10,000 Songs, Commercial-Free

By kiri stromberg

About a week or two ago, a relatively popular LA radio station flipped from a primarily talk radio station to one playing Top 40 and other hits; it's now known as "AMP RADIO." The station, KLSX 97.1FM, had boasted such talk show hosts as Adam Carolla and Tom Leykis, and caused quite an uproar when it decided to become "yet ANOTHER Top 40 station," not least because it was a dramatic switch from talk radio as opposed to a change in the genre of music played.

There are a couple reasons why this story interested me, impressive perhaps because I don't actually receive this station anywhere near my apartment. After reading some irate comments from listeners, I thought they had some good points. How many Top 40 stations does an FM frequency really need? I can understand having a couple, as people will flip between them during a commercial break. But is the rapidly growing number of these stations completely killing talk radio? There is always AM, but sometimes you need the FM humor of people like Adam Carolla (though the Car Talk guys will always have a special place in my heart). Carolla actually started a podcast after the station switch, and after only six episodes became the most popular podcast in America. Yeah, I don't quite understand the station's decision either.

In a crazy twist, this new AMP RADIO station is starting off with a bang, marketing themselves to Top 40 followers by opening with 10,000 songs, commercial-free. This is approximately 28 days of music (I didn't calculate that myself, sorry if it's not right), and has definitely appealed to listeners. Amidst the negative press about the transition, 97.1FM is gaining some listeners... for the first 28 days of its new life at least.