KLOS
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

KLOS (95.5 FM, "95-5 KLOS") is a commercial radio station licensed to
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, and serves the
Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. state of California, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the eas ...
area. The station is owned by Meruelo Media. KLOS airs a
mainstream rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent a cross between classic rock, active rock and alternativ ...
radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...
and has broadcast rock music in some form since 1969. The
studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...
s are on West Olive Avenue in
Burbank Burbank may refer to: Places Australia * Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane United States * Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County * Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place * Burbank, Illinois, ...
. The
transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...
is atop Mount Wilson. The station is rebroadcast on
FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...
K255BZ in China Lake, California. KLOS broadcasts using
HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...
technology. The KLOS morning
drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...
show, ''Heidi & Frank'', is featured on the nationally syndicated television program '' Dish Nation'' and is rebroadcast around the clock on KLOS-HD2. The HD3
digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
carries a simulcast of KIRN.


History


Early years

The station first signed on the air on . The original
call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...
was KECA-FM,
simulcasting Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...
the programming of AM
sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
KECA. The two stations were owned by ABC Radio. In 1954, the
call letters In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be fo ...
of the AM and FM stations were changed to KABC and KABC-FM, to reflect their corporate ownership. In 1960, KABC-AM-FM adopted an all-talk format. On January 1, 1968, due to new
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC) rules requiring FM stations to have separate programming from their AM counterparts, KABC-FM tried something new. It became the first station in Los Angeles with an
all-news All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news. All-news radio is available in both local and radio syndication, syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news sta ...
format. This experiment did not last long. KABC-FM dropped all-news programming on March 11, 1968, the same day that KFWB 980 AM switched to the format.


Rock formats

In early 1969, KABC-FM adopted a
progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...
format known as "Love". Under the direction of Allen Shaw, head of ABC FM Special Projects, the
automated Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...
programming aired on ABC's other
owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an network af ...
s— KGO-FM in San Francisco, KQV-FM in Pittsburgh, WABC-FM in New York City, WLS-FM in Chicago, and WXYZ-FM in Detroit. The syndicated format was voice-tracked by Brother John Rydgren. Not long after its debut, Love was dropped in favor of live, locally programmed freeform rock music at KLOS and its FM sister stations. In 1971, the station adopted the KLOS call letters. The switch was made to avoid confusion with its AM talk station. In late 1971, the freeform progressive rock sound ended, as Shaw and KLOS program director Tom Yates launched the first
album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. US rad ...
(AOR) station in the United States. Under AOR, KLOS played only the top tracks from the best-selling rock albums and used the slogan "Rock 'N Stereo". The initial slate of
disc jockeys A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music festivals), mobile D ...
on KLOS includes Jeff Gonzer, J. J. Jackson,
Jim Ladd James William Ladd (January 17, 1948 – December 17, 2023) was an American disc jockey, radio producer and writer. He was one of the last notable remaining Freeform (radio format), freeform rock DJs in United States commercial radio. Ladd first ...
, and Damion. By 1972, KLOS had become the top-rated FM rock station in Los Angeles. The station promoted an outdoor rock concert called "California Jam" held on April 6, 1974, at the Ontario Motor Speedway in
Ontario, California Ontario is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino, the county seat. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire metropolitan area, it lies ...
. KLOS has sponsored a blood drive in conjunction with the
American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...
annually since 1982. Blood donation centers are set up throughout the station's listening area for several days, usually in the summer months, when donation levels are typically low. In 2014, the blood drive collected approximately 7,900 units of whole blood, which can be separated into red blood cells and plasma. As a token of gratitude, the station has given donors rewards such as T-shirts and vouchers for concert tickets. In the spring of 1987, KLOS general manager Bill Sommers hired longtime rock radio programmer Charlie West to be the station's new program director. West hired Stephanie Mondello as music director for the station. By fall, West brought '' the Mark & Brian Show'' ( Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps) to KLOS for the morning drive. The station's
Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...
ratings grew steadily under West's direction; by 1988, KLOS emerged as the leader among Los Angeles album rock stations, finishing fifth overall in the market with a 4.3 share, up from a 3.6 in the previous rating period. When West left KLOS in early 1989, Mondello assumed programming duties, directing all key decisions and overall revenue and ratings strategies. The station maintained its fifth-place ranking overall in the market and reached the number-one position in its target young male
demographics Demography () is the statistical study of human populations: their size, composition (e.g., ethnic group, age), and how they change through the interplay of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration. Demographic analysis examin ...
, defeating main rivals KLSX, KROQ-FM, and the upstart KQLZ (Pirate Radio). Mondello left KLOS in late 1990. By 1994, KLOS was facing increased competitive pressure from KROQ-FM with the rise of its
grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...
-based
modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...
format as well as KLSX and KCBS-FM (Arrow 93) which focused on
classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...
. The station altered its format in response, dropping its existing DJs and most of the classic rock music in favor of more
alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
content. This format and personnel change lasted about three years, after which most of the alternative music was jettisoned and classic rock returned. In 1997, KLOS hired John Duncan, previously at KYYS in
Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...
, as program director and took the station in an adult rock direction. As part of his efforts to turn around the station, Duncan brought back Jim Ladd and hired Garth Kemp and other longtime Los Angeles radio personalities. During this period, KLOS ran a billboard campaign with lines such as, "We lost our mind for a moment, but we're okay now". Within eight months, the station moved from number 18 to fifth place among Los Angeles adults ages 25–54, reclaiming its status as the market's top adult rock station. Duncan left KLOS in late 1998. In 2005, classic rock rival KCBS-FM flipped to adult hits as "
Jack FM Jack FM is a radio network brand that is licensed by Sparknet Communications, with the exception of the European Union where it is licensed by Oxis Media. It plays an adult hits radio format, format, in most cases not using disc jockey, DJs. F ...
". The switch made KLOS the market's only full-time classic rock station until the launch of KSWD (100.3 The Sound) in April 2008. In October 2006, KLOS restructured its daily lineup of radio hosts, Cynthia Fox, "Uncle Joe" Benson, and Jim Ladd saw each of their daily air shifts increase by one hour. However, this resulted in the temporary dismissal of former evening DJ Gary Moore; he returned in late 2007. Former overnight jock Mark Miller, previously from the long-defunct KQLZ, hosted ''The Best of Mark & Brian Saturday Special'' shows Saturday mornings. Miller's overnight shift was replaced with automated programming, billed as "KLOS After Hours". This show follows the usual classic rock format, though occasionally KLOS plays deep cuts and live versions of songs that are not usually played during the daytime. In 2007, the station came under the ownership of
Citadel Broadcasting Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company founded and developed by Larry Wilson. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the count ...
after it merged with
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
's ABC Radio. Occasionally, KLOS abandoned its format to air an "A to Z" special, where songs from the KLOS library were played alphabetically by title. Running 24 hours a day (with breaks only for ''Mark & Brian'' and Jim Ladd's show), it generally lasted about two weeks with no songs repeated. Unlike the station's regular playlist featuring primarily classic rock hits, the A to Z also included a large number of obscure album tracks. In its final years, the A to Z special aired around the Christmas holidays. Since the dismissal of program director Rita Wilde in 2009, the A to Z countdown has not aired on KLOS. However, then-classic rock competitor KSWD, which hired Wilde, revamped the idea with a very similar, though shorter, compilation of familiar hits and deep tracks.


