KMPC

Infobox Radio station
name = KMPC


city = Los Angeles, California
area = Greater Los Angeles
branding = "Radio Korea"
slogan =
frequency = 1540 (kHz)
repeater =
airdate = 1952
share =
share as of =
share source =
format = Korean programming
power =
erp = 50,000 watts (Day)
37,000 watts (Night)
haat =
class = B
facility_id = 61647
coordinates = coord|34|4|43.00|N|118|11|5.00|W|region:US_type:city
callsign_meaning = McMillan Petroleum Company
(former owner)
former_callsigns = KPOL (1952-1981)
KZLA (1981-1984)
KSKQ (1984-1992)
KXED (1992-1996)
KXMG (1996-1997)
KCTD (1997-2000)
affiliations =
owner = P&Y Broadcasting Licensee, LLC
licensee =
sister_stations =
webcast =
website = [http://www.radiokorea.com/ www.radiokorea.com]

KMPC ("Radio Korea", 라디오코리아) is a radio station based in Los Angeles, California that airs Radio Korea programming. It broadcasts news, information, and entertainment for the largest Korean community in the United States.

KMPC is one of three radio stations in L.A. that broadcast entirely in Korean; the others are KYPA and KFOX.

KMPC 1540 history

KMPC began airing Radio Korea programming on May 1, 2007; before that, it was an owned-and-operated affiliate of Sporting News Radio as an all-sports station. However, some of the network's daily programming did not air on the station, except in certain situations.

It covered San Diego Chargers football (one of two flagship stations for the Chargers Radio Network; the other being KIOZ in San Diego), and selected Westwood One sports programming not carried by CBS Radio's KFWB-AM and KLSX-FM. Among the broadcasts that KMPC carried from Westwood One, they included NCAA basketball, PGA Tour golf tournament updates (mostly those covered from CBS Sports television), The Masters Tournament, NFL football (including Monday Night Football on occasion), and more.

In 2006, KMPC lost the broadcast rights to USC basketball and football to rival KSPN-AM, and in response, the station acquired the local broadcast rights of the University of Notre Dame's football games from Westwood One. The station also stopped covering NASCAR races after having done so for several years. Among the station's regular talk-show hosts included Tony Bruno, who began his morning show in April 2005 following the departure of Roger Lodge; long-time local sports talk host Dave Smith (whose show became part of Sporting News Radio in June 2006), and a late-afternoon show hosted by former USC football player Petros Papadakis.

A new addition to KMPC was former Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Ross Porter, who filled in for Roggin on an early-June 2005 broadcast.

Roger Nadel, former GM of all-news KFWB in Los Angeles, was the station's VP/GM and Program Director.

In June 2006, former afternoon host and current KNBC-TV sports director Fred Roggin left the station and a new program, the Atlanta-based 2 Live Stews, took his place. Roggin's departure (due to increased commitments to KNBC and NBC Sports) triggered a shift in the station's daily programming lineup, which had Smith and Papadakis switch dayparts, which in turn accommodated the Los Angeles debut of the 2 Live Stews.

On September 5, 2006, KMPC's parent company was sold to American City Business Journals for an undisclosed price, along with similarly-formatted stations in New York City, Chicago, and Boston, Sporting News Radio, and "The Sporting News" magazine.

In 2007, before the station's sale to Radio Korea, there were no local shows on the station. Bob Keisser of the "Long Beach Press-Telegram" said that KMPC is "on life support." (Page B2, December 29, 2006 issue).

On March 30, 2007, AllAccess.com, an online news service covering the radio and music industries, reported that AmCity had decided to sell the station to P&Y Broadcasting, doing business as Radio Korea Media Group. Again, the price was not revealed.

Dispersal of former programming

*The Chargers' current local affiliate is KLAC, a change made for the 2008 season. [cite web|url=http://www.chargers.com/broadcasting/radio-network.htm|title=San Diego Chargers Radio Network] In 2007, the Chargers had signed KSPN as the new local affiliate in the Los Angeles area. Some early season games were not available in 2007 due to that station's continuing coverage of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Major League Baseball postseason. (The Angels have since changed the flagship station to KLAA.)
*Most Westwood One sporting events, including the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, NFL football, and the Summer Olympic Games, are now available on KSPN. (However, if the USC Trojans make the basketball tournament, the local flagship feed replaces the national one.) The exception is the Sunday NFL packages, which air on KLAC; KSPN airs Monday night games only. (Later in the 2008 season, KTLK is expected to carry some Sunday night games, as coverage of the Los Angeles Lakers starts on KLAC.) In 2007, coverage was shared by four stations: KLAC, KTLK, KABC, and KLAA. (KABC is now the home station of the Los Angeles Dodgers.)
*The Fighting Irish debuted on KLAA with the September 6 season opener against San Diego State; however, the game may have been left early ("a la" the Heidi Game); that game kicked off at 12:30 p.m. Pacific time and Angels' pre-game coverage was scheduled for 3 p.m. How many games will air the rest of the season will be dependent on the Angels' regular season and postseason schedule.
*No new local affiliate has been found for the Masters golf tournament.
*Roggin and Papadakis joined the lineup of KLAC, in morning drive and afternoon drive respectively. Roggin and co-hosts T.J. Simers and Tracie Simers were removed in October 2007 in favor of Dan Patrick. Papadakis remains on KLAC.
*Bruno debuted on KLAC on September 29, replacing Joe McDonnell at 7 p.m. weeknights. Bruno's program, like Patrick's, is syndicated by Content Factory.
*Neither the 2 Live Stews, nor Sporting News Radio are available in the L.A. area. Some SNR shows are available via satellite on XM Sports Nation or on terrestrial radio from San Diego sports radio station XX 1090.

Before KMPC

The history of AM1540 goes back to its days as KPOL. It aired a wide variety of formats until the early 1980s. KPOL also advertised on the 1959 television series "Home Run Derby".

Throughout the 1980s and much of the 1990s, this frequency broadcast in Spanish, first as KXEZ then as KXMG "Mega 1540." In 1999, One on One Sports Inc. of Northbrook, Illinois purchased the station and converted it to sports radio. It was part of the sale to Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures in 2001.

KMPC-710

Prior to November 21, 1997 the call letters KMPC were assigned on AM-710, and it was at one time one of the top AM radio stations in Southern California. In the 1960s and 70s, it used the moniker "The Station of the Stars" and featured a number of notable DJs, including Dick Whittinghill, Robert W. Morgan, Bob Arbogast, Geoff Edwards, Ira Cook, Roger Carroll, Wink Martindale, Jim Lange, Gary Owens, Johnny Magnus, Kathy Gori, and Sonny Melendrez.

A powerhouse in local sports reporting, KMPC-710 broadcast Los Angeles Rams, California Angels, and UCLA football games. Some of the notable sports announcers were Fred Hessler, Don Wells, Bob Starr, Jim Healy, Kent Derdivanis, Dave Niehaus, Dick Enberg, and Joe Torre.

KMPC-710 was also noted for its extensive use of field reporters and news/traffic aircraft. It was also the first station to issue Sigalert traffic alerts.

At one time, KMPC was owned by the famous singing cowboy Gene Autry.

KMPC appeared fictionally in the Steven Spielberg movie "1941" (see 1941 (film), the dance contest broadcast), and in That Thing You Do (brief interview).

Reference

External links

* [http://www.radiokorea.com Radio Korea Website] ko icon
* [http://www.tonybrunoshow.com Tony Bruno Show]
* [http://www.710kmpc.com/ KMPC-710 Tribute Site]
*AMQ|KMPC
*AML|KMPC
*Transmitter|KMPC|34.078611|118.184722