AM 1360 Will Switch To... (September 25, 2007)

Frankly, the call letter choice for KLSD was a bad one. Advertisers are scared to pay money for spots to air on a station with the call letters that reference a 60's drug that was advocated by the late Timothy Leary.

Whatever the station changes to, they need to understand this: heritage call letters go a long way. Example. The call letters KOGO-AM is a famous set that is unique to San Diegans. Back in the mid 80s, some idiots running AM 600 back then changed the call letters to KLZZ-AM to go with KLZZ-FM (106.5) which was then a a/c station, then a classic rocker in late 1986. When Q106 was introduced in 1987, the calls for both AM and FM used KKLQ-AM and KKLQ-FM and advertisted the station on TV spots showing where the station was on both bands. This was a great advertising move, as well as filling a format hole that was so popular so fast that it knocked KS-103 out of the top 40 business. The new owners in 1994, Par Broadcasting, decided to wake up the sleeping giant on AM 600 and get a talk format going there, as well as to bring back the call letters KOGO, which was a great move at least in terms of bringing a set of heritage call letters back in town.

KOGO's call letters aren't the only ones that resonate well with San Diegans. There's also KCBQ, KSDO (which the new owners wisely did not change), KFMB AM and FM, and KSON-AM.

But one of the biggest mysteries of all continues to this day: why did the then-owners of KGB-AM change the call letters to KCNN (to go with their ill-fated Headline News simulcast format that replaced 13K's top 40 format in 1982) instead of retaining the oldest call letters synonomus with San Diego radio? KCNN sounded more like Ted Turner bought the station and couldn't colorize it to make the ratings go up. After that, there was KPQP and KPOP, and I'm not sure when they changed the Q into a O in the call letters, to go with the nostalgia/standards format. That one worked for years, but then, we get some new left wing format to replace it in 2004, which wasn't that bad, but monotonous, but the call letters KLSD was totally wrong. Why didn't they call it KSDL for San Diego Liberal radio? Guess it sounded too much like KSDO.

Now, 1360 may get a new format, but the famous call letters KGB-AM should return to the dial position after a 25 year absence. The call letters KGB-AM are historical and memorable, unlike KLSD or KCNN or KPOP or KPQP. The company still runs KGB-FM, so they can appeal to the FCC for permission to change the call letters back to KGB-AM.

Now, change the format to something like rock/top 40 classics of the 60s-80s and pair that off with selling spots to the FM station playing classic rock, and you got a memorable selling combo KGB AM/FM like it was back in the day, not KLSD/KGB-FM or Kwhatever/KGB-FM. Play the history card and change the call letters to KGB-AM.

As for the rumors going around about AM 800 dropping ESPN sports to another format (probably something local to Tijuana), we don't know for sure where ESPN will reappear or when and what frequency it might appear on, but Air America is rumored to have another station ready to air its programming on an unnamed station. Take these rumors with a grain of salt. We have no way to prove or disprove these rumors, or in the mood to debate based on what could very well be vaporradio.