We get email …
“Hello and thank you for you excellent column on all things radio. I really enjoy it! Question: I am big fan of sports talk in LA and love KLAC (570 AM). I see them on the list you shared, but do not see competing station KSPN (710 AM). I checked online and did not see them in the full Nielsen list either. Am I missing something or do they not rank for some reason?” — John Horn
You’re not missing anything … you might notice KABC (790 AM) is not on the list either, and perhaps a few others I don’t know about. This is due to the fact that neither KSPN nor KABC subscribe to Nielsen’s ratings service, so they don’t show in the results.
In the old days, when ratings were taken via diaries, a station’s ratings could still be determined by the written mentions, but Arbitron (at the time) would just leave them off the final results. Now ratings are taken electronically by small devices that listen for special signals sent in a station’s audio. If I understand correctly, when a station doesn’t subscribe, the encoding is turned off, and it just doesn’t show at all in the ratings calculations … and there is no longer any way to backtrack.
This hit the Meruelo Media stations at the end of 2023 when they were negotiating with Nielsen; there are no ratings at all for KLOS (95.5 FM), Power 106, or KALI 93.9 , or KDAY (93.5 FM) during that holiday ratings period.
Certainly not a perfect system, but understandable when the reason Nielsen exists is to make money. If they calculated ratings for non-subscribers, they would cease to exist.
“I regularly read and enjoy your column in the Pasadena Star News. Do you know if there is an archive of playlists for stations over the years? I would love to be able to look back and see the exact songs being played, for example, on KROQ (016.7 FM) in 1985. Appreciate your thoughts,” — Jeff
While I have seen sites online featuring playlists for top-40 stations like KHJ (930 AM), KTNQ (1020 AM) and KFI (640 AM), I haven’t seen any for KROQ, which would definitely be a fun look back. There are sites that collect lists of the top 500 songs from individual years during the 1980s. (One reader recalls a stretch in the 1980s when Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Cities in Dust” played every two hours like clockwork.) Has someone posted the actual playlists? Let’s put it out to the universe and see if someone has the answer!
Or if you’re interested in KHJ …
“I just got a chance to read your article on local radio in the Daily News, and I enjoyed it so much. As a kid of the ‘60s, I grew up listening to KHJ, KFWB, and KRLA. I actually have all of the “Boss 30” charts from KHJ from 1965-1977. I spent so much time listening to the radio; when I got out of college, I became a studio session singer, and all of that knowledge of the lyrics and harmonies to those songs came in very handy. I’m just completing my 48th year as a member of SAG/AFTRA. Anyway, it’s nice to make contact with someone who seems to love radio as much as I do.” — Steve Lively
I appreciate the kind words, and congratulations on your success! Now we need to get you to scan all your music charts and post them online. Actually, I need to do that myself; due to my own collecting as well as donations from generous readers of this column, I have quite a few as well. I will post them someday on my own website.
“Wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your column in the Orange County Register. I worked at KYMS (106.3 FM) in Santa Ana from 1972 to 1974 during its album-oriented/free-form days. An interesting cast of characters came and went during my time there. I am toying with the idea of a book or screenplay. I even started documenting memories of ‘this and that’ for source material. Though I moved into subsequent careers, I never entirely abandoned ‘the business!’ Have done some voice work; had an agent for a while. As you know, it gets into your blood.” — Dave Wolf
Ah, KYMS — one of the early FMs before FM was big. That is definitely a station that would be interesting to know more about. I hope you follow through! And you are definitely right about it getting into your blood – even as a fan!
“I wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your column in the Daily Bulletin. When I first noticed it, I thought, ‘A guy that writes about the radio’, who would read that? I was pleasantly surprised and glad that I started to read your column and look forward to them. Thanks and keep up the good work! Question: On a few occasions, I was listening to 95.5 KLOS at night and heard two songs playing at the same time. One song you could hear as normal but the other seemed to be playing softly in the background. Have you ever experienced this?” — Rannknee
Truth be told, my own mother didn’t read my column, so I truly appreciate your support! It is kind of funny sometimes running into people who do read it and don’t know it is me. Anyway, to answer your question, that can happen when there is a glitch in the music scheduling program used by a station. Everything is computerized these days, so when it happens it needs a reset. It is rare when actual albums or CDs are played.
Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Email rwagoner@socalradiowaves.com
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