Don't know who all is in or near LA, but thought this would be of interest to anyone in the area. For those of you in the area, do you have another country radio station there, or are you now like NYC?

Valerie

From AllAboutCountry.com

No More Country On KZLA/Los Angeles

Emmis blows-up Country KZLA/Los Angeles Thursday morning and switches to "Movin' 93.9"! Rick Dees will do the wake up duty. The new station slogan is "The Mix That Makes You Move."

The last Country song heard on KZLA? "Tonight I Wanna Cry" by Keith Urban.

Dees has been off mornings in LA after his exit in March of 2004 from Clear Channel CHR/top 40 KIIS. He was king of morning radio in LA over 20 years.

"We're overjoyed that Rick Dees will be joining Emmis Communications and Movin 93.9," said Jimmy Steal, Emmis Communications VP of Programming. "Rick's passion for Los Angeles' morning radio is legendary and his live & local show is a perfect fit for Movin 93.9. We can't wait for him to start! He's the perfect complement to this exciting new format," Steal added.

"Emmis is the perfect fit," said Rick Dees. "I've been presented with many opportunities, and the new Movin 93.9 gets me excited like I've never been before! We will have an All-Star team ready to deliver a great morning show for Southern California."

Emmis VP Radio Division Val Maki said, "This is one of the most exciting opportunities we've seen in any radio market. The potential audience has told us that they want something new and fun. The combination of this music and Rick Dees make this the perfect answer to the needs of the marketplace. We are privileged to launch this station and I applaud the entire team."

When you connect on to the KZLA home page you get this message…

Dear Faithful KZLA Listener,

As of 8/17/2006 Movin 93.9 will replace Country 93.9 KZLA. KZLA will continue to be available to fans via Internet streaming as well as on Movin 93.9’s HD Radio side channel. Information concerning KZLA Internet streaming and HD Radio side channel will be coming soon. We want to hear from you! E-mail us at webmaster@kzla.com with your thoughts and opinions. - KZLA/Movin' 93.9 Staff

What’s up with Country in LA? Well for now, the KZLA Country format, which has been on in Hollywood since the early '80s, now will transfer to its HD2 channel. It will be streamed on the station's website.

For now, Program Director R.J. Curtis will stay with the station during the transition period. As for the Country airstaff of KZLA, no word yet on their situation.

KZLA leaves the Country format with the latest Arbitron reporting them with a 1.7 12+, which put it 20th in LA and in the all-important 25-54 demo, they ranked 21st with a 1.8 share.

That's a bummer to all the LA country fans. Scratching my head out here

Feel bad for LA country music fans...and they wonder why so many folks out there (including me) have turned to XM radio

That is sad...I know that I complain about our local country music stations not playing the songs I'd like to hear, but I have to feel bad for people in areas that don't have a local country station at all. Guess I shouldn't complain...I know what you mean, 10xlive, Bruce and I are seriously considering the XM radio option...Amy is about to have a special on XM radio next month and we want to get one and have it set up so we don't miss that special...

From what I saw on the internet yesterday, LA only had that one country station. The signal was never strong enough to hear it down here in San Diego. Strange that LA only had one, but San Diego had two. Even though I complain about them, they are pretty much worthless and play the same songs, it's not good to have the two big markets of LA & NY without a country music station. When I was growing up in the NY area we didn't have any country music station but there wasn't the big divide of what got played on the stations and heard alot of country music on the so-called pop stations. It's different now.

It's things like this is why I have XM and Sirius. I really don't get how these radio markets work. We have no Christian music stations here, a talk station but no music station. Doesn't make sense to me.

Joan

No more KZLA this means will have to listen to CD's when heading to San Diego area. So will this mean no country music in LA area?

Well, you have to wonder about LA area - they also lost their football team. Maybe LaLa Land isn't in to ordinary things like the rest of the world. I'm surprised San Diego would go without country radio - they have a big military presence there and military is a big supporter of country radio usually.

San Diego does have a country station, think its KSON.
Joan,
Where in the New York area did you grow up? I"ve lived in this area(northern NJ about 15 minutes from the GW Bridge- and have always listened to country music on the radio except for a couple of years here and there when there wasn't one. I remember even listening to one on the AM dial before it switched to FM. This is the longest- 5yrs- that I know of the NYC has been without a couuntry statiion.

San Diego has 2 country stations. One is KSON. I forget the other one though.