Cumulus era

On September 16, 2011, Cumulus Media purchased Citadel, acquiring KLOS and sister station KABC. On August 17, 2012, Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps appeared on KLOS for the final time, effectively ending '' The Mark & Brian Show'' after 25 years (including two years on previous station WAPI in
Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...
). Three days later, on August 20, Cumulus announced that Heidi Hamilton and Frank Kramer, former hosts on KLSX and KABC, would host morning drive beginning September 4 as ''The Heidi & Frank Show''. On August 15, 2016, Cumulus announced that Frosty Stillwell, with whom Hamilton and Kramer have co-hosted at the same two stations, would join the duo weekday mornings effective September 6. In February 2016, KLOS launched ''Horns Up'', a Saturday evening program hosted by Stew Herrera that featured
heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a Music genre, genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal band ...
. The show has since been replaced with a regular classic rock mix. Canadian radio personality and comedy writer Greg Beharrell joined KLOS in January 2017 as a weekend host and social media content producer. He moved to weeknights in January 2019. On February 8 and 9, 2018, KLOS was one of 14 Cumulus-owned rock radio stations to take part in the "St. Jude Rocks" nationwide fundraising campaign. KLOS listeners contributed more than $725,000 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in
Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...
as part of the over $2 million total raised by participating Cumulus stations.


