KBIG/L.A. Flips To 104.3MYfm

[BillboardBoy]

Monday (Sept. 17) at 10 a.m. PT brought the much-rumored change to Clear Channel hot AC KBIG/Los Angeles, as the station flipped to what it’s calling a contemporary adult hits format using the moniker “104.3MYfm.” The station will broadcast commercial free for its first seven hours (10 a.m.-5 p.m. PT) and will operate without air personalities until further notice.

Clear Channel L.A. VP of programming Michael Martin said, “With today’s consumer wanting to custom tailor everything to their liking the name MY is a perfect brand for radio. This is a station designed by the listeners to play music they tell us they want to hear. How do we know what THEY want to hear? Extensive market research and continual weekly music information to keep the station familiar, fun and family friendly.” Martin continued, “MY is designed to sit right in the middle of STAR 98.7 and 103.5 KOST, playing a great mix of music styles and eras. The MY playlist is deep, filled with contemporary music from all genres. It’s a mix that is not currently heard in L.A. radio.”

PD Dave Denes commented, “104.3MYfm will be adult hits like Kelly Clarkson, Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Fergie, Justin Timberlake, John Mayer, Shakira, Madonna, Santana and much more. Every song we play is or was at the top of the charts.”

Seven-year morning man and legendary personality Charlie Tuna was allowed to stay on the air Monday morning to say his goodbyes to his audience, and he hinted that he and Clear Channel may be doing some things together down the road.

The station plans to support the new launch with a significant outdoor and on-air promotional campaign.

[tico]

Playlist according to yes.com:

5:52PM: "Underneath It All", No Doubt
5:56PM: "Crush", Jennifer Paige
5:59PM: "Before He Cheats", Carrie Underwood
6:03PM: "In Your Eyes", Peter Gabriel
6:07PM: "This Love", Maroon 5
6:10PM: "3 A.M.", Matchbox Twenty
6:14PM: "Wait For You", Elliott Yamin
6:24PM: "Name", Goo Goo Dolls
6:28PM: "Nothing Left To Lose", Mat Kearney
6:32PM: "Jack & Diane", John Cougar
6:36PM: "What A Girl Wants", Christina Aguilera
6:39PM: "I Will Remember You", Sarah McLachlan
6:43PM: "Who Says You Can't Go Home", Bon Jovi
6:53PM: "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams", Green Day
6:56PM: "Secret", Madonna
7:01PM: "Hey There Delilah", Plain White T's
7:04PM: "No Such Thing", John Mayer
7:08PM: "Photograph", Nickelback
7:12PM: "I'm The Only One", Melissa Etheridge
7:16PM: "Irreplaceable", Beyonce
7:25PM: "Landslide" (Sheryl Crow Remix), Dixie Chicks
7:29PM: "How To Save A Life", The Fray
7:33PM: "Jealousy", Natalie Merchant
7:36PM: "Drops Of Jupiter", Train
7:41PM: "Give Me One Reason", Tracy Chapman
7:44PM: "Into The Night" (w/ Chad Kroeger), Santana
7:53PM: "A Moment Like This", Kelly Clarkson
7:57PM: "The Space Between", Dave Matthews Band
8:01PM: "SexyBack", Justin Timberlake


Not a bad list.

[Slinky]

Doesn't this compete with Star more than KBIG did? The playlist looks very modern. Will Star move to an even more modern stance to try and pick up listeners from KROQ?

[Marv]

According to the discussions which I follow at www.radio-info.com, Star 98.7 will also undergo some tweaking and/or repositioning (music wise) in the not too distant future.

It sounds great so far, just about what a Hot AC station should sound like.

Take many of the hits from Top 40 (excluding rap), a sprinkling of AC crossovers, and lots of gold from the eighties and nineties (everybody from Pat Benatar to Bon Jovi), and there you are.

