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KPWR is a radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, that currently programs a Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio musical format. According to R&R, they are the top-ranked Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio outlet in the United States based on audience cumes. It is owned by Emmis Communications. The station broadcasts in IBOC digital radio, using the HD Radio system from iBiquity.
HistoryKPWR changed formats, from an adult contemporary format (as KMGG, "Magic 106") to a dance music/Top 40 direction in January 1986. In its first seven years, the playlist concentrated mostly on an upbeat, party-style mix of dance, house, and urban pop while avoiding hard rock. This mix of music became known as crossover, due to the way in which dance and urban music were presented to an audience that liked pop, and vice versa. Around 1993, KPWR began to focus on urban music with hip-hop as the musical base.
KPWR picked up additional competition in May 2005 when KXOL dropped their Spanish adult contemporary format for a Hispanic-rhythmic, or hurban, format known as "Latino 96.3". The format is a crossover mix of Hispanic hip hop, reggaeton, dancehall, and R & B/hip hop targeting a bilingual audience. However, the abrupt switch violated a transmitter lease agreement that KXOL's parent company, Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS), had with Emmis; the agreement required formal notification to Emmis of any change in format and expressly prohibited KXOL from programming to directly compete with KPWR. SBS switched formats anyway, and Emmis filed a lawsuit to force SBS to either drop the format switch or find a new transmitter. SBS announced that KXOL would move to another transmitter site a month later, and both parties settled the dispute sometime after. Shortly after the debut of Latino 96.3, KPWR replaced the majority of their non Latino dj's with personalities of Latino descent who often pepper their broadcasts with spanish words, in an effort to regain some of the audience lost to Latino 96.3. On August 17, 2006, KPWR's Country music sister station KZLA flipped directions to Adult Rhythmic Contemporary as "Movin' 93.9." Most of the songs played on Movin' 93.9 consists of Rhythmic Pop and Dance hits from the 1980s and 1990s to the present day, along with classic Disco and Freestyle tracks thrown in for balance.
ProgrammingDespite their on air slogan of "Where Hip Hop Lives", KPWR continues to claim to potential advertisers that it's true format is rhythmic crossover. Station management resists the R&B/Hip-Hop format label in part because of its Hispanic audience – and because Top 40 stations attract more advertising than stations on the R&B reporting panels. Leaning heavily on hip hop and broadening their music mix to challenge competitors, KPWR's core listening audience is geared toward youth and young adults ages 12 to 24, including a large bilingual Hispanic group of listeners. KPWR is the only full market hip hop station, after rival KKBT (now KRBV) switched from mainstream urban to urban adult-contemporary. Other stations in the market have other primary interests; KIIS plays Top 40 music, KXOL has their hurban format, and KDAY does not cover the market in full (KDAY/KDAI broadcasts from two separate Class A transmitters in Torrance and Ontario that are limited in signal range vs KPWR's Class B). KPWR receives criticism for small playlists and repetitions of the same songs hour after hour, as do other radio stations. Their program includes regular shows such as the Pocos Pero Locos radio show, which showcases "cholo" hip hop. The show says it prides itself on showcasing local groups, but critics feel that talented local lyricists are passed over in favor of "Latin gangster" acts and artists with a small target audience. Although they had moved away from the Dance music scene and at times are criticized for abandoning it in favor of pleasing the Hip-Hop crowd, KPWR continues to support the genre through the program "Power Tools", produced by Gerry Meraz and hosted by Richard Vission. Power Tools, which airs late night Saturday/Early Sunday morning from 2 to 4am, is also the station's longest running program, debuting in 1992. In addition, they do revisit their Dance and Freestyle music roots during their mixes, especially the The World Famous Aquanet Set, which they air on Fridays. For a time in 1996, Power 106 switched genres and began to focus more on house music which then was very popular among latino listeners. They began to play less hip-hop, as many listeners switched over to rival station KKBT. They eventually reverted to Hip-Hop/R&B by the fall of that year, and hired former security guard Big Boy to host the morning show, replacing the veteran Baka Boyz. The Baka Boyz were moved to afternoons, before being dropped by Power and moving to rival station KKBT in 1999, where they would only last several months before KKBT switched genres. KPWR launched a Spanish-language HD2 subcarrier channel called Power Dos in August 2006. A press release from Emmis describes the new channel as a “bilingual and musically extended version” of KPWR. [1] Big Boy's NeighborhoodBig Boy's Neighborhood is the nationally-syndicated morning show for KPWR, airing Monday through Friday from 5:00 AM to 10:00 AM PST. Big Boy is best known in the local area for his billboards. In 2002, Big Boy was morbidly obese; Will Smith agreed to donate to a charity of Big Boy's choice an amount equal to $1,000 times the number of pounds he lost. Through a strict diet and by using a personal trainer, Big Boy lost 110 pounds, and as promised, Will Smith donated $110,000 to charity. By 2003, Big Boy had gained all the weight back, plus some, and weighed 510 pounds. In November 2003, Big Boy had bariatric surgery to lose a large amount of the weight. He underwent duodenal switch surgery and has since lost more than 250 pounds (114 kg). KPWR billboards showed off his new look after his surgery. Big Boy's morning show became nationally syndicated in May 2006. Logos
KPWR program scheduleWeekdays
Fridays
Saturdays
Sundays
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