Meruelo Media era

On April 15, 2019, Cumulus announced the sale of KLOS to Meruelo Media for $43 million. This brings KLOS under common ownership with rhythmic top 40 station
KPWR KPWR (105.9 FM broadcasting, FM) – branded as ''Power 106'' – is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, broadcasting to the Greater Los Angeles area. KPWR is owned and operated by Alex Meruelo's Meruelo Group, t ...
, classic hip-hop outlets
KDAY KDAY (93.5 FM, "93.5 KDAY") is a radio station that is licensed to Redondo Beach, California and serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Meruelo Media and airs a classic hip hop format. The station's studios are locate ...
and
KDEY-FM KDEY-FM (93.5 MHz, "93.5 KDAY") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Ontario, California, and serves the Inland Empire area. The station is owned by Meruelo Radio Holdings Ltd. and broadcasts a classic hip hop format. The KDEY-FM ...
, and
regional Mexican Regional Mexican music refers collectively to the regional subgenres of the country music of Mexico and its derivatives from the Southwestern United States. Each subgenre is representative of a certain region and its popularity also varies by ...
station KXOS (which itself would be purchased by Meruelo over a month later; it is now Spanish rhythmic contemporary-formatted KLLI, "Cali 93.9"), as well as two Spanish-language television stations, KBEH and KWHY-TV. Meruelo began operating KLOS under a
local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...
beginning on April 16; the transaction closed on July 17. The sale of KLOS to Meruelo comes shortly after the sale of the former sister station WPLJ in New York City, as both stations were initially owned by ABC. Under the aegis of Allen Shaw, both stations were given the "Love" format followed by, in 1971, the live-and-local AOR format, together retaining the latter for 12 years (WPLJ flipped to top 40 in 1983; it became a non-commercial
Christian music Christian music is a genre of music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christianity, Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence and lament, and its f ...
station as "
K-Love K-Love (stylized as K-LOVE) is an American Christian radio network. Owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), a non-profit Christian ministry, it primarily broadcasts contemporary Christian music. As of June 2019, the network's progr ...
" in 2019). Further changes came to KLOS over the next year. On September 6, 2019, the station shifted its format to classic rock full-time, eliminating post-1990s modern rock tracks. On September 30, at 12:01 a.m., KLOS began broadcasting from its new studios at the Meruelo Media building in
Burbank Burbank may refer to: Places Australia * Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane United States * Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County * Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place * Burbank, Illinois, ...
, leaving behind its previous location on Lindblade Street in
Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights to the ea ...
(to which it and KABC relocated from their longtime La Cienega Boulevard studios in December 2016). The station also marked the return of the classic rock format to Los Angeles for the first time since KSWD flipped to the "K-Love" Christian music network in November 2017 as KKLQ. In late January 2020, KLOS switched back to mainstream rock and changed its slogan to "Southern California's Rock Station"; the station reintroduced post-1990s rock into the playlist while still maintaining a heavy focus on classic rock tracks. In a cost-cutting move prompted by the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, Meruelo dismissed several members of the KLOS staff in mid-2020, including Frosty Stilwell, Gary Moore, and Frazer Smith; ''Frosty, Heidi & Frank'' reverted to its previous title ''Heidi & Frank''. On August 3, 2020, ''The Greg Beharrell Show'' entered national syndication, with KLOS serving as the flagship station. On October 3, 2020, the nationally syndicated '' John Clay Wolfe Show'' joined KLOS on Saturday mornings. Former KROQ-FM morning personality Kevin Ryder, half of the iconic duo '' Kevin & Bean'', joined KLOS in the afternoons on February 18, 2021. Co-hosting ''Kevin & Sluggo'', he reunited with Doug "Sluggo" Roberts after having worked together previously at KROQ and KZZP in Phoenix. Kevin and Sluggo were given their walking papers on September 6, 2024. On April 1, 2025, KLOS briefly stunted with yacht rock branded as 95.5 So'Cal's Yacht Rock as an April Fools Day joke.


HD Radio

KLOS broadcasts in
HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...
with three
digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
s: *KLOS-HD1 is a digital
simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...
of the analog signal. *KLOS-HD2 features a talk format called "KLOS2". Meruelo Media officially launched the channel on March 4, 2021, but the station has been broadcasting under the new format since September 2020. KLOS2 is operated jointly with Toad Hop Entertainment, a company owned by KLOS morning co-host Frank Kramer who serves as program director for the new service. Programming consists of continuous ''Heidi & Frank'' repeats, with plans to add original shows later. *KLOS-HD3 airs a simulcast of KIRN. It originally aired an Armenian music format branded as "SoCal Armenian" until around 2021.


