In the retail industry, it’s been Christmas in some stores for months. On the radio, the the season usually begins around the second week of November when KOST (103.5 FM) starts playing all the holiday tunes. Sometimes others will join in the fun.

This year it is already happening. K-Mozart (105.1 HD2, 98.3 FM in the San Fernando Valley, online at kmozart.com and via apps) beat all others starting Friday, October 25 with holiday music 24/7.

Yes, before Halloween.

The mix includes modern and traditional favorites; while I was writing this, I heard “Carol of the Bells” performed by David Foster followed by Burl Ives’ version of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

You may be wondering why so early? Owner Saul Levine explained it this way: “We want to get a head start on the competition. » Unstated, but probably true too – it will draw some attention to its stations’ streams. Also helpful is the fact that holiday music seems to put people in a good mood regardless of when it’s played. I always wonder when a station will air this format all year round.

Levine told me his format will continue through December 31.

Station anniversary

As one of the oldest FM stations in the city, KUSC (91.5 FM) has quite a history and celebrated its birthday just a few weeks ago.

The idea to feature it came from an email I received from reader Michael Morse, who wrote: “I really enjoy your column. For part of the time I was a telecommunications student at USC (1958-1962), I was the information director of KUSC and, in fact, I was paid only a small amount. The station was student-run, broadcast four hours a day, using a 3,900-watt transmitter built for the 1939 World’s Fair. The tower was atop the John Hancock Building on campus, so the range was not far away but we had listeners.

“Unfortunately, as good as it is today, it has lost its way, no longer fulfilling its original purpose of being part of the University’s educational experience. Any ideas?

Yes. But first a little history.

The license was approved and the first transmitter was purchased by the University of Southern California for the station in 1941. But World War II got in the way…the government wanted the transmitter and commandeered it far from the station. So oil tycoon, USC trustee and university alumnus Captain George Allan Hancock – who was also a cellist with the Los Angeles Symphony – bought another one.

A 250-foot tower was built atop the Hancock Foundation building on campus and the station began broadcasting on October 24, 1946. To highlight the new band and recognize the potential sound quality, the station identified as “frequency modulated KUSC”. radio.”

The transmitter was mono — stereo was still a long way off — with clear reception available within about 10 miles of campus, according to station records. I don’t know the original format, but it can be assumed that it broadcast popular music of the era as well as college-specific news and entertainment. Stan Chambers, who later joined KTLA Channel 5, was one of KUSC’s first announcers.

In early 1972, graduate student Wally Smith became general manager of the station. He convinced the powers that be to switch to a classical music format, which debuted on April 2. This decision was somewhat controversial internally, with many students opposing it. Note the word “students”…in 1972, KUSC was still a student-run radio station. Note: the power of the station was then 30,000 watts, considerably increasing its range.

Depending on your point of view, 1976 was a watershed year. According to the station’s website at KUSC.org, “The Corporation for Public Broadcasting awarded KUSC a major market expansion grant of $750,000 over five years – the first grant of its kind in the country.” The funds helped attract a significant audience to public radio and created a space in downtown Los Angeles for full-time professional announcers, producers and engineers.

“KUSC also signed in stereo from its new transmitter on Lookout Mountain above Hollywood, expanding its audience potential to 12 million people.”

Did you catch this? “…for full-time professional advertisers, producers and engineers.” This was the end of student involvement with the station and, in my opinion, should have resulted in the loss of the educational license. It is a professional station. In my opinion, no college or university should be able to hold an educational broadcasting license if it does not operate it for the benefit of students. But I digress.

In 1978, KUSC was the most popular classical music station in the country. Since then, technology has improved with satellite transmission and distribution. For example, it broadcast the Olympic Art Festival nationwide in 1984 and began linking stations to simulcast its format in 1985, first in Santa Barbara and then in areas such as Palm Springs, Morrow Bay and San Francisco… about ten years. -classical music network.

Today, the station is no longer even located on the USC campus, instead broadcasting from a 32-story skyscraper in downtown Los Angeles. There is, however, a student-run station on campus, KXSC, broadcasting using a low-power AM transmitter as well as on KXSC.org. I will talk about it in a future column.

Richard Wagoner is a freelance columnist in San Pedro who covers Southern California radio. Send an email to [email protected]