Fans Lament Station’s Demise

“101.9 is the best radio station L.A. has had in years and the whole city will suffer a grave loss, much more significant than the loss of NFL football.”

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The letter from an unidentified listener of KSCA-FM may sound hyperbolic, but there are hundreds more like it.

In the last month, KSCA, located just outside Burbank, has received a deluge of letters, faxes and calls from listeners who are upset that the station has been sold and will soon change its format to Spanish language.

“I am shocked and saddened . . . Losing KSCA would be a significant cultural loss to Los Angeles,” writes Ira Shadrow of Chatsworth.

Melanda Woo-Koe writes: “There is no other radio station that taps into the soul of those of us in our late 30s and early 40s.”

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Let’s make one thing clear: KSCA was never a ratings hit. But it did have a loyal following of mostly upscale baby boomers since the station switched from easy listening to adult alternative in July 1994. Among L.A. stations, KSCA draws the largest number of listeners with incomes of more than $100,000, according to Arbitron, the company that measures listener ratings on Southland radio.

Its popular format includes a blend of folk-based and classic-rock-rooted artists, both old and new, electric and acoustic.

Big-name artists such as R.E.M, Sting, Alanis Morissette and Elvis Costello anchor a rotation that includes classic rock and lesser-known acts such as Nanci Griffith and Dada.

But by mid-February it will end.

Gene Autry’s Golden West Broadcasters recently sold KSCA to Spanish-language media giant Heftel Inc.--owner of KLVE-FM and KTNQ-FM, L.A.’s two top-rated Latin music stations--for $112 million.

The transaction is the latest in the Autry family’s quest to liquidate its assets and is unrelated to the station’s ratings, say several company spokesmen. In fact, KSCA was the family’s last broadcast media holding.

The new owners haven’t revealed precisely what format KSCA will have in the Spanish-language field.

As for the present staff, it appears unlikely that they can take their format with them to another L.A. frequency.

“We’ve talked to other stations of doing something along the lines of KSCA, but I’m not holding out a lot of hope,” said program director Mike Morrison. “We’re all busy looking for other jobs right now.”

So the big question is, where on the dial will KSCA listeners go?

Industry insiders believe they may drift to existing stations like the younger-skewed KROQ, the eclectic KCRW, or rock-oriented KLOS and KYSR, a combination of current hits and ‘70s-’80s nostalgia.

But in the more than 1,000 letters that KSCA has received, most writers insist there is no other station in L.A. worth listening to.

“I can honestly say I will turn the radio off and listen to a CD or tape before I listen to any of the current stations now playing in the L.A. market,” writes Valerie Joseph.

Another disappointed longtime listener, Randi Warren, concurs: “If you go off the air, there will be no reason to listen to the radio.”

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It goes on and on--in letters, electronic mail, faxes and phone calls from listeners trying to preserve the programming. One man suggested every listener send in $10 to buy back the station.

“There’s such big emotional attachment to the radio station, people just want to know what they can do,” said KSCA night deejay Mimi Chen. “Every night I get several hundred phone calls. It really is very sad because we built it from the ground up as a team.”

But ratings translate into advertising revenue, and KSCA never climbed into the Southland market’s Top 25. In its latest Arbitron rating, KSCA averaged only a 1.1% share of listeners, ages 12 and over, compared to top-rated KLVE at 6.9%.

Similar stations have been successful in a handful of other markets--such as KFOG-FM, No. 1 in the Bay Area among young adults--but it’s tougher to succeed in the larger and more competitive L.A. market.

“It’s not that they were bad, the bottom line is there are too many stations here,” said Candy Ross, media buyer for Santa Monica-based advertising agency Focus Media. “I know a lot of advertisers who liked them a lot because they were a nice alternative to the market.”

Ross, like many others in the industry, said the consensus is that KSCA management did not commit to the kind of promotional activities that could have raised the station’s profile.

“There was lack of funding for marketing it,” Ross said. “The kind of promotion you need to get the name and product known wasn’t out there.”

But don’t tell that to the station’s avid followers. Judy Chiasson, a 43-year-old Sherman Oaks resident, says KSCA is well-known among her peers.

“Just because the population sample wasn’t high doesn’t mean it’s not popular,” Chiasson said. “It makes me wonder who is it that they poll for the ratings.”