Notable personalities

Throughout its history as a rock station, KLOS has been home to many prominent progressive rock and AOR DJs. Chris Carter hosts a locally produced version of '' Breakfast with the Beatles'' on Sunday mornings. Prior to landing at KLOS, Carter was heard on KACD-FM (Channel 103.1) in 2000 when it played
adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...
(AAA) music. He is also the former bass player and producer for Dramarama and produced and supervised the music for the film '' Mayor of the Sunset Strip'', a rock documentary about influential Los Angeles DJ Rodney Bingenheimer of KROQ-FM. Bob Coburn (1980–1994), a former program director in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
and an assistant program director at KMET hosted the syndicated program '' Rockline''. He later worked at KLSX, KCBS-FM (Arrow 93), and KZLA before returning to KLOS. Coburn died of lung cancer on December 17, 2016, at age 68. Marc Coppola, who moved on to KGB-FM in
San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
, was on KLOS in 1977 and reappeared when it aired Westwood One's ''Rock 'N Roll Never Forgets''. Damion and Steve Downes both co-hosted with Marc from 1986 to 1990. Dion hosted late nights on a part-time basis for several years. He also hosted at KLSX during its classic rock era. In 2005, Al Ramirez, another longtime late-night DJ at KLOS, died of natural causes at the age of 54. Cynthia Fox, former KMET and KLSX personality hosted the weekday show ''In Tune at Noon'', featuring a daily celebration of events in rock and roll history and the news. She left KLOS in July 2013 and eventually joined rival classic rock station KSWD.
Jim Ladd James William Ladd (January 17, 1948 – December 17, 2023) was an American disc jockey, radio producer and writer. He was one of the last notable remaining Freeform (radio format), freeform rock DJs in United States commercial radio. Ladd first ...
presented his shows in a freeform manner, interrupting the regular classic rock format during his show middays and Sunday evenings. Ladd picked the music personally, often based on listener requests, and played it in thematic sets. On Thursday mornings at midnight, Ladd devoted an hour to "Headsets", which combines music with a slightly more "sonic" quality (designed to be heard with headphones, or with no background noise interfering), spoken-word poetry, and audio clips from movies and television. On Sundays, Ladd presented "Theme of Consciousness", with all songs within a three-hour window devoted to a singular word or "theme" and chosen entirely by the listening audience. In addition to his work with KLOS, Ladd also appeared on KNAC during its progressive era, KMET, and KLSX. Often dubbed "The Last DJ", after the
Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the leader and frontman of the Rock music, rock bands Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch and a member of the late 1980s sup ...
song that was written about him, Ladd was allowed unusual latitude in selecting the music for his program. His show was routinely the number-one music-based show in its time slot. Ladd left KLOS in October 2011 and joined
SiriusXM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...
the following January, hosting daily on the Deep Tracks channel. Jerry Longden, who worked as a DJ from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. from 1972 to 1977, worked with Jim Ladd at KNAC 105.5 FM, Long Beach, California from 1969 to 1972. Longden won Billboard Magazine's 1971 Air Personality Award for Progressive Rock and the KLOS Station of The Year award in 1974. Longden and Ladd produced the successful 1974–1975 public service radio public service announcement program voiced by many prominent Rock recording artists of the day regarding hard drug abuse awareness, "Get Off" and "Get Off II", including thirty TV PSAs, (now in the Library of Congress) and were founders of The National Association of Progressive Radio Announcers. Longden was also the announcer for ABC's "In Concert" rock simulcast shows 1974-5 as well as the announcer for '' Rock Concert'' from 1973 to 1980. Longden worked evenings at KWST-FM, mid-days at KROQ-FM, and afternoons at KGIL-FM. Joe Reiling (1977–1981, 2003–2009) started the ''Local Music Show'' (later renamed ''Local Licks''). Most of Reiling's time away from the station found him hosting his own alternative rock show worldwide on AFN ( American Forces Network, formerly AFRTS, Armed Forces Radio and Television Services). He was also involved in managing, producing, and programming the in-flight audio entertainment for many domestic and international airlines as well as
Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control-designated Aviation call signs, call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. The term is commonly used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modifie ...
. Joe died on October 7, 2017. Frank Sontag hosted a public affairs call-in talk show that aired Sunday nights and early Monday mornings. He was part of the '' Mark & Brian'' morning team and ran the control board, also contributing to the show at times. Sontag left the station in 2009; in 2013, he became the host of a Christian talk and discussion program, ''The Frank Sontag Show'', on KKLA-FM. Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps were the titular co-hosts of '' Mark & Brian'', a morning drive sketch comedy show that aired from September 8, 1987, until August 17, 2012. Highlights from the show aired on weekdays for one hour before each regular weekday program. A recap edition, featuring the best of ''Mark & Brian'' each week, aired Saturday mornings. Shana Livigni (1952–2015) was one of the first women to break into major market rock radio in the mid-’70s. She started at KLOS in 1980. She took over the morning drive on KLOS, the first woman to do that. Other former KLOS personalities include Geno Michellini, "Uncle" Joe Benson, Steve Downes, and full-time fill-in Lynda Clayton. Denise Westwood (2000–2016), formerly at KMET, was heard on KLOS handling weekends and fill-in shifts. During her last few years at KLOS, Westwood also hosted the Sunday morning public affairs show ''Spotlight on the Community''. Former program director Rita Wilde, who later went on to KSWD, had been choosing the music on KLOS for decades; afternoon DJ Joe Benson also left for KSWD.


Awards and nominations

Since 1991, KLOS has won two Marconi Radio Awards, as well as three Crystal Radio Awards for its community service efforts.


References


External links


FCC History Cards for KLOS
* * * * {{Classic Rock Radio Stations in California LOS Classic rock radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in California