[circlecircledotdot]

This isn't the first CC station to pick up the "My" branding within the past couple months. KLOU/ St. Louis also evolved from "Oldies Radio, 103.3 KLOU" to "MY103.3"

The difference between KBIG and KLOU is that KLOU essentially remained an Oldies outlet, but refocused the music to a later bit later of an era and adopted the "Play What You Want" style, including the website www.playwhatiwant.com.

[johnnywest]

I'm interested to see what happens this weekend. If they've taken off "Backtrax USA" and "AT20," I'm gonna be super pissed.

[Marv]

I don't see why they can't keep both shows, but 'AT20' should NOT be on at 7 AM.

[Radical347]

OMFG, this is horrible. They've taken a unique, legendary LA station and sucked all the life out of it (Although I'll admit KBIG has become somewhat of a hot mess lately). This looks almost exactly like what Star 98.7 was a few years ago before it went all Modern AC on us, but with even less of an edge. This is KOST, with a few added Star-type songs. This is as much of a train-wreck as JACK, but without the variety that makes that format redeemable. This is just... no.

[dth1971]

If My 104.3 FM Los Angeles drops AT20 with Casey Kasem, it will make Ryan Seacrest of his AT40 train wreck happy especially for radio listeners in Los Angeles who listen to him on KIIS 102.7 Los Angeles every morning with AT40 twice on weekends (L.A. misses the glory days on KIIS Los Angeles when it carried in the late 1980's-early 1990's the old American Top 40 first with Casey Kasem then with Shadoe Stevens until in 1993 an Orange County, CA radio station picked up the show until its Summer 1994 demise; and when KIIS Los Angeles carried Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 until Clear Channel dropped the rights at the end of 2004 but Rick reappeared in a Latino Top 40 test market in L.A. around 2005-2006; in late 2002-2003 KIIS Los Angeles was rumored to pick up and air on weekends the revived since 1998 AT40 with Casey Kasem but plans dropped until KIIS did pick up AT40 in 2004 after Ryan Seacrest took over)

What could be next? AC WLIT 93.9 Chicago becoming Adult Hits My 93.9 FM?

[tico]

Knowing WLIT, that could happen. But there are already two adult hits stations in Chicago: Jack FM and Nine FM, which primarily services the suburbs.

[dth1971]

But if WLIT goes to My 93.9 FM, there would be no more November-December annual Christmas music format for that station.

[John77]

It's about time this abysmally bad station FINALLY flipped to some sort of real format... sounds 100x better than the old station! :)

-----

**edit** this is more like what a CHR/Pop station is supposed to sound like... it's about time we here in L.A. get a mainstream pop station!

[John77]

radical347 said:

OMFG, this is horrible. They've taken a unique, legendary LA station and sucked all the life out of it (Although I'll admit KBIG has become somewhat of a hot mess lately). This looks almost exactly like what Star 98.7 was a few years ago before it went all Modern AC on us, but with even less of an edge. This is KOST, with a few added Star-type songs. This is as much of a train-wreck as JACK, but without the variety that makes that format redeemable. This is just... no.

JACK-FM's hardly been a trainwreck... and this is nothing like KOST in sound... actually I think this station's going to take a lot of KIIS FM's older female audience...

[John77]

Well, it looks like the changes keep happening... gotta love this stupid clustering... this is from today's R&R:

The changes continue to roll at Clear Channel/Los Angeles as hot AC KYSR (Star 98.7) played around for a couple of hours Thursday morning (Sept. 20) with '90s alternative, then settled back into being more of what PD Charese Frugé describes to R&R as "modern AC," and the station appears to be putting some distance between itself and hot AC clusterpal KBIG, which relaunched Monday (Sept. 17) as "104.3 MYfm."


"We're defining the line of modern AC," Frugé tells R&R, as the station also de-emphasized the "Star" portion of its moniker while moving into a more male-targeted arena. While tracks from harder-edged alternative artists like Everclear, Faith No More, Live, Puddle Of Mudd, Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots remain in the mix, currents from artists like Blue October, Daughtry and I Nine have reappeared.


