|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Free FM |
"Free FM" was the moniker and on-air brand of eleven FM talk radio station in the United States owned by CBS Radio, 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, funded by commercials, whereas satellite radio requires a subscription fee. The brand 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 are generally classified under 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.
Contents |
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, 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 which 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.
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 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 one case, as "filler" to protect more popular local shows on sister stations). 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.
With the lack of success the Free FM brand 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, or changed formats altogether.
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. As of one year later, (October 2008) KLSX dropped the "Free FM" moniker and is now simply referred to as "The FM Talk Station."
|
||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |