LA Has Lost its Favorite Local Sports Station to Fox, and Fans Are Angry

You talk about a rude awakening. I tuned into my noon-time radio habit on KLAC 570 on the AM dial and thought I was listening to Fox Sports Radio.

I was right. Without notice to fans, a local station of long standing was eviscerated.

We all hear national sports news throughout the day on Fox and ESPN syndicated shows. But we also need our dose of local factoids with homers screaming about our teams.

In Los Angeles that was KLAC. It has been the Lakers flagship station for more than three decades as well as the home for the UCLA Bruins.

As part of the Clear Channel lay-offs and cost cutting, it merged Fox Sports Radio with KLAC. But not completely. Our noon-time local fix called "The Loose Cannons" has been replaced by Chris Myers of Fox, paired with the head Cannon, Steve Hartman.

But they are talking national stuff. The two other former Cannons will now be mere "correspondents." It's BS. The KLAC late afternoon show has kept its hosts, Petros and Money.

But they will speak about national topics instead of their heavy dose of UCLA, USC, Lakers, Dodgers and Angels.. Later in the evening it goes all Fox, all the time. And the shows which are now simulcast on two stations are nationally syndicated.

Why do I need to listen to a former Packers GM talk about the Cowboys situation when I could be listening to the local guys hash out Kobe Bryant's dislocated finger situation until I feel like I have a medical degree?

It's a sad day when you lose your daily dose of local sports talk. No one cares about your home market more the guys who live here.

When it comes overnight without notice it is like walking into work and being asked to go see the HR director before you get to your cubicle. It's sickening.

I listened to media companies scream for de-regulation and saw them eat each other and a few emerge as behemoths. And now they cry poverty and leave me without the news and entertainment they swore I'd still have after their acquisitions. This is hard to swallow and I know there's nothing I can do.

Comments

[RobinSeattle]

08:13 PM on 01/23/2009

Even though it is the center of the entertainment industry in the U.S., sports talk in L.A. has long been just bloody awful. Especially since Jim Healy died. And while I don't like Fox taking over more stations because they are blood sucking pirates and their previous attempts at sports talk have been a joke, most sports fans, I think, will do what they have always done, leave their radios in the upright and off position when it comes to sports talk there.

[sportsd]

09:48 PM on 01/24/2009

RobinSeattle: it has certainly gone down hill but the Cannons were holding up their end of the bargain with saturation coverage of our favorite teams. It certainly isn't a market like Boston with robust sports-talk but we had KLAC for some of what we needed. It's now gone. My only hope is Arte Moreno's station now. He might do well to pick up the pieces with the hosts we lost.

Paula Duffy

[petejo]

06:23 PM on 01/23/2009

we've GOT to de-monopolize corportate power. no one co. should be allowed to own, say, more than 40% of the market, and, in the case of our media, say 10%. no less than our democracy is at stake.

[sportsd]

09:46 PM on 01/24/2009

Petejo: precisely. These blood suckers demanded de-regulation, monopolized markets and when they have a virus we throw up.

Paula Duffy

[yomikey]

05:12 PM on 01/23/2009

"Feelin you, Vic!" I'll miss you and my favorite Bahamian, the legendary Mychal Thompson. KLAC just lost a loyal early afternoon listener.

[sportsd]

09:44 PM on 01/24/2009

yomikey: it's sad to hear what Vic has been reduced to.

Paula Duffy