Additionally, R&R has confirmed that Star morning guy Valentine will move across the hall for mornings on MYfm starting Monday (Sept. 24) , replacing market icon Charlie Tuna, who signed off this week with the station flip. Valentine's former co-host Lisa Foxx will remain behind to hold things down in mornings on KYSR. Also, Frugé says that Brian Holt will assist with 98.7's music.

[dth1971]

john77 said:

Well, it looks like the changes keep happening... gotta love this stupid clustering... this is from today's R&R:

The changes continue to roll at Clear Channel/Los Angeles as hot AC KYSR (Star 98.7) played around for a couple of hours Thursday morning (Sept. 20) with '90s alternative, then settled back into being more of what PD Charese Frugé describes to R&R as "modern AC," and the station appears to be putting some distance between itself and hot AC clusterpal KBIG, which relaunched Monday (Sept. 17) as "104.3 MYfm."


"We're defining the line of modern AC," Frugé tells R&R, as the station also de-emphasized the "Star" portion of its moniker while moving into a more male-targeted arena. While tracks from harder-edged alternative artists like Everclear, Faith No More, Live, Puddle Of Mudd, Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots remain in the mix, currents from artists like Blue October, Daughtry and I Nine have reappeared.


Additionally, R&R has confirmed that Star morning guy Valentine will move across the hall for mornings on MYfm starting Monday (Sept. 24) , replacing market icon Charlie Tuna, who signed off this week with the station flip. Valentine's former co-host Lisa Foxx will remain behind to hold things down in mornings on KYSR. Also, Frugé says that Brian Holt will assist with 98.7's music.

Maybe Star 98.7 could pick up "Backtrax USA" and AT20 since former KBIG dropped it for the My 104.3 FM.

[John77]

^^ If they're going to go a more "modern" direction, I doubt that happens, but you never know... not much of what CC does makes much sense... Ultimately, the station that stands to benefit the most from this flip is going to probably be KMVN - Movin 93.9, which is languishing with a 0.9 share (tied for 30th in the market)... the station that stands to lose the most is actually KIIS FM...

Here's how I think it will go down...

As for KMVN 93.9, that station's still dead in the water, with a 0.9 arbitron in the new ratings, good for a tie for 30th in the market!!! That's what they get for blowing up our KZLA! :) I would expect that station may actually pick up a few of the old KBIG listeners as it's probably the station which was most similiar to the old KBIG in format... don't be surprised to see them in the 1.5-2.0 share range before too long...

With this move, Clear Channel may ultimately shoot itself in the foot actually... as you probably know, they own KOST, KYSR, KBIG and KIIS... and while they intend to move KYSR a little more toward the KROQ audience, I very much doubt that people will leave KROQ for KYSR as KROQ is more of a "brand name" than a music entity... their listeners are loyal and they know what they are getting...

What I think ultimately is going to happen with the new KBIG is that instead of it finding a "niche" between KOST and KYSR, I think what ultimately is going to happen - especially if they continue to play adult-female targeted stuff like Beyonce, Fergie, etc is that they will pull listeners away from KIIS!!! And that would probably drive them crazy!!!

The problem here is that the people at CC think there's a hole between AC KOST and Hot AC KYSR... when in reality there's a GAPING hole between KYSR and "top 40" KIIS. People here in SoCal actually want to hear real top 40 music in one place again - we haven't had a true CHR/Pop station out here in a very long time now... But alas, the beancounters at CC are way too dumb to figure that one out! In a nutshell, CC is going to give Emmis some of their listeners. Aw yes, corporate beancounting at it's FINEST!

[Marv]

John is on the money as usual---big surprise there, huh?

There is indeed a hole between KYSR & KOST, and there is certainly one between KYSR & KIIS, and the hole between the latter pair is indeed much larger, as John flawlessly pointed out earlier.


