On the heels of iHeartMedia’s flip of “Hot 92.3” KHHT Los Angeles to Urban last week, Point Broadcasting’s Rhythmic CHR “Q104.7” KQIE Redlands has moved to fill the newly created void in the adjacent Riverside/San Bernardino market.
The 10am flip to Rhythmic Oldies “Old School 104.7” today duplicates a similar move made last summer at sister 95.9 KOCP in the Oxnard/Ventura market. Unlike the previous “Q104.7” programming which duplicated content from sister KCAQ Oxnard, “Old School 104.7” will be completely locally originated.
Point Broadcast EVP/Chief of Programming Operations Brian Davis commented to us, “We are very excited for the opportunity to bring Old School 104.7 to the Inland Empire. We launched a similar station in the Oxnard-Ventura market last year (KOCP-FM), and the response and passion for it have been incredible. Being that this format has been recently vacated in Southern California, and not addressed locally in the Inland Empire for years, it leaves an opportunity to super-serve the community with something many people are passionate about.”
KQIE’s Rhythmic format goes out with a 1.9 share in the Holiday 2014 Nielsen Audio PPM ratings. While not publicly listed as an out-of-market signal, the defunct “Hot 92.3” was a regularly strong performer in the Riverside/San Bernardino market.
Will it be long before a Los Angeles market signal restores the format to the market? We’re hearing a potential flip is in the works to do just that as well.
Charles Everett 
only1moore 
David @ USC 
ksradiogeek 
K.M. Richards
Any word as to what station could flip to this format in LA? I have a feeling that 103.5 might, but common sense tells me it’s doing to well to flip.
My other feeling is 94.7… But I’d be so sad to see them go.
KOST has been adult contemporary for 34 years and is HUGELY successful. iHeartMedia knows better than to change the KOST format.
I beginning to think that 94.7 is the one that others are looking at to flip. The ratings are not that good and they might be in danger. Smooth Jazz is not that hot on the radio anymore and their Adult R&B approach is tanking.
The real question is which station in L. A. will take the plunge. This is going to get interesting.
Thinking out loud about possible LA flippers to Old School:
KTWV is one, KDAY is another. I doubt KJLH would make the flip but I would put them on a second level of possible flippers. Would be interesting if one of the Spanish stations decided that Old School was worth pursuing – 93.9 and 96.3 would be interesting homes for the format.
94.7 would definitely be it. Look at their playlist right now. The majority of the tunes are ones Hot played. KDAY flipping-um…no. The signal isn’t that great. Plus, they (along with KNRJ in Phoenix that everyone likes to pretend to not know about) are the pioneers of classic hip hop. So, no to KDAY.
KJLH-Don’t see it. LA needs a current based R&B outlet.
It would really be nice to see one of the Spanish stations flipping. Latinos love old school, and this would be the perfect tie-in. (Hint hint: 96.3.)
Take into account cluster ownership … If it were going to be 103.5, iHeart would have just left 92.3 alone and flipped KOST to hip-hop.
93.5 won’t flip, for the simple reason that they are stubborn about trying to make the classic hip-hop format work. So far, it is only an artistic success … ratings are flat and anemic and ad sales are hard for them to get.
93.9 isn’t going to be it, either, because their ownership has its roots in nationwide ownership of stations in Mexico.
96.3 just invested a lot in their latest retooling and SBS isn’t well-known for doing things in English.
94.7 would be a good candidate except that CBS rarely flips to fill a format hole just vacated by iHeart.
The likely answer, for the time being, is that no one is going to flip, at least not in the next several months.