Los Angeles KZLA Switches from Country to Urban
Posted August 21, 2006 — in Music News
America’s number one country radio station KZLA changed formats on Thursday to beats and dance tunes. Advertisers are more interested in pleasing minorities. Rock and classical music are increasingly being replaced by formats such as pop, hip-hop and talk radio.
The Los Angeles radio market is basically 40% Hispanic, 11% Asian and 8% black, and country fans are about 98% Caucasian,” said Rick Cummings, a top executive at KZLA’s parent company, Emmis Communications Corp.
“I almost threw up, I was so upset,” said longtime KZLA listener and Mission Viejo resident Ruth Rogers, 53. “I think it’s racist. This is becoming a nation of minorities. I’m not going to turn on my radio anymore. Country music promotes patriotism and family values, and they’ve replaced it with something that just promotes money and hate.”
“This is a huge disappointment,” said Gary Borman, a manager representing country superstar Faith Hill, among other artists. “KZLA did a fantastic job building a country music community here, and our artists were proud to contribute to that. If radio executives can focus on urban and Latino listeners, why can’t they focus on white America? This seems like the arbitrary hand of corporate America at work.”
“Los Angeles is our No. 1 sales market in America,” said Bill Bennett, head of Warner Bros. Records Nashville. “If I were Sirius or XM Satellite Radio, I would see this as a major opportunity. We’ll survive. New York hasn’t had a country station in years, and Faith Hill and Tim McGraw still sold out Madison Square Garden. But it’s a real blow.”
This is why radio sucks. It’s never about the consumer, the listener. Its about big companies advertising. This is why people don’t buy new music. Losing another station to Urban? What about the other listeners who don’t want to shake their ass to a disco ball? I certainly don’t want to get jiggy with it. Let’s turn the bad news into good. This gives more reason for consumers to turn to satellite. Although satellite is not quite there yet, it’s better than terrestrial radio. Much better……………….
To add, there have been many stations that have made format changes over the years. The only reason why this one is caught by the public eye is because there are underlying racial motives (driven by advertisers). I’m not saying don’t give listeners what they want. I’m saying create a new station to listen to. Not bump one out of the way, due to demographics/ethnicities. Then everyone wins.
Comment by Scott — August 21, 2006 @ 11:20 am
GO!!!! XM..i got sat radio and with Willies place and American and X-country i get all the best of C&W.in chicago we have 7 classic rock stations that play the same tired songs.and 1 so called rock station.stick a fork in earth radio….it’s done.
Comment by ditchwater — August 21, 2006 @ 6:14 pm
I’m sure LA really needed another “Urban” station.
WTF is “Urban”, anyway…whitemanspeak for tradtionally black music? An awful lot of music heard and played in urban areas is still rock and roll.
There is no reason to listen to terrestrial radio for anything other than traffic reports and sports scores anymore.
Comment by mondogarage — August 22, 2006 @ 10:54 am
That’s not racist, that’s supply and demand. Whether this decision will be profitable is another matter. Things cost money and if country music radio isn’t selling enough ad spots for the right price because those ads aren’t selling products, then that’s all it comes down to. It’s not because ad agencies hate white people!
Comment by Keith Freund — August 23, 2006 @ 1:09 am
” I’m saying create a new station to listen to. Not bump one out of the way, due to demographics/ethnicities. Then everyone wins.”
You cant just create a new radio station. In a market as big as LA all of the available frequencies are allready taken up.
Comment by Chris — August 23, 2006 @ 9:08 am
I hate this new “URBAN” radio station!!!!! Now there is no country radio to listen to, such a sad thing to happen. There are far too many hip hop, mumbo jumbo songs on just about every station with the exception of K-EARTH, or K-FROG and the FISH. The majority other stations have songs that I won’t even allow my children to listen to and now you have taken away a “WONDERFUL” country station that was something they could sing along too and enjoy. There are plenty of hispanic stations, pop stations along with african american crap that is so full of bump and grind, touch this, touch that, I want this from you etc……. only junk. I know I have other alternatives and believe me I’ll be tuning in someplace other than the “RUINED” 93.9 FM
Comment by Tanya Lozano — October 11, 2006 @ 8:40 pm