It should be obvious that nobody @ Clueless Channel Beancounter Corp. surveys the AC & Hot AC charts at either R&R or Billboard.

The percentage of music which those two formats share is substantially higher than what AC and CHR/Pop share these days, which is why his assertion that My104.3FM will take a much bigger bite out of KIIS's adult audience (ages 25+) is 100% correct.

Secondly, there is nothing legendary about KBIG; it's been the most mismanaged and cluttered radio station in LA for several years, and that damned disease known as 'clusterization' is reason #1 for its dreadful sound going back any number of years, and wasting that flamethrower of a signal in the process.

As I've stated before, there is NO doubt in my mind that if KBIG and KYSR, or KBIG & KOST had different owners, only then could KBIG unleash its full-blown potential.

Given the quarter-century legacy (as of next month) of KOST as the most prestigious AC station in America thanks to ex-PD Jhani Kaye, the 'clusterization' disease running rampant throughout corporate-owned radio these days means tons of defensive programming as opposed to aggressive programming, and trying to MAXIMIZE any given station's potential.

If KBIG & KYSR had different owners, KBIG could become a pop-leaning Hot AC powerhouse, the straitjacket would be removed, and it would undoubtedly take huge chunks of both revenue and adult listeners from KOST and KIIS, and especially KOST, while KYSR wouldn't have to do a thing.

If KBIG & KOST had different owners, KBIG would merely tweak its playlist to the left, where KYSR is, and leave KOST alone.

What My104.3 is doing now is exactly that, and is bound to take a bite out of KIIS.

Being the beancounters that they are as opposed to the radio guys that I wish they were, the suits at CC don't realize that My104.3's future success is 100% guaranteed to come at the expense of two of the top five properties in CC's entire portfolio---KOST & KIIS, as John very accurately pointed out.

I also don't see why 'AT 20' or 'BackTrax USA' have to change stations, but putting Casey Kasem on at 7 AM on a Sunday morning is beyond asinine.

Either move the show back at least two hours, or to noon, or even 6PM; airing that show when enormous portions of your targeted audience are sound asleep makes zero sense.

Those are just MORE examples of CC utilizing what that Letterman fella hilariously refers to as 'stupid human tricks!!!!!"

[reception]

The playlist for KBIG is similar to the playlist at the albieit satellite fed KKBG Hilo. I should note that KBIG is the original KBIG FM.

Was Kari Steele let go?

[dth1971]

Did KBIG My104.3 FM Los Angeles still air AT20 with Casey Kasem this morning or not?

[shocker]

I recall KBIG was a Hot AC that leaned heavily dance or rhythmic. It was all right for a while, but they didn't update their playlist enough. For several years they would play the re-mix version of "Clocks" by Coldplay - which was awful IMO.

They threw in songs like "Move This" by Technotronic, and even the occasional '70s disco classic. I thought that was unusual.

KBIG was removed from the R&R Hot AC panel years ago because they were so far removed from what a true Hot AC outlet was. The change to MyFM was needed.

[Chase]

marv said:

It should be obvious that nobody @ Clueless Channel Beancounter Corp. surveys the AC & Hot AC charts at either R&R or Billboard.

The percentage of music which those two formats share is substantially higher than what AC and CHR/Pop share these days, which is why his assertion that My104.3FM will take a much bigger bite out of KIIS's adult audience (ages 25+) is 100% correct.

Marv, could you please clarify how My104.3 will take a bite out of KIIS's adult audience? I don't quite understand how AC and its overlap with other formats play into this. Is it because My104.3 is playing more adult-targeted recurrent songs in addition to current CHR/Pop hits? Thanks.

[PinkyD]

I'm excited to hear the new format...LA truly needs a Top 40 station...KIIS is so urban leaning, it's a mini Power 106...

I kinda liked KBIG's crazy playlist...like JACK on poppers :)

I guess Movin 93 will be the only place to really hear any dance music now...though I'm sure its the same tired ol' songs...

