Indie 103.1

Indie 103.1
City Los Angeles, California
Broadcast area Worldwide
First air date 2003 (radio), 2009 (internet)
Format Alternative rock
Owner Calipatria Broadcasting Company, L.L.C.
Website www.indie1031.com

Indie 103.1 is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California, broadcasting over the World Wide Web. The format is alternative rock.

History

On December 25, 2003 at 11 PM, Indie 103.1 was first transmitted on the KDLD radio station. The first two songs to play were The Ramones "We Want The Airwaves" and The Clash "This Is Radio Clash" followed by a list of new songs that had never seen commercial airplay before, setting the tone for what would become a musically adventurous and rebellious radio station. The first employees were program director Michael Steele, music director Mark Sovel and TK.

For a month the station ran with no commercials or DJs and featured only the voices of listeners from phones messages left on the request line voice mail. Many of the phone messages were angry listeners yelling "You guys suck!" and "What happened to KDL the party station!"

The artwork for the Indie 103.1 logo was created by Obey Giant street artist Shepard Fairey, who would achieve fame as the designer of the Obama "Progress" and "Hope" posters.

The station began as a collaboration between Entravision and Clear Channel. Clear Channel primarily handled advertising on the station, but because the organization already owned the maximum number of stations in the Los Angeles market allowed by Federal Communications Commission regulations, the arrangement was terminated in March 2005.

On February 10, 2004 at noon the first live DJ appeared on Indie 103.1. The DJ was Steve Jones (Guitarist, songwriter and founding member of The Sex Pistols). Jonesy's Jukebox become famous for its free-form music and Jones' unorthodox delivery style which included long pauses, belches and the frequent whistling of songs. Jonesys' producer (Indie 103.1 Music Director Mark Sovel) was dubbed "Mr. Shovel" by Jones and became a comic foil for Jones.

The following week "TK" appeared as the second DJ on Indie 103.1 weekdays 2 pm – 7 pm.

Within the first year "Indie" (as it came to be known) was airing live original programs hosted by Rob Zombie, Henry Rollins, The Crystal Method and Dave Navarro.

In 2004 Rolling Stone Magazine declared Indie 103.1 "America's Coolest Commercial Station"[1]

Night time DJ Darren Revell later joined the staff 7 pm – midnight. From 10 pm to midnight Revell hosted the "shoegaze" program "Big Sonic Heaven" which he originated at Detroit radio station 96.3 The Planet.

Indie 103.1 quickly grew in popularity among listeners around the Los Angeles area and around the world. Though due to limited signal range it was never a ratings winner, in April 2008 Rolling Stone Magazine voted Indie 103.1 "Best Radio Station" in the country.[2]

In the former Fox TV show, The O.C., the character of Ryan is seen waking up to Indie 103.1 on his alarm clock. An Indie 103.1 bumper sticker is seen in the cubicle in the movie "Grandma's Boy" and in an episode of the MTV show Punk'd, the Indie 103.1 studios are the place Latin reggaeton star Daddy Yankee gets pranked.

In March 2006, Dicky Barrett of The Mighty Morning Show was forced out by the station.[3] He was replaced by Joe Escalante, who called his show "The Last Of The Famous International Morning Shows."

In February 2007 Program director Michael Steele left and was replaced by "Mad Max" Tolkoff of 91X repute.

On August 19, 2008, Station Manager Dawn Girocco announced her departure from the station[4] Starting in October 2008, longtime specialty shows were either dropped ("Feel My Heat," Community Service," "Big Sonic Heaven," "Camp Freddy Radio") or moved to weekends ("Harmony in My Head").[5] Upon the cancellation of his roots music show "Watusi Rodeo," Chris Morris accused the station of "now being styled as KROQ Jr." in an effort to increase the station's ratings.[6]

In November 2008, Escalante stated he was giving up the morning show but would continue to host an expanded two-hour version of his legal-advice show, "Barely Legal Radio."[7] He was replaced by longtime station Afternoon DJ "TK."

