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news
KLON
name change
By Miguel Lopez
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
The KLON
call letters had been a part of the campus radio station since
1951 and part of the jazz station since 1981, but on August
9, KLON-FM (88.1) officially became KKJZ-FM.
According the assistant
general manager of KKJZ, Sandie Frakes, the change came almost
without notice. The call letters KKJZ became available from
a jazz station in Portland and the FCC approved the change.
"It came really
quickly, it was a surprise when we saw that these call letters
were available to use," Frakes said. "We jumped on it. This
name is going to be with us until we play jazz, which hopefully
is forever."
Many other stations
had call letters we would have liked to have, but the FCC
doesn’t allow multiple radio stations to have the same call
letters, Frakes said.
"We wanted the
call letters to be able to better reflect the music we play,"
Frakes said.
"We wanted call
letters that accurately reflect the best jazz and blues radio
programming in the country," KKJZ General Manager Judy Jankowski
said.
The music format
will remain the same. The different forms of jazz, such as
Latin jazz, afro-jazz and all aspects of blues will still
be the music KKJZ airs.
"The format is
not going to change," Frakes said. "We are still going to
be the same jazz and blues station we have always been."
"It was good that
we changed because the call letters represents our music better"
Frakes said. "We broadcast worldwide as jazz station, but
with the KKJZ name people right away know its jazz."
The name KLON was
given to the university radio station, but not until 1981
when the radio station started playing jazz did KLON officially
become the jazz station’s name.
Long Beach native
and jazz fan, Nectali Diaz, does not think that the name change
will affect the listeners and their loyalty to the station.
"I’m pretty sure
they are going to play the same type of music," Diaz said.
"I’ve always been a fan of KLON and going to be one because
they always play some of the best jazz."
"It will take a
little while before we start changing everything that had
KLON written on it, by the end of the year everything should
be KKJZ," Frakes said. "The work order for the sign outside
has been submitted, so we are waiting for the logo sign to
change soon as well."
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