KPWR (105.9 FM, "Power 106") is a commercial radio station located in Los Angeles, California, broadcasting to the Greater Los Angeles area on an analog signal and in HD Radio. KPWR airs a Rhythmic Top 40 radio format playing hip-hop and R&B hits with the occasional Rhythmic Pop/Dance hits. It is owned and operated by Emmis Communications and is one of two flagship stations under its ownership alongside WQHT ("Hot 97") in New York City.

History[link]

105.9 FM signed on as easy listening KFI-FM on July 15, 1946, later becoming KBMS in 1958 before adopting the KWST call letters and "K-West 106" moniker in 1969. During its years as KBMS and later KWST, its format had been beautiful music prior to its flip to a rock format on January 1, 1975. K-West emulated the then-popular sound of KMET & KLOS. By 1981 though, the rating had slipped and KWST had changed to a Top 40 format, and let all of their disc jockeys go. KWST eventually evolved into KMGG, or "Magic 106" in 1983, and played upbeat Adult Contemporary music.

In May 1984 Century Broadcasting Decided to sell KMGG and St. Louis's KSHE to the Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications.

Magic 106 would continue to climb in the ratings, but after seeing a unique niche to counter Top 40s KIIS and KKHR and Urban outlets KDAY, KJLH, and KACE (the latter three all signal challenged), Emmis would flip KMGG from adult contemporary to a dance music/Top 40 direction on January 11, 1986 and became KPWR, "Power 106."^[1] Jay Thomas was hired as the new morning host. In its first seven years, the playlist concentrated mostly on an upbeat, party-style mix of dance, house, freestyle, and urban pop while avoiding hard rock. This mix of music became known as crossover, due to the way in which dance and urban music were presented to an audience that liked pop, and vice versa. Power 106 would use the moniker "L.A.'s Hottest Music"; at the time it originally broadcasted 72,000 watts. Realizing the success of the newfound rhythmic/CHR format on KPWR, Emmis purchased more stations and applied the format to WYNY in New York City which became WQHT "Hot 103.5" later that year before making an agreement with NBC Radio and changed the frequency to "Hot 97" two years later.

Around 1992, KPWR began to focus on urban music with hip-hop as the musical base, primarily based on gaining competition from the former KKBT. In 1992 The Baka Boyz came to Power 106 and started the long-running "Friday Night Flavas" late night hip hop mix show. The Friday Night Flavas show passed from the Baka Boyz to the Fantastik 4our crew by 1998, until finally being canceled on January 4, 2006. By January 2005, the station had woven in non-R&B/hip hop artists such as Natalie, Baby Bash, NB Ridaz and Gwen Stefani to the mix, resulting in a return to rhythmic contemporary hit radio. The move may have been a response to a change in directions at rival station KIIS, which was programming Top 40 hits, until they started a shift towards a Rhythmic lean, since the market itself is heavily Hispanic and tends to favor this genre.

KPWR picked up additional competition in May 2005 when KXOL dropped their Spanish adult contemporary format for a Hispanic Rhythmic, or hurban, format known as "Latino 96.3". The format is a crossover mix of Hispanic hip hop, reggaeton, dancehall, and R & B/hip hop targeting a bilingual audience. However, the abrupt switch violated a transmitter lease agreement that KXOL's parent company, Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS), had with Emmis; the agreement required formal notification to Emmis of any change in format and expressly prohibited KXOL from programming to directly compete with KPWR. SBS switched formats anyway, and Emmis filed a lawsuit to force SBS to either drop the format switch or find a new transmitter. SBS announced that KXOL would move to another transmitter site a month later, and both parties settled the dispute sometime after.^[2]

Shortly after the debut of Latino 96.3, KPWR replaced the majority of their non Latino DJs with personalities of Latino descent who often pepper their broadcasts with Spanish words, in an effort to regain some of the audience lost to Latino 96.3. Today Big Boy and Fuzzy Fantabulous (both African-American) remain as the only non-Latino personalities at the station.

On August 17, 2006, KPWR's Country music sister station KZLA flipped directions to Adult Rhythmic Contemporary as "Movin' 93.9." Most of the songs played on Movin' 93.9 consisted of Rhythmic Pop and Dance hits from the 1980s and 1990s to the present day, along with classic Disco and Freestyle tracks thrown in for balance. But after almost a year in the format, KMVN shifted directions to Rhythmic Oldies. With the unique combination of both KPWR and KZLA, the move gave Emmis and Los Angeles its first Rhythmic duopoly, as well as the second duopoly in California with this arrangement, the other being Clear Channel Communications siblings KMEL and KYLD in San Francisco. But that arrangement ended on April 15, 2009, when KMVN flipped to a Spanish format under a LMA with Grupo Radio Centro of Mexico City.

Programming[link]

Leaning heavily on hip hop and broadening their music mix to challenge competitors, KPWR's core listening audience is geared toward youth and young adults ages 18 to 34, including large English speaking Latino listeners. KPWR was, by de-facto, the only full market hip hop station, after its rival, KKBT (now KSWD), flipped from mainstream urban to urban adult-contemporary in May 2006. Meanwhile KDAY, the station that would inherit "The Beat" slogan from KKBT, flipped to Urban AC in August 2008, only to return to a Mainstream Urban direction in January 2009. KDAY's signal does not cover the market in full, which might have played a factor in its brief decision to switch formats, as KDAY broadcasts from a Class A transmitter in Baldwin Hills that is limited in signal range vs KPWR's Class B; ironically KDAY had shifted to Rhythmic in July 2007, only to return to Urban a few weeks later.

Other stations in the market have other primary interests; KIIS plays Top 40 music, KAMP-FM, like Power 106, also plays Rhythmic Contemporary, KXOL has their hurban format, and KHHT their Rhythmic Adult Contemporary direction. After KDAY began shifting to Old-School Hip-Hop in August 2009, KPWR briefly increased its playlist with Hip-Hop currents, but as of 2010 it began embracing Electropop tracks, and with KAMP moving in on their audience with their shift towards Rhythmic, KPWR continues to add Rhythmic Pop tracks in an effort to retain its Hispanic base, as they see KAMP as a serious competitor. As of 2011, Power 106 had decreased the amount of plays they give to Rhythmic Pop tracks so it can focus on R&B/Hip Hop product, but given the changing taste among its listeners, it continues to add the occasional Rhythmic Pop/Dance track, as it contributes to both Mediabase and BDS Rhythmic reporting panels but remains heavily within the R&B/Hip Hop area. Power 106 finished 2011 #1 Adults 18-34 for three straight ratings periods, fending off competitors from large media conglomerates CBS and Clear Channel Media as a stand-alone FM in Los Angeles.

Although Power 106 had moved away from the Dance music scene in favor of Hip-Hop, KPWR continues to support the genre through the program "Power Tools", produced by Gerry Meraz and hosted by Richard Vission. Power Tools, which airs late night Saturday/Early Sunday morning from 2 to 4am, is also the station's longest running program, debuting in 1992. In addition, they do revisit their Dance and Freestyle music roots during their mixes, especially The World Famous Aquanet Set, which they air on Fridays. In 2008 KPWR began phasing in current Dance and Rhythmic Pop crossovers into their daily and weekend mix shows again, as evidenced by addition of the daily noontime "Power 106 Party Mix," which replaced the Old School mixshow. Power 106 features the daily, "Mickey Fickey Mix" with DJ E-Man at 5:20, 6:20, 7:20, 8:20 and 9:20am, the "Power Party Mix" with DJ Reflex at noon, the New@2 mix with DJ Felli Fel and Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 5pm feature celebrity guest DJs with the Jump-off mix.

For a time in 1996, Power 106 switched genres and began to focus more on house music which then was very popular among Latino listeners. They began to play less hip-hop, as many listeners switched over to former rival KKBT. They eventually reverted to Hip-Hop/R&B by the fall of that year, and hired former security guard Big Boy to host the morning show, replacing the veteran Baka Boyz. The Baka Boyz were moved to afternoons, before being dropped by Power and moving to KKBT in 1999, where they would only last several months before KKBT switched genres. The Baka Boyz later moved to San Diego and worked for XHMORE ("Blazin 98.9 FM"), a Rhythmic Top 40 radio station with the same format as Power 106. The Baka Boyz has since left that station and now concentrate on their syndicated Hip-Hop remix show "The Baka Boyz Master Mix."

In May 2010, KPWR began streaming the station online.