[dth1971]

Did Casey Kasem's American Top 10 AC/American Top 20 Hot AC find a new home in the Los Angeles area radio station market yet?

[atlantaboy]

dms8993 said:

I'm excited to hear the new format...LA truly needs a Top 40 station...KIIS is so urban leaning, it's a mini Power 106...

Yeah...I know you guys in L. A. must really want a regular CHR/Top 40 station, but KBIG only rotates its top song 36 times a week meanin IMO you really can't call it anythin else but Hot AC (even if it does play "Umbrella") - if it were to keep its current playlist but increase the plays on songs to twice what they are now, it might qualify for an adult-leanin CHR/Top 40, but with currents played so infrequently, they've gotta be focusing only on about 1/3 current music (but obv. you guys live there so you all know much better than me )

I think it's hard to tell what station KBIG will take more listeners away from (KIIS or KYSR) b/c L. A. really hasn't had a mainstream HAC or CHR for years - they've basically had a bunch of rhythmic stations and a Modern AC...but since Clear Channel owns all three (KBIG, KYSR, and KIIS) I don't think it cares which station takes ratings away from which other station, as long as Clear Channel itself doesn't lose any ratings (as a whole) in L. A.

[shocker]

atlantaboy said:

KBIG only rotates its top song 36 times a week meanin IMO you really can't call it anythin else but Hot AC (even if it does play "Umbrella") - if it were to keep its current playlist but increase the plays on songs to twice what they are now, it might qualify for an adult-leanin CHR/Top 40, but with currents played so infrequently, they've gotta be focusing only on about 1/3 current music

Interestingly enough, it's classified as a mainstream AC - not a Hot AC.
www.mmr247.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/stations.asp?c_let=KBIG-FM

They definitely lean Hot AC with a few titles, but it's certainly less dancey now than it was a few years ago.

[atlantaboy]

^Wow that change must've just been made cause I remember seein it labeled as Hot AC on its Mediabase playlist prob less than a month ago...thinkin they've adjusted their playlist in the last month cause back then they were def. playin Umbrella and a bunch of other CHR/pop songs that no way could be on Mainstream AC

Maybe Clear Channel was afraid it was gonna start competing with KIIS...

[Marv]

Atlantaboy is correct; the fact that KIIS is somehow #2 in adults 25-54 right now (KOST is #1, and JACK-FM---KCBS-FM---fell to #3 after being #1 in that demo also since the day it hit the air!!!!) is amazing.

KIIS is #1 in the market among English language stations as well, but since KOST went all-Christmas this past Friday @ 8:30 AM, I wouldn't be surprised if they are #1 overall in the next book coming out in February or March.

NYCs Z100 is #1 in that market as well; that hasn't happened in ages, and their 5.1 rating is their highest since the fall of 1997, when Hot AC was really cookin', and the two formats shared tons of music, thanks to the simulataneously explosion of 'the boy bands' and Alternative acts such as the Wallflowers and Third Eye Blind.

[atlantaboy]

^Z100's huge ratings def. are comin at the expense of WPLJ - it has its lowest ratings I can remember...and I had to drive through NYC for the holidays and noticed that PLJ seems to be goin the same direction as WLNK/Charlotte and adding more and more talk shows throughout the day in order to make up for declining Hot AC ratings

[musicfanpete]

atlantaboy said:

^Wow that change must've just been made cause I remember seein it labeled as Hot AC on its Mediabase playlist prob less than a month ago...thinkin they've adjusted their playlist in the last month cause back then they were def. playin Umbrella and a bunch of other CHR/pop songs that no way could be on Mainstream AC

Maybe Clear Channel was afraid it was gonna start competing with KIIS...

Happy Thanksgiving to all! :) Hope everyone had a great day and did not overeat too much!

