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KCBS-FM
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| KCBS-FM | |
| City of license | Los Angeles, California |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Greater Los Angeles |
| Branding | 93.1 Jack FM |
| Slogan | Playing What We Want |
| Frequency | 93.1 (MHz) (Also on HD Radio) |
| First air date | 1948 |
| Format | Adult Hits |
| ERP | 28,500 watts |
| HAAT | 1056 meters |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 9612 |
| Callsign meaning | Columbia Broadcasting System |
| Owner | CBS Radio |
| Sister stations | KFWB, KLSX, KNX, KROQ, KRTH, KTWV |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www.931jackfm.com |
KCBS-FM is a radio station in Los Angeles, California broadcasting to the Greater Los Angeles area on 93.1 FM.
KCBS-FM airs an adult hits music format branded as "Jack-FM".
Like other radio stations of similar format, the Jack FM playlist runs the gamut from classic rock to dance music to hard rock. Currently, the station has no air staff, as many other stations of this format.
Although Jack proclaims that the station is run "in a dumpy little building in beautiful downtown Culver City", KCBS-FM was actually at the intersection of Venice Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles, about half a mile north of Culver City. 1
In 2006, the broadcasting facilities were moved to Miracle Mile.
Contents |
The station signed on in 1948 as KNX-FM. KNX-FM was a simulcast of sister station KNX until the mid 1960s. The radio station, along with other CBS-owned FM radio stations aired a beautiful music format branded as "The Young Sound".
In 1971, KNX-FM aired a mellow rock music format, featuring rock artists deemed too "soft" for album rock rivals KLOS and KMET.
In 1981, long after other CBS-owned radio stations moved on to other formats, KNX-FM adopted a Top 40 music format - again similar to the other CBS Radio stations branded as "93.1 KKHR". A change of the heritage KNX-FM call letters followed to KKHR. KKHR was not a traditional Top 40 music format of the time as the playlist was more stringent limited to 30 songs.
In 1982, the Top 40 format ran its course likely due to its lackluster ratings. The mellow rock music format and heritage KNX-FM call letters were returned under the new branding "Quality Rock".
In 1989, an oldies music format was introduced and the heritage KNX-FM call letters were dropped yet again in favor of KODJ to complement the change in branding to "Oldies 93.1". KODJ competed with crosstown rival KRTH, which is ironically now a CBS Radio station. KODJ focused more on the 1950s and the early 1960s era of oldies music than rival KRTH. In response, KRTH gradually reduced the amount of newer songs from the playlist and received higher ratings. Later on, KODJ changed to its present call letters, KCBS-FM. These call letters had previously been used by two CBS-affiliated stations (now KSOL and KLLC) in San Francisco.
In 1993, KCBS-FM dumped the oldies music format in favor of classic hits music, focusing primarily on the 1970s; branded as "Arrow 93" using the slogan, "All Rock and Roll Oldies".
Infinity Broadcasting (as CBS Radio was known at the time) won the licensing rights to brand their adult hits music formatted radio stations as "Jack FM". Many Infinity/CBS Radio stations adopted the adult hits format and "Jack-FM" branding which led to yet another format change for KCBS-FM—in March 2005, the classic hits music format was dropped in favor of its present music format of adult hits branded as "Jack-FM".
In January 2007, KCBS-FM began broadcasting in HD Radio for a "higher quality" broadcast.
Their current advertising campaign is designed to be irreverent: Soon after the station switched over to become Jack FM, they put out a call for people to call in and "tell us what you think". Shortly afterwards, they began replaying an assortment of responses, not just those that were overly positive to the station. Examples of call-ins that were replayed were "I love you guys. My friend hates you, though." and "Hey, Jack...I just wanted to tell you guys...since I been [sic] listening to your station...I quit my job and left my family."
Other promos and station IDs included the famous "We play what we want. If you don't like it, shut up," and other slogans typical of modern hipster, snark or "bastard culture" themes, suggesting that listeners who prefer a more personal format, with announcers, traffic and weather updates, concert information, and particularly listener request lines, are people who lack character or cannot think for themselves. More upsetting to KCBS-FM's usual listening audience may have been the fact that the format was changed unexpectedly, with no warning either to listeners or to staff members who were fired on the spot. As KCBS-FM's staff included some highly respected names such as Joe Benson,Tommy Edwards and Jeff Serr, this move appeared to many fans as personally insulting.
Unlike most other stations in this format, the call sign does not include any form of the word "Jack," opting instead to hold over calls from a previous format.
- KNX (AM)
- KCBS-TV
- KCBS-TV/FM Tower
- Query the FCC's FM station database for KCBS
- Radio Locator information on KCBS
- Query Arbitron's FM station database for KCBS
- The Big Jackoff Writer Jon Dunmore expresses his frustration with the JackFM format as applied to KCBS, and points out that its claim to "play what we want" and to be bold and innovative is a lie.
- You Don't Know Jack Blogger David Lidsky summarizes the impact JackFM's format has had on KCBS.