L-A Radio: C-c-changes Explained At Non-Com KCSN

Apparently, KCSN SoCal Sound 88.5 General Manager Patrick Osburn has received an email or two – or many more – due to the decision to drop many of the station’s weekend programs, move others to new time slots, and expand the regular format to more hours each week, according to Richard Wagoner at The L-A Daily News.

Patrick Osburn

It all happened the weekend of October 22-23, when a plan that Osburn says has been in the making for the past year came to pass. Sunday marked the end of weekend full-day blocks of specialty shows running the gamut from the Beatles to Peace and Love.

In the case of the Beatles, whose “Revolver” album was just re-released in a new edition, Osburn said it was not the decision of station management to let Saturday Morning with the Beatles host Les Perry go. “That was his decision,” said Osburn. “We offered him Sunday mornings from 8 to 10 a.m., and he chose not to stay.” That Sunday time slot then went to Lisa Finnie’s The Dylan Hours instead.

In fact, most of the shows were not outright canceled, according to Osburn. “Most every show was offered a different time slot – granted, some midnight to 2 a.m,” he said.

Wagoner writes Osburn said some hosts took the move in stride. “Longtime L.A. Times music columnist and biographer Robert Hilburn embraced his opportunity to move to late night; he commented that late-night radio is when FM was cool, and he immediately dug into his library and found 25-ish songs with the word ‘midnight’ in the title or lyrics. He’s a smart guy, determined to make the most of it and have some fun … which is what it’s supposed to be!”

Asked why the change? “Consistency,” Osburn explained. We were basically three stations: One that played our regular AAA (Adult Album Alternative) format weekdays, another different station on Saturdays, and still a third on Sundays. We felt that to better compete we needed more consistency, more discipline. We’ll still run the classics and specialty stuff, but not during our ‘prime’ hours of Monday through Friday 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. or Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.”

The evolution is not limited to weekends. A close analysis of the regular format reveals that the station is opening its playlist to newer artists, not just those that were popular in the past and happen to have released new albums.