In September 2011, Power 106 was named Large Market CHR Radio station of the year and awarded the Marconi at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Chicago, Illinois.^[3]

On September 19, 2011, Power 106 partnered with Jelli.com and launched a Facebook integrated music streaming platform that was announced at Facebook's f8 convention. Power 106's jelli station www.jelli.com/power106 features new music that is promoted on Power 106's New@2 program. Listeners can "rocket" songs up and vote them off the playlist with a "bomb". Songs can be dedicated and sent to friends via email and on their Facebook pages.

KPWR-HD subchannels[link]

KPWR launched a Spanish-language HD2 subcarrier channel called Power Dos in August 2006. A press release from Emmis describes the new channel as a “bilingual and musically extended version” of KPWR. Power Dos left the air in 2008 due to lack of interest. [1]

On 2008-09-08, Emmis announced a programming partnership with WorldBand Media, using KPWR's HD-3 signal to produce programming for the South Asian communities in 3 major cities including Los Angeles.^[4] The said content began in Mid-October 2008, and by the Summer of 2009 moved to HD2, replacing Power Dos.

Big Boy's Neighborhood[link]

Big Boy's Neighborhood is the nationally-syndicated morning show for KPWR.

Big Boy is best known in the local area for his billboards. In early 2002, Big Boy was morbidly obese; Will Smith agreed to donate to a charity of Big Boy's choice an amount equal to $1,000 times the number of pounds he lost, if he could lose 50 pounds. Through a strict diet and by using a personal trainer, Big Boy lost 110 pounds, and as promised, Will Smith donated $110,000 to charity. By 2003, Big Boy had gained all the weight back, plus some, and weighed 510 pounds. In November 2003, Big Boy underwent duodenal switch surgery and has since lost more than 250 pounds (114 kg). KPWR billboards showed off his new look after his surgery.

On August 6, 2007, Big Boy signed a multi-year deal with ABC Radio Networks (now Citadel Media) to syndicate the show, and his weekend show formerly called Big Boy's Hip Hop Spot.[2] The show launched nationally on August 20. Big Boy will continue to work for Emmis, thus KPWR is now the flagship station for the originally locally based morning show. In the fall of 2008, the show began to air on KPWR's sister station, WQHT Hot 97 in New York City, but after enduring lackluster ratings, WQHT dropped Big Boy's Neighborhood for an expanded local morning show hosted by Cipha Sounds & Rosenberg in July 2009.

On February 17, 2010, Citadel announced that it will no longer carry Big Boy's Neighborhood and that its last national broadcast would be March 22, 2010. But on March 26, Big Boy's Neighborhood found a new syndicator when it moved over to Dial Global.^[5][6]

Big Boy, along with Luscious Liz from the 'Neighborhood' starred in an episode of Entourage as well as an episode of Nick Cannon's sketch comedy show Wild'n'out. In addition, Big Boy also appeared in an episode of For the Love of Ray J.

On July 27, 2010, sidekick Tattoo is no longer with the show. [3]

Big Boy is the recipient of 2 National Association of Broadcasting Marconi Awards for Major Market Personality of the Year.

On August 22, 2011, Luscious Liz Hernandez leaves Big Boy's Radio and is now with E! News. [4]

Power 106 added Rikki Martinez, Krystal B and Louie G to Big Boy's Neighborhood. The programming changes paid off with Big Boy's Neighborhood closing out 2011 with a 6.5 share 18-34 Adults in morning drive and placed #2 in the market over-all and #1 English Language, Source: Arbitron Holiday 2011 (#1 was KSCA/Spanish).

Flava Unit[link]

The Power 106 Flava Unit is the Promotions Team that goes out on the streets of Los Angeles and promotes the radio station and it's advertising partners to the city, specifically targeting urban Latino youth. The Flava Unit consists of at least one MC, "rocking the mic", and is sometimes partnered with a Flava Unit Mixer (the disc jocky). They are also there to help when there are live broadcasts that consist of the on-air jocks and/or mixers.

Some notable Flava Unit Alumni include DJ Reflex (on-air mixer), DJ Los (on-air mixer), DJ Sourmilk (on-air mixer), DJ Eric-D-Lux and DJ Big Syphe (afternoon on-air talent and mixers), DJ J-Boogie (currently the host of "CW Now", "Yo Momma" on MTV, and the show "TeeNick" on Nickolodean), Mando Fresko (currently late-night on-air talent, TV host for LATV, actor, and model), Junior M. (club promoter and marketing specialist), Class1c & Eddy Xpress (KDAY on-air mixers), and DJ Virman (who would later form the Electropop/Hip-Hop act Far East Movement).