On Thursday, January 15, 2009 in the morning, Entravision made the decision to stop broadcasting Indie 103.1 on the terrestrial airwaves.[8][9] On-air staff and station staff were asked to evacuate and clear the station immediately. Before 10 am, the station's personalities bid farewell to the listeners and at 10 am A message was repeated on the air until midnight Saturday, January 17, 2009. The message, written by one of the Entravision sales managers and not an actual statement from the staff of Indie 103.1 read as follows:

"This is an important message for the Indie 103.1 Radio Audience - Indie 103.1 will cease broadcasting over this frequency effective immediately. Because of changes in the radio industry and the way radio audiences are measured, stations in this market are being forced to play too much Britney, Puffy and alternative music that is neither new nor cutting edge. Due to these challenges, Indie 103.1 was recently faced with only one option --- to play the corporate radio game. Indie 103.1 has decided not to play that game any longer. Rather than changing the sound, spirit, and soul of what has made Indie 103.1 great Indie 103.1 will bid farewell to the terrestrial airwaves and take an alternative course. This could only be done on the Internet, a place where rules do not apply and where new music thrives; be it grunge, punk, or alternative simply put, only the best music. For those of you with a computer at home or at work, log on to www.indie1031.com. That's www.indie1031.com and listen to the new Indie 103.1 - which is really the old Indie 103.1, not the version of Indie 103.1 we are removing from the broadcast airwaves. We thank our listeners and advertisers for their support of the greatest radio station ever conceived, and look forward to continuing to deliver the famed Indie 103.1 music and spirit over the Internet to passionate music listeners around the world."

Current shows on Indie1031.com

(Indie 103.1 is no longer broadcasting over the air at KDLD. An internet stream runs on Indie1031.com)

Former on-air staff and shows on Indie 103.1

A number of famous musicians hosted their own shows on the station, including Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, Rob Zombie, Henry Rollins of Black Flag, and members of The Crystal Method, and others, including Courtney Love have been guest hosts.

Simulcast

When the signals were synchronized, they consisted of a 3000-watt directional signal in Santa Monica and 2000-watt non-directional signal in Newport Beach. However, in late 2005, an attempt was made to improve the signal by adding an extra 700 watts to the Santa Monica transmitter and removing the gain antenna to provide a non-directional signal. They also relocated the Newport Beach transmitter a few miles south to a mountain south of Newport Beach, giving it 300 watts of power but tripling the height. The Newport Beach transmitter was made directional, sending the signal northeast and southwest. This fixed the problem of poor signal along the coastal cities and in Orange County, California. Nevertheless, the combined signals still have poor coverage in the San Fernando Valley and San Gabriel Valley where KSRY overlaps KDLD, and in the area around Torrance, California where KVYB bleeds over 103.1 in an unprotected service area between the two transmitters.

References

  1. ↑ Erik Pedersen (2004-06-10). "Free-Form Radio Lives | Rolling Stone Music". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved 2011-09-14.
  2. ↑ "Indie 103.1 Named 'Best Radio Station' By Rolling Stone". AllAccess.com. 2008-04-28. Retrieved 2011-09-14.
  3. ↑ Kate Sullivan (2006-03-29). "Bye-Bye Barrett - Page 1 - Music - Los Angeles". LA Weekly. Retrieved 2011-09-14.
  4. ↑ Archived August 23, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ Yasseen, Omar. "News: Shakeups at Indie 103.1 - Listen.com". Blog.listen.com. Retrieved 2011-09-14.
  6. ↑ "Classical Geek Theatre: Indie 103.1 makes more changes". Classicalgeektheatre.blogspot.com. 2008-12-03. Retrieved 2011-09-14.
  7. ↑ "Joe Escalante's Web Site". Retrieved 2008-12-10.
  8. ↑ Randall Roberts (2009-01-21). "The Day the Music Died: The End of Indie 103.1 - Page 1 - Columns - Los Angeles". LA Weekly. Retrieved 2011-09-14.
  9. ↑ "An Exclusive Interview with Indie 103.1's Music Director Mark Sovel". The Daily Swarm. 2009-01-16. Retrieved 2011-09-14.
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