KWFN

KWFN
City San Diego, California
Broadcast area Greater San Diego
Branding 97.3 The Fan
Slogan San Diego's Only FM Sports Station
Frequency 97.3 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date January 15, 1964 (as KSEA)
Format FM/HD1: Sports talk
HD2: Active rock "The Angry Playlist"
HD3: Comedy "Funny FM"
Language(s) English
ERP 50,000 watts
HAAT 134 meters (440 ft)
Class B
Facility ID 30832
Transmitter coordinates 32°43′13″N 117°04′14″W / 32.72028°N 117.07056°W / 32.72028; -117.07056Coordinates: 32°43′13″N 117°04′14″W / 32.72028°N 117.07056°W / 32.72028; -117.07056
Callsign meaning K W FaN
Former callsigns KSEA (1964-1975)
KSON-FM (1975-1996)
KSON (1996-1997)
KSON-FM (1997-2009)
KSON (2009-2017)
KEGY (2017-2018)
Affiliations CBS Sports Radio
Padres Radio Network
Owner Entercom
(Entercom San Diego License, LLC)
Sister stations KBZT, KSON, KXSN, KYXY
Webcast Listen Live
Listen Live (HD2)
Listen Live (HD3)
Website 973thefansd.radio.com

KWFN (97.3 FM, "97.3 The Fan") is a radio station licensed to San Diego, California. Owned by Entercom, it broadcasts a sports talk format as an affiliate of CBS Sports Radio. The station's studios are located in San Diego's Mission Valley neighborhood, and the transmitter is located in East San Diego in the Emerald Hills neighborhood.

History

97.3 signed on as KSEA in 1964. In 1967, it began its long run as a country music station as KSON.

In 2007, the station was nominated for the top 25 markets Country music Radio & Records magazine station of the year award. Other nominees included WUSN Chicago, KYGO-FM Denver, WYCD Detroit, KEEY-FM Minneapolis, and WXTU Philadelphia.[1]

In January 2014, in honor of the January 31 San Diego stop on George Strait's farewell tour, KSON briefly rebranded as "George FM", playing an increased amount of George Strait music as part of its regular programming, and holding on-air giveaways of memorabilia, as well as tickets to the San Diego show and others.[2]

On December 8, 2014, Entercom announced its acquisition of KSON's parent company Lincoln Financial Media; the transaction was approved on July 17, 2015.[3]

Energy

In turn, Entercom merged with CBS Radio on November 17, 2017.[4] As KSON's simulcast partner KSOQ-FM was spun off to the Educational Media Foundation to comply with ownership caps, and KSON's new sister top 40 station KEGY Energy 103.7 had a better signal, the intellectual properties of the two stations were swapped. KSON's country format was moved to 103.7 on the 17th, and the 97.3 frequency redirected listeners to the new frequency for the next three days. On the 20th, the frequency swap was completed when the station re-launched as Energy 97.3.[5]

The Machine

Following the move of Energy to 97.3, KEGY's ratings nosedived, from a 2.2 share to a 1.0 in Nielsen Audio ratings. In February 2018, it was announced that Entercom had hired former XEPRS morning host Dan Sileo, and that he would host a new program on one of its San Diego stations, with Sileo specifically promoting that he would be able to discuss anything he wanted to. On February 19, it was officially announced that the San Diego Padres would move from sister station KBZT to KEGY for the 2018 season, intensifying speculation that Entercom intended to flip the station to a sports talk format.[6][7][8][9]

On March 1, 2018, at 2 p.m., KEGY began stunting with rock music and no imaging, although notably playing "Welcome to the Machine" by Pink Floyd at the top of each hour. The next day, KEGY relaunched as 97.3 The Machine, which featured a weekday lineup of hot talk programs (including Dan Sileo hosting middays, and The Men's Room from KISW/Seattle on afternoon drive), San Diego Padres games (including hour-long pre- and post-game shows), and blocks of classic rock music interspersed with comedy bits.[10][11] The move marked the return of hot talk to the CBS/Entercom cluster in San Diego, as the current KSON previously aired a hot talk format as part of CBS Radio's former Free FM group.[12]

Kevin Klein Live controversy

The morning show Kevin Klein Live (moving from sister station KITS/San Francisco) was originally scheduled to premiere on KEGY beginning March 29, 2018.[13] On March 26, 2018, Klein and the station posted ads for the show on their social media accounts, which featured the slogan "JUMP ... to a new morning show". One of the ads featured this caption on a photo of the Coronado Bridge. The ad was criticized by listeners for being insensitive, as the second-largest number of suicide deaths from bridge jumping in the U.S. have occurred on the Coronado.[14][15] The photographer of the bridge image also accused the station of having used it without permission.[16]

There were calls for the Padres to cut their ties with Entercom. The Padres issued a statement the next day, condemning the ad as being "offensive, insensitive and completely unacceptable"; they added that the expansion of Padres coverage was planned before the team learned the full extent of the format changes, and requested that Entercom apologize for Klein's behavior.[14] Padres chairman Ron Fowler criticized its new format as being "almost shock jock radio", and contradictory to his opinion that baseball is "family entertainment". He stated that the team would begin to reevaluate its relationship with KEGY.[14][17]