Regarding the KBIG classification, actually they are still playing "Umbrella", "Promiscuous" (!) and "Don't Cha" (!!) amongst others, as a mainstrean AC:

32 30 NELLY FURTADO Promiscuous 12 12 0 0.2604

7 Day
Station Playlist
Clear Channel Communications
PD:Chachi
MD:Chachi
PH:818-559-2252
KBIG-FM
Los Angeles - 104.3 FM (Mainstream AC)

by This Week Spins
C&R
Home | View Another Station


LW: Nov 8 - Nov 14 TW: Nov 15 - Nov 21 Updated: Thu Nov 22 12:39 PM PST

Station Rank Spins Audience
lw TW Artist Title TW lw +/- Reach/
Mill
28 31 GNARLS BARKLEY Crazy 12 14 -2 0.2566
34 32 NICKELBACK Far Away 12 12 0 0.2278
29 33 NICKELBACK Photograph 12 14 -2 0.2194
30 34 DANIEL POWTER Bad Day 12 13 -1 0.2816
38 35 RIHANNA Umbrella (f/Jay-Z) 12 11 1 0.2854
39 36 JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE Sexyback 12 11 1 0.2694
27 37 K.T. TUNSTALL Suddenly I See 12 15 -3 0.2726
35 38 RIHANNA SOS 11 12 -1 0.2548
40 39 GWEN STEFANI Hollaback Girl 10 10 0 0.212
41 40 MARIAH CAREY We Belong Together 9 9 0 0.2512

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

33 41 NELLY FURTADO Say It Right 9 12 -3 0.2352
42 42 SHAKIRA F/WYCLEF JEAN Hips Don't Lie 8 8 0 0.1674
44 43 JOJO Too Little Too Late 5 4 1 0.1076
43 44 PUSSYCAT DOLLS Don't Cha 5 5 0 0.0916
45 45 KELLY CLARKSON Behind These Hazel Eyes 3 2 1 0.0464
46 TAYLOR SWIFT Teardrops On My Guitar 0 1 -1 0

Although some mainstream AC's are playing Shakira, including the new Fresh FM in Chicago, most are not playing the others I highlighted. Interesting to note that the "new" sound of AC sounds exactly what a Hot AC should sound like, while some Hot AC's, as you have eloquently made the case for atlantaboy, should be reporting to the CHR/mainstream panel. With this new wave of "fresh" type stations, I'm just wondering what you or anyone else thinks about what panel they should report to. Sounds like it's time for another major shuffle in each of these panels.

My second question is in regards to crosstown KYSR in Los Angeles. Would anyone happen to know why they were dropped off of the BDS (Billboard) Hot AC panel? Have they become too alternative for the panel, and does this signal an eventual move from the Mediabase Hot AC panel to the Mediabase Alternative panel? I don't think this station is reporting to any BDS panel at the moment as I'm assuming they are still trying to figure out where to put them. Just curious to read any comments about them.

[atlantaboy]

^Yeah I'm pretty sure KYSR dropped off the BDS/Mediabase panels cause it doesn't really fit into any established category now...it plays Modern AC music but most (if not all) currents in its Top 10 are at least a year old

Seems like the difference between AC and Hot AC has now become the percentage of currents at the top of a station's playlist, rather than "soft rock" vs. "pop rock" - WMTX/Tampa plays Hot AC music but from about a year ago, so it's classified as mainstream AC...looks like the same is now true for KBIG/L. A.

Yeah there are an awful lot of stations on the Hot AC panel that are CHRs, some of which play Kanye and one of which (at least) plays both Kanye and T-Pain and rotates songs 60-75 times a week...Colbie would def. hit #1 CHR if these 10-15 stations were reportin to the CHR panel (like IMO they should be cause they're playin a huge % of current music) - but I think the reason these stations are stayin on the HAC panel is so they can add Hot AC-only songs like "Her Eyes" and "If You're Gonna Leave" as soon as they go for HAC adds