Free FM
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- For the unrelated Canadian station, see CFRI-FM.
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Free FM was a short-lived, mostly-talk-radio format and brand name for eleven FM CBS Radio stations in the United States, and was created because of Howard Stern's departure to Sirius Satellite Radio in January 2006. Free FM was given its name to highlight that its stations broadcast free-to-air, instead of requiring a subscription fee like satellite radio services. Launched on October 25, 2005, Free FM was phased out over the course of 2007, with the final station using it, KLSX, dropping the brand in November 2008.
Free FM stations targeted a largely male demographic ranking from 18 to 49, attracting those who normally listen to FM rock and alternative stations, instead of existing AM talk radio listeners. Programs are more ribald than AM talk stations and include more discussion of dating, personal relationships, and pop culture, more comedy, and more discussion of celebrities and entertainment. Some Free FM stations also included music programs.[1] Most Free FM programs were generally of the hot talk format.
One Canadian radio station, CFRI-FM in Grande Prairie, Alberta, also uses the Free FM brand name, although its ownership and format are unrelated to the American stations.
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[edit] History
[edit] Initial launch
On October 25, 2005, Infinity Broadcasting (now CBS Radio) officially announced that it would be replacing Howard Stern on many of its radio stations with David Lee Roth in New York City and several other eastern markets, Rover's Morning Glory with Shane "Rover" French in the midwest, and Adam Carolla in Los Angeles and several other western markets, along with already established DC-based morning show The Junkies on WJFK-FM in D.C. and WHFS-FM in Baltimore. On the same day, several of these Infinity/CBS radio stations became known as "Free FM"; some of the stations already had an all-talk format, while others switched from a music format, and WXRK New York announced that it would become "Free FM" starting January 3, 2006. Jimmy Kimmel served as creative consultant for the format.
In addition to the morning shows, Free FM also announced at this time the creation of Penn Radio, an hourlong radio show hosted from Las Vegas by illusionist Penn Jillette.
[edit] Demise and replacement of Roth
In April 2006 rumors were reported that Roth's show would be dumped due to low ratings (The ratings for Roth's show in morning drive went down eighty percent compared to Howard Stern's ratings in the same slot a year prior) and would be replaced by XM's Opie and Anthony. The move marked Opie and Anthony's return to the New York terrestrial radio scene and to CBS Radio; their show was cancelled by CBS/Infinity in 2002 when they were syndicated through sister station WNEW due to a broadcast of the Sex For Sam III skit from St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York that generated much controversy.
The move was confirmed by Opie and Anthony on their show and web site on Friday, April 21. As of that date, David Lee Roth's web site, david.freefm.com, had disappeared along with any mention of him on the Free FM local affiliates. On Monday, April 24, a Flash presentation presented on the Free FM local affiliates alluded to a debut time of 9 a.m. that day for the announcement of the return of the Opie and Anthony show. The show debuted on the former David Lee Roth affiliates on April 26.
In addition to the departure of Roth, Rover's Morning Glory was removed from the Free FM stations but continued to air in Cleveland, on WKRK-FM, and a handful of affiliates; in at least once case, WZNE, the show was used as "filler" to protect more popular local shows on sister stations (in WZNE's case, to protect Brother Wease on WCMF).[citation needed] Rover's Morning Glory eventually moved to rival station WMMS, thus ending the CBS radio relationship altogether.
On March 2, 2007, Penn Radio, hosted by Penn Jillette, aired its last show.
[edit] Demise
With the lack of success that Free FM produced, CBS slowly phased out the homogenized Free FM brand. No new "Free FM" branded stations were launched since the network was created, and new hot talk stations were branded in other ways: for instance, WTZN (now WBZW) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was launched as a hot talk station in April 2007 as "The Zone" instead of Free FM, and even that station has since changed formats, to Top 40/CHR.
In addition, all of the original Free FM stations eventually removed their "Free FM" branding, and have since changed formats altogether.
