the wrath of uber producer George Lucas by broadcasting live--via Howard's concealed cellular phone--from a movie theater rolling an early press screening of "Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace." After a few minutes, two burly security guards told Howard to disconnect ASAP or take a hike. Earlier this month, the naughty boys were at it again--beckoning a young Richmond, Va.

In the world of hip-hop, Power 106 is about as big as, well, the 400-pound man who is driving the morning show. With annual revenue of about $40 million and one of the largest outdoor advertising campaigns among Los Angeles-area radio stations, KPWR-FM (105.9) is being powered to even greater heights by the growing popularity of morning drive-time disc jockey Big Boy. "Big Boy has truly become a big personality in the marketplace," says Don Barrett, publisher of LARadio.

It's quarter to midnight on a recent Friday at the La Cienega Boulevard studios of classic rocker KLOS-FM (95.5). While commercials play in the background, disc jockey Jim Ladd does something highly unusual in the world of big-time music radio. He looks through the hundreds of CDs filed on the studio wall and ponders his choices. Selecting a few, he returns to the console. "I was going to do a set about God," he says in an off-air aside to a couple of visitors.

Listen as KFI-AM (640) news reporter Chris Little tells a story: On Jan. 11, during the 9 p.m. newscast, Little was at a nut factory in Compton. There had been an explosion. Four people were burned, one critically. "Everybody was in there hollering, saying, 'Help, help,' " Ella Brown told Little, her voice riddled with anxiety. She had been watching from across the street, Little told listeners, adding: "She says she heard a small boom, saw a little smoke . . .

The actual debut date of his morning show on KFI-AM (640) is lost to immediate memory but, lawyer that he is, Bill Handel in a flash offers that he signed his contract on July 16, 1993--several weeks after the plum 5-9 a.m. gig began.

When my editor assigned this story, she asked what I knew about weekend radio. "Not much," I said, though I felt an odd twinge in my gut. Sure, I've scanned the dial on a Saturday or Sunday and become riveted by strange conversational snippets. For example: "My St. Augustine grass was invaded by clover." "What do I do with a 5-pound can of crab that's been in my freezer for the past eight years?" "Am I the only one who thinks that Alan Greenspan looks like Woody Allen?"

At first blush, public radio station KCSN-FM (88.5) is easily dwarfed by its larger brethren of the airwaves. The eclectic station, based at Cal State Northridge, relies on power that's little more than your typical home lightbulb: just 52 watts. But in a case in which size does matter, KCSN is about to amp up its audience reach with a new antenna atop Oat Mountain, high above Porter Ranch in the San Fernando Valley. On Feb.