KSON (FM)
 | |
| City | San Diego, California |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Greater San Diego |
| Branding | 103.7 KSON |
| Slogan | San Diego's #1 New Country |
| Frequency | 103.7 MHz (also on HD Radio) |
| First air date | February 1965 (as KSDO-FM) |
| Format |
Country HD2: Classic country HD3: Alternative rock (KROQ simulcast) |
| Language(s) | English |
| ERP | 26,500 watts |
| HAAT | 210 meters (690 ft) |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 59816 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 32°50′20″N 117°14′59″W / 32.8389°N 117.2498°WCoordinates: 32°50′20″N 117°14′59″W / 32.8389°N 117.2498°W |
| Former callsigns |
KSDO-FM (1965-1971) KOZN-FM (1971-1979) KJQY (1979-1995) KMKX (1995-1996) KPLN (1996-2005) KSCF (2005-2012) KEGY (2012-2017) |
| Owner |
Entercom (CBS Radio Stations Inc.) |
| Sister stations | KBZT, KWFN, KXSN, KYXY |
| Webcast |
Listen Live Listen Live (HD2) Listen Live (HD3) |
| Website |
kson.com KSON Legendary Country (HD2) kroq.com (HD3) |
KSON (103.7 FM, "103.7 KSON") is a commercial radio station licensed to San Diego, California. Owned by Entercom, the station broadcasts a country music format.
The station's current call letters and programming originate from a sister station now known as KWFN. Following Entercom's merger with CBS Radio, the new sister stations swapped signals to improve KSON's reach following the divestment of its former simulcast partner on 92.1 FM. Prior to its current format, KSON had aired beautiful music, top 40, various adult contemporary formats, and classic rock formats, as well as CBS Radio's ultimately unsuccessful hot talk format Free FM.
KSON broadcasts in the HD Radio format; its second subchannel features a classic country format branded as KSON Legendary Country.
History
The station originally signed on in February 1965 as KSDO-FM, and aired country music. It was co-owned with KSDO AM. In 1971, KSDO-FM became KOZN-FM, playing a beautiful music format. On May 20, 1979, the call letters were changed to KJQY and the station was known as "K-Joy". The station evolved into an adult contemporary format in the late 1980s as "Sunny 103.7", then on February 16, 1995, it became "Rock Mix 103.7" KMKX, playing classic rock music.[1]
On July 5, 1996, the call letters changed to KPLN and the station was then known as "The Planet", continuing with a classic rock format.
Free FM
On October 25, 2005, the station changed formats from classic rock to an FM talk format with the brand "Free FM", and their call letters changed on October 28 from KPLN to KSCF. In December 2005, Howard Stern left the terrestrial airwaves and moved to Sirius Satellite Radio. At the beginning, Adam Carolla was their morning show host. He started January 3, 2006, replacing Stern.
On March 1, 2006, The Phil Hendrie Show was replaced by the Dick and Skibba Show, a local show formerly from 97.1 Free FM. The show aired in the 7pm-10pm time slot, then the only live and local talk show in San Diego in the evening. As a result, this pushed Phil Hendrie to a later 10pm-1am time slot. Dick and Skibba were fired on February 14, 2007, according to program director Jim Daniels, the show was too cerebral for San Diego.
On March 5, 2007, the Generation Y University show replaced the Dick and Skibba show. The show was hosted by three 23-year-old men who were all Mt. Carmel High School alumni who grew up in Rancho Peñasquitos. The show had previously aired on Sunday afternoons from 5pm-7pm. The show was cancelled on April 25, 2007 and replaced by Generic Radio. The show, hosted by Howie and Pags, was an irreverent look at the stories of the day, including observational humor, interviews and live in-studio musical performances by many local acts.
At first, CBS Radio had high hopes for KSCF with extensive marketing aimed at attracting the adult male demos, but ever since they switched formats from KPLN to Free FM, the station's ratings started to drop. In fall 2005, (when 103.7 became Free FM), ratings were 2.2, mainly due to Howard Stern being the morning show host. In the beginning of 2006, 103.7's ratings dropped in half to a rating of 1.1, due to a much less popular Adam Carolla morning show. The ratings would later slip in Summer 2006 to a rating of 1.0, and remained at 1.0 in the Fall 2006.
In the end, the attempt to make Free FM a success in San Diego had proven to be too difficult and like other Free FM sister stations in New York City (WFNY) and San Francisco (KIFR), which returned to active rock and classic hits respectively, KSCF decided to switch formats in June 2007. To add to the demise of the Free FM family of stations, Its sister station in Phoenix (KZON) flipped to Rhythmic Contemporary at the same exact time as KSCF's format switch.
Sophie @ 103.7
On June 22, 2007, at 3PM (PDT), KSCF flipped to Oldies as "K-Surf 103.7." The first song played was "Surfin' U.S.A." by The Beach Boys. They were supposed to be the market's first FM Oldies outlet since 2005, when XHOCL had the format prior to its flip to Regional Mexican. The last song played in the short-lived oldies format was "Bobby's Girl" by Marcie Blane. Following "Bobby's Girl" at 5PM (PDT), the Oldies format turned out to be a stunt as the station revealed its true format, a Modern AC as Sophie @ 103.7, adapted slightly from sister station KLLC in San Francisco, which is known as Alice @ 97.3. Its first song under this format was Jack Johnson's "Upside Down", followed by Fall Out Boy's "Thnks fr th Mmrs."
Energy 103.7
On March 29, 2012, CBS Radio announced that at 5 p.m. that day, it would flip KSCF to a CHR format with a heavy emphasis on upbeat Rhythmic, Dance and Pop hits targeting Teens and Adults 18–34 years old, as "Energy 103.7". In a statement made to radio industry website All Access, SVP/Market Manager Bob Bolinger noted that "Today's charts are dominated by energetic and upbeat Top 40 hits and the fans of this popular music are among the most engaged and digitally focused listeners. Using a powerful combination of over the air and online will produce a superior product and great results for brands that support the station."[2][3]
On September 4, 2012, radio show host AJ Machado announced via AJ in the Morning's Facebook page that he would be joining KEGY in morning drive. AJ and his longtime producer, Hula, have been without a radio show home since leaving Star 94.1 in mid-July of the same year.
103.7 KSON
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom (which owns KBZT, KXSN and KSON).[4] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th, though the format and intellectual property of KSON moved to 103.7 the evening before at 9 p.m. on the 16th, after playing Havana by Camila Cabello. The move comes as KSON's former simulcast partner KSOQ-FM was spun off to the Educational Media Foundation as a condition of the merger to meet ownership limits set by the FCC, and that 103.7 has a stronger signal than KSON's former frequency at 97.3 FM. Both 103.7 and 97.3 would simulcast for three days before "Energy" was moved to 97.3 the following Monday (the "Energy" format was temporarily moved online during that time).[5][6] KEGY flipped to a hot talk-driven classic rock formatted station, branded as 97.3 The Machine, in March 2018.[7][8]
References
- ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1995/RR-1995-02-24.pdf
- ↑ "Sophie 103.7/San Diego Gets Top 40 'Energy'" from All Access (March 29, 2012)
- ↑ San Diego to Receive "Energy" Boost- RadioInsight
- ↑ CBS Radio to Merge with Entercom
- ↑ Entercom Receives FCC Approval for Merger with CBS Radio
- ↑ Double Flip Coming in San Diego as KSON & KEGY Promote New Homes
- ↑ "97.3 The Machine San Diego Debuts". RadioInsight. 2018-03-01. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
- ↑ "KEGY (Energy 97.3)/San Diego Turns Off The Top 40, Rocks Out In Prep For New Format". All Access. Retrieved 2018-03-02.