Current Jocks[link]

Big Boy's Neighborhood

• Big Boy

Sports Dude, Jeff Garcia Rikki Martinez, Entertainment Reporter Louis G, man on the streets

10a-3p

• Yesi Ortiz

3-7p DJ Felli Fel

7p-12a J Cruz

Midnight-5a

• Mando Fresko

Logos[link]

• KPWRPower106logo.jpg

  KPWR logo from 1986 to 1993 (1992-93 edition)

• Power106logo.PNG

  KPWR logo from 1993 to 2005

• Http://www.power106.com/ Logo from 2005 to present

Concerts[link]

• Powerhouse Concert
• Cali Christmas

References[link]

External links[link]

• Power 106 official website
• Power 106 MySpace page
• KPWR's history as KWST at socalradiohistory.com
• Query the FCC's FM station database for KPWR
• Radio-Locator information on KPWR
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for KPWR

v t e Emmis Communications Radio stations KBPA · KFTK · KGSR · KIHT · KLBJ · KLBJ-FM · KLZT · KPNT · KPWR · KROX-FM · KSHE · Rádio Expres · Radio FM Plus · Radio Fresh! · STAR · WFNI · WIBC · WLHK · WQHT · WEPN-FM* · WTHI-FM · WWVR · WYXB Magazines Atlanta · Cincinnati · Orange Coast · County Sampler · Indianapolis Monthly · Los Angeles · Texas Monthly *Operated by ESPN Radio under a local marketing agreement. Annual revenue: 373.26 million USD · Employees: 1,500 · Stock symbol: NASDAQ: EMMS · Website: emmis.com

Coordinates: 34°13′37″N 118°04′05″W / 34.227°N 118.068°W / 34.227; -118.068

This article appears to be written like an advertisement. Please help improve it by rewriting promotional content from a neutral point of view and removing any inappropriate external links. (April 2011)

Jay Thomas
Thomas at the 1992 Emmy Awards
Born	Jon Thomas Terrell (1948-07-12) July 12, 1948 (age 63) Kermit, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, radio talk show host
Years active	1980–present

Jay Thomas (born July 12, 1948) is an American actor, comedian and radio talk show host.

Personal life[link]

Thomas was born Jon Thomas Terrell in Kermit, Texas, the son of Katharine "Kathy" (née Guzzino) and T. Harry Terrell, Sr.^[1] He was raised in his Italian American mother's Catholic religion (his father was Protestant).^[2]

He attended Jesuit High School in New Orleans, where he grew up. He holds a masters degree in sociology from Jacksonville University. He also attended and played college football at Central Piedmont Community College. He lives in Southern California and is the father of three sons, Samuel, Jacob and J.T.

Thomas fathered J.T. in an out-of-wedlock relationship and the child was adopted by another family. Jay Thomas and his son, known as John Harding, are reunited and have spoken about their reunion on the Dr. Phil Show. John Harding is the lead singer of the band JTX.^[3]

Career[link]

Television[link]

Thomas is perhaps best known for his recurring roles. The first on the sitcom Mork and Mindy, on which he played Remo DaVinci, the Italian deli-owner, from 1979 until 1981. He then played the hockey-player-turned-travelling-ice show-skater second husband, Eddie LeBec, of Carla on Cheers (1987–1989). He appeared on Murphy Brown as a tabloid talk show host, Jerry Gold, who was also one of Murphy's love interests (1989–1998). Thomas won 2 Emmy Awards in 1990 and 1991 for "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series" for his portrayal of Jerry Gold on Murphy Brown.

He provided the voice of Ares in several episodes of Hercules: The Animated Series.

Thomas starred in the short-lived 1990 show Married People, in the role of Russell Myers, a work-at-home writer married to a high powered lawyer (played by Bess Armstrong).

He has appeared in several TV movies, including Husband, Wife, Lover, with Judith Light, and Stranger in the House with Lindsey Crouse.