- WHFS in Baltimore — became Baltimore's FM Talk: A Free FM Station, later dropping A Free FM Station, and later flipped to sports radio 105.7 The Fan on November 3, 2008.
- KRLD-FM in Dallas (formerly KLLI) — reverted back to Live 105.3, then also flipped to sports radio as 105.3 The Fan on December 8, 2008.
- WCKG in Chicago — became Chicago's FM Talk Station, followed shortly by The PaCKaGe. Changed to adult contemporary Fresh 105.9 on November 5, 2007, and given the new call letters WCFS-FM. Afternoon host Steve Dahl moved to sister station WJMK as morning host.
- WJFK in Washington — went from the standard 106.7 Free FM to Free FM 106.7 WJFK to Washington's Talk Superstation, 106.7 WJFK. On July 20, 2009, the station changed to sports radio 106.7 The Fan.
- WYSP in Philadelphia — dropped "Free FM" to become 94-1 WYSP, later reverting fully to their pre-Free moniker 94 WYSP as 94 WYSP Talks. Changed back to a Rock format on September 13, 2007 at 5:00 pm.
- WTZN in Pittsburgh — flipped back to a previous top 40 format known as B94, calls are now WBZW. Hosts Scott Paulsen, John Steigerwald and Dennis Miller moved to KDKA (AM).
- KIFR in San Francisco — was the first to drop Free FM, going to a classic hits format as KFRC (Adam Carolla, Opie and Anthony, and Tom Leykis moved to KYCY). In late October 2008, became an FM simulcast of news radio station KCBS (740) while retaining the KFRC call letters.
- WFNY in New York City — dropped Free FM altogether, and reverted to its previous modern rock format as WXRK "K-Rock". Changed to contemporary hit radio "92.3 NOW" in March 2009. The dropping of Free FM on WFNY was generally recognized as the moment marking the death of the network.
- KSCF in San Diego — dropped Free FM altogether, changed to adult alternative "Sophie" on June 22, 2007
- KZON in Phoenix — dropped Free FM altogether, changed to rhythmic contemporary "101.5 Jamz" on June 22, 2007
- WKRK-FM in Detroit — dropped Free FM altogether, took over sister station WXYT's sports radio format, changing to WXYT-FM "Detroit's Sports Powerhouse"; currently "97.1 The Ticket"
- KLSX in Los Angeles — reverted back to "97.1: The FM Talk Station", changed to contemporary hit "AMP Radio" on February 20, 2009.
As of June 2007, CBS Radio has all but completely dropped the title of "Free FM" as a format and has instead replaced it with the more generic "FM Talk." New domain names without the "Free FM" are now in use for several of the "Free FM" stations.[2] By October 1, 2007, only one Free FM station remained: KLSX. In October 2008, KLSX dropped the "Free FM" moniker and was simply referred to as "The FM Talk Station".
The Adam Carolla Show was canceled in February 2009; it was the last program specifically created for Free FM to be discontinued. The cancellation was a result of flagship station KLSX's shift to contemporary hit radio "AMP Radio" at that time. Two weeks later, Opie and Anthony were axed from terrestrial radio after WXRK changed formats, again to contemporary hit radio. The last hot-talk station in CBS's portfolio, WJFK-FM, abandoned the format for sports radio in July 2009, resulting in the cancellation of the Mike O'Meara Show, which was syndicated to many hot talk and Free FM stations.
[edit] Former Free FM stations
- New York — WFNY, now WXRK 92.3
- San Francisco — KIFR 106.9[3]
- Philadelphia — WYSP 94.1[4]
- San Diego — KSCF 103.7[5]
- Phoenix — KZON 101.5[6]
- Pittsburgh — WTZN-FM 93.7[7]
- Detroit — WKRK, now WXYT-FM 97.1[8]
- Chicago — WCKG, now WCFS-FM 105.9
- Los Angeles — KLSX, now KAMP-FM 97.1[9]
- Washington, D.C. — WJFK-FM 106.7
- Dallas, Texas — KLLI, now KRLD-FM 105.3
[edit] References
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