KLCA (96.5 FM) is a commercial

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

licensed to

Tahoe City, California Tahoe City (formerly Tahoe) is an unincorporated town in Placer County, California. Tahoe City is located on the shore of Lake Tahoe, at the outlet of the Truckee River. The site was surveyed in 1863, and Tahoe House was built in 1864. The Tahoe ...

, broadcasting to the

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

, and Lake Tahoe areas. KLCA airs a Top 40 (CHR) music format branded as "Alice 96-5". The station, part of Tom Quinn'
Reno Media Group
operates with a transmitter atop Slide Mountain overlooking Reno, Carson City and Lake Tahoe, and its studios are located on Matley Lane in East Reno. KLCA was also the fictional

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

radio station featured at the beginning of the

Robert Downey Jr. Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor and producer. His career has been characterized by critical and popular success in his youth, followed by a period of substance abuse and legal troubles, before a resurgence of ...

film, '' Air America''. KLCA is licensed by the

U.S. Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

(FCC) to broadcast in the HD (hybrid) format.

History

"Alice" was launched in early 1997 at the 100.9 frequency (replacing a country formatted station) where

KRFN KRFN (100.9 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Sparks, Nevada and broadcasting to the Reno–Sparks metropolitan area. The station is owned by the Evans Broadcast Company, Inc. and it airs an adult contemporary radio format bran ...

now broadcasts. In 1998, the two stations swapped frequencies, which gave the station a broadcast antenna atop Slide Mountain and improved coverage to include the

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; was, Dáʔaw, meaning "the lake") is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at , it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevad ...

and

Carson City Carson City is an Independent city (United States), independent city and the capital of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 58,639, making it the List of cities in Nevada, sixth largest ...

areas. Alice's growth was sluggish after moving to the 96.5 frequency as longtime

Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terre ...

fans in the Tahoe area were angry that they could no longer hear Stern on KRZQ's 100.9 frequency (with a tower on the valley floor). But the original Alice concept of a pop/alternative format designed to flank Hot AC

KNEV KNEV (95.5 FM) is a commercial radio station located in Reno, Nevada. KNEV airs a classic hip hop music format branded as "95.5 The Vibe". The station rebroadcasts on translator K257AX at 99.3 FM in Battle Mountain, Nevada. It is owned by Cumu ...

(Magic 95.5) and CHR

KWNZ KWNZ (106.3 FM) is a radio station licensed to Lovelock, Nevada, United States, broadcasting a Spanish Top 40 (CHR) format as "Latino 106.3". The station is owned by Lazer Broadcasting. History 106-3 Pop-FM On May 6, 2013 at 1:06pm, KWNZ sign ...

(K-Wins 97.3) built a solid following on a diet of

Matchbox 20 Matchbox Twenty (also known as Matchbox 20 and MB20) is an American rock band formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995. The group currently consists of Rob Thomas (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Brian Yale (bass guitar), Paul Doucette (drums, r ...

Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1993. After years of lineup changes in the early and mid-1990s, the songwriting duo of Stephan Jenkins and Kevin Cadogan signed the band's first major-label recor ...

Sugar Ray Sugar Ray is an American rock band formed in Newport Beach, California, in 1986. Originally playing heavier funk metal and nu metal style music, the band achieved mainstream popularity in 1997 with their more pop-influenced single " Fly". T ...

, etc. The original position statement was "Modern Hits." Longtime KWNZ morning show host "Wild" Bill Cody was hired to host mornings. The pop/alternative audience didn't gravitate to Cody's CHR stunts, and the station moved in a different direction in 1998 while transiting to the 96.5 frequency. The station attracted fans with a playful attitude not typically heard on Hot AC radio at the time - including giving away a divorce on Independence Day (Reno is the divorce capital), conducting a displaced Bunny Ranch "working girls" job fair, hosting an Elaine Dance contest during the final episode of

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld ( ...

, looking for Nevada's best looking "Wookie" before the '' Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' premiere and bringing street side speed dating to Reno. It also played

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

songs that did not fit the

hot AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet s ...

format such as

Weezer Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Scott Shriner (bass guitar, keyboards, backing v ...

's ''

Troublemaker Troublemaker, The Troublemaker, Trouble Maker, or Trouble Makers