Following his recurring guest role on Murphy Brown, the series' creator, Diane English, would cast Thomas in two of her subsequent TV series. The first was the 1992–1995 sitcom, Love & War, and later, Thomas had a guest role on English's short-lived 1996 Ted Danson-Mary Steenburgen sitcom, Ink. In 1994, he co-hosted (alongside Lisa Hartman Black), a television special celebrating the 30th anniversary of Universal Studios called Universal Studios Summer Blast.^[4]

In 2008, Thomas was featured on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? as the "expert" available via Skype for the "Ask the Expert" lifeline. That week he reportedly answered every single question he was asked correctly.

Thomas guest-starred on Celebrity Ghost Stories, Law and Order: SVU, and Cold Case. He is the voice of Travel Channel's Ghost Stories and Mystery of the Museums. He appears often on the late night talk show circuit as well as an opinioned guest of Bill Maher, Jimmy Kimmel, Sean Hannity, Dennis Miller, Fox and Friends, The View, Larry King and "C" and MSNBC.^{[citation needed]}

An annual tradition every Christmas is for Jay to appear on The Late Show with David Letterman where he tells a story about his younger days as a Charlotte DJ and being involved in an auto accident with The Lone Ranger Clayton Moore in his back seat. Then Jay and Dave take turns throwing a football at a tall Christmas tree adorned on top with a pizza and a meat ball. Jay only missed appearing in 2007 during the Writers Guild strike.

Film[link]

Thomas has appeared in such films as Mr. Holland's Opus, Straight Talk, Dragonfly (2002), The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3. He starred (opposite Greg Kinnear) in A Smile Like Yours, in Labor Pains (with Lindsay Lohan), and in Monday Night Mayhem (with John Turturro) and National Lampoon's "Pool Boys".

Recent activities[link]

On stage, Thomas co-starred with Bebe Neuwirth and Paul Reiser in the Woody Allen written and directed play, Writer's Block, at the Atlantic Theatre in NYC. He and Paul Shaffer of The Late Show with David Letterman are the national fundraisers for PBS television.^{[citation needed]}

Radio[link]

Thomas began his career as a sports announcer for high school football and college basketball (UNC-Charlotte) while attending Gulf Coast Junior College in Panama City, Florida and Jacksonville University. His expressed goal at that time was to be a stand-up comic. He later worked the 7pm-midnight shift at WBSR in Pensacola. He hit the big time at [[WAPE ("The Big Ape") in Jacksonville and then moved on to Charlotte, North Carolina, where he was the morning drive DJ at BIG WAYS-AM and WROQ-FM in the 1970s. Thomas then worked as a radio DJ in New York City at 99X FM. While at 99X, his newsman/sidekick was sportscaster Charley Steiner. He may be best-known on radio for being the morning host on 92.3 WKTU. He was replaced by Howard Stern when the format of WKTU was changed to classic rock and the station took on call letters WXRK and station name K-ROCK.^{[citation needed]}

After WKTU flipped formats, Thomas was hired by then new Rhythmic Top 40 KPWR/Los Angeles as their new morning host, where he enjoyed a successful run. While with KPWR, he got to sub-host American Top 40 . Thomas left KPWR due to a musical shift to gansta' rap. He would return to New York in 2000 to host the morning show on WTJM, which had just changed its format to "Jammin' Oldies" after many years as an adult contemporary station. He would leave the station just before it, like KPWR in Los Angeles, changed formats to hip-hop.

Thomas currently hosts the easiest program to call into in the history of radio, The Jay Thomas Show on Sirius XM Stars Too (Sirius XM Channel 104,), a channel on the SIRIUS XM Satellite Radio service. He has had numerous co-hosts on his show including comics Kevin Meaney, Rodney Lee Conover, Shuli, and Ira the Weatherman, Garrett Andritz, and Cristina Palumbo. On March 5, 2008 Howard Stern announced that Jay would be doing a live morning show on Howard 101 from 7 AM to 10 AM on Friday mornings. In 2011, Jay appeared on Disney's "Shake It Up' and CW's "Retired at 35", and in the final episode of the HBO series "Hung", receiving a guest star credit, and won best actor and best comedy as co-writer and star at the 2011 LA iTV fest for "Talker" his independent pilot with co-writer and director Perry Lang.

He currently resides in Southern California, but owns homes in New Orleans, one of which was destroyed by looting in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and another in Charlotte, North Carolina.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jay Thomas at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Jay Thomas Show" website
• TV.com entry
• JayThomasFans.net Forum
• Jay Thomas Fans on Facebook
• Ten Questions with Jay Thomas