LA Radio: Could 103.1 Return to Dance? (Feb 25, 2005)

Indie 103.1 is owned by Entravision Communications Corp., a Santa Monica-based Spanish-language media company, but it went on the air 14 months ago under a so-called joint sales agreement with Clear Channel, the owner of eight stations in the L.A. market plus with an LMA with another station in Mexico, XTRA 690, whose LMA too needs to be divested.

Revised Federal Communications Commission regulations redefine joint sales agreements in such a way that Indie 103.1 and XTRA 690 constitutes Clear Channel's ninth and tenth stations here, and federal media rules bar any company from owning or operating (under a JSA or LMA) more than eight.

Roy Laughlin, Clear Channel's regional vice president in Los Angeles, said the company would walk away from the partnership April 1 as ordered by their lawyers.

Indie 103.1, which simulcasts from Newport Beach and Santa Monica under the tandem call letters KDLD and KDLE, has a relatively weak signal in the Los Angeles market.

(read more - LA Times)

Commentary: This is the second time Clear Channel had to lose the 103.1 frequency due to an imposed limit on ownership, but this is the first time it had to divest it under a revised limit that included JSAs with radio stations owned by other companies. Back in the year 1998, Jacor, a year before it was swallowed by Clear Channel, purchsed the former Groove outlet and converted it into the displaced old KSCA Adult Album Alternative format that October. Clear Channel owned and opeated the two 103.1's until they divested it to Entravision who took it Spanish in July 2000 due to its merger with AM/FM Inc, which already owned so many stations before the merger that stations on 1190 and 95.9 in Orange under CC were divested to two owners, along with AM/FM's former 100.3 frequency to Radio One. Entravision flipped on KDL dance music in January 2003, but under the JSA with Clear Channel, changed its format again, this time to alternative rock in December.

Now that the 103.1 frequencies have been lost by Clear Channel once again, which is the first time in my memory that a corporation had divested interest in the same station twice, Entravision will take back all sales of Indie airtime at this time, but fmqb.com reports that the format will stay intact, rather than to go Spanish or dance again, but due to its consistently low ratings as a rock outlet, often dwarfed by longtime veteran alternative KROQ, it's possible that indie103.1 could become an internet-only station like channel103.1 (CC's AAA format from 1998-2000) did for a short while while flipping to another format. RadioandRecords.com suggested that Entravision could possibly adjust the programmng once the business relationship with Clear Channel ends on April 1st.

Indie 103.1 Program Director Michael Steele recently e-mailed a memo: "What this means for Indie is this. Entravision will take back all sales of Indie airtime on APRIL 1st. Entravision is moving forward to continue operating the station as it is. That means no format change. Nothing will change as far as any of your shows go. Everyone's agreements are still in place. All this means that Indie will no longer have any affiliation with Clear Channel.

Continues Steele in the memo: "I'm sure you are all going to be hearing everything on the street from 'Indie is going spanish' or 'dance music is coming back', etc. Not true. We are going to continue being the most creative, musically exciting thing on the radio. Don't believe the (expletetive deleted by SDN) on the streets. We've created an amazing entity and I'm proud to move forward on this with all of you!! Thank you for all your hard work. Let's keep flying the Indie flag."

Back in the year 2000, the JSA with Enteravision could have been a reality back in 2000 when CC sold the stations to them, keeping the AAA "World Class Rock" format on the two 103.1 sticks, but never happened.

In my humble opinion, 103.1 would do better as a dance than anything that competes with an established veteran station such as KROQ, The Wave's smooth jazz format, KLOS's adult rock format, or anything else the frequency duo has tried over the past several decades. Even the low-power 93.5's new hip hop format is struggling against longtime hip hop and R&B Power 106 and The Beat 100.3 (formerly on 92.3) brands.

Memo to Michael: flip it back to dance and give us some fun music that's missing from the airwaves. Move to the groove. Indie's just not going to work in Los Angeles. Time to take down the Indie flag and turn it back into a dance club.