Klein issued a public apology for the ads, stating that "I know I've upset many people in America's Finest City, and this is something I regret. The comment was reprehensible and inexcusable. I've failed at making a good first impression, but I hope that you will give me another chance to provide entertainment and good natured laughs when I go on the air on Thursday morning. Once again, I apologize to all the listeners and the city of San Diego."[14] The program's premiere, meant to coincide with Opening Day, was quietly cancelled, while a promotional party at a local sports bar was also cancelled by the venue.[18][19][17] Neither Entercom or Klein made any public statements regarding the program or if it would premiere at all.[20]

The Fan

On April 11, 2018, Entercom announced that it would drop The Machine and its hot talk format, in favor of relaunching the station as a conventional sports talk station, 97.3 The Fan, effective April 12. Entercom San Diego market manager Bob Bolinger, stated that the company had used the Kevin Klein controversy as an opportunity to reevaluate KEGY's programming. He explained that "the station was always going to be largely about sports and we determined the right thing to do was to go 100% all-in." Padres chairman Ron Fowler stated that Entercom was willing to address the team's concerns surrounding the station's content, and that the revamp "better reflects the values of the Padres and the San Diego community as a whole." As part of the relaunch, Dan Sileo was moved to mornings, The Men's Room was dropped, and the station also acquired The Jim Rome Show (which had recently been dropped by XEPRS in favor of Dan Le Batard)[21] and The Doug Gottlieb Show for its weekday lineup.[22][23] On May 2, 2018, the station's calls were changed to KWFN to coordinate with the new branding.

In the first three months of the station's existence, KWFN has proven to be among the lowest-rated stations in the market, with Sileo's morning show unable to tabulate a Nielsen Audio rating due to a low sample size of listeners tuning into the station in the morning (specifically, only 200 sampled listeners, which measures out to a 0.0), and the Padres' last-place standing during the 2018 season also hindering the station's listenership.[24]

Programming

KWFN's weekday lineup features Dan Sileo, The Jim Rome Show, The Doug Gottlieb Show, and an afternoon drive program hosted by Chris Ello and Tony Gwynn Jr. CBS Sports Radio programming airs in evenings, overnights and weekends. KWFN is the flagship station of the San Diego Padres, and the station also acquired local rights to Westwood One's NFL and NCAA packages.[23]

The station operates two HD Radio subchannels; its HD2 channel features an active rock format branded as The Angry Playlist, while HD3 features Funny FM.

References

  1. ↑ "2007 Industry Achievement Awards". Radio and Records. September 28, 2008. Archived from the original on May 11, 2008.
  2. ↑ "KSON Is Now 'George-FM'". All Access. Retrieved 2018-02-28.
  3. ↑ "Entercom Acquires Lincoln Financial Media". RadioInsight. 2014-12-22. Retrieved 2018-02-18.
  4. ↑ Entercom Completes CBS Radio Merger
  5. ↑ "KSON San Diego Moves to 103.7; Energy To 97.3 on Monday". RadioInsight. 2017-11-17. Retrieved 2018-02-18.
  6. ↑ "As Padres Move To KEGY, Format Flip Expected". Inside Radio. Retrieved 2018-02-21.
  7. ↑ Acee, Kevin. "Padres announce new radio home, spring broadcast schedule". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2018-02-21.
  8. ↑ "San Diego Padres Make 97.3 KEGY Its New Home Ahead of Flip". RadioInsight. Retrieved 2018-02-21.
  9. ↑ Lin, Dennis. "Controversial radio host Dan Sileo will not be involved with Padres". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2018-02-18.
  10. ↑ "97.3 The Machine San Diego Debuts". RadioInsight. 2018-03-01. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
  11. ↑ "KEGY (Energy 97.3)/San Diego Turns Off The Top 40, Rocks Out In Prep For New Format". All Access. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
  12. ↑ "Free FM/San Diego Flips To 'Sophie 103.7'". All Access. Retrieved 2018-04-03.
  13. ↑ "Former ALT 105 hosts of morning show Kevin Klein Live relocate to revive program in San Diego". SFGate. Retrieved 2018-03-03.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Kenney, Kirk. "Ron Fowler says Padres could end relationship with new radio partner". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
  15. ↑ Kenney, Kirk. "'Jump:' Radio host's tweet showing Coronado Bridge sparks outrage over suicide association". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
  16. ↑ Kenney, Kirk. "Using Coronado bridge photo without permission could be legal problem for 97.3 The Machine and radio host". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2018-04-06.
  17. 1 2 Kenney, Kirk. "Radio host who caused uproar on new Padres station is a no-show". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  18. ↑ Kalaf, Samer. "This San Diego Radio Station Has Existed For A Month And Is Already A Disaster". Deadspin. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
  19. ↑ "Kevin Klein Show Doesn't Air As Scheduled; Full Silence All Around". RadioInsight. 2018-03-29. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
  20. ↑ "Week Ends With 'Kevin Klein Live' Still Missing From KEGY (97.3 The Machine)/San Diego ..." All Access. 6 April 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  21. ↑ "XEPRS (Mighty 1090)/San Diego Drops CBS' Jim Rome For ESPN's Dan Le Batard". All Access. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  22. ↑ Kenney, Kirk. "Padres flagship radio station goes all-sports and rebrands as 97.3 The Fan". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2018-04-12.
  23. 1 2 "KEGY San Diego Confirms Flip To Sports 97.3 The Fan". RadioInsight. 2018-04-12. Retrieved 2018-04-12.
  24. ↑ Leighton, Ken (28 June 2018). "The fight from the bottom 10 Radio's Dan Sileo loses guys 25-54 to Mighty 1090 and XTRA Sports 1360". San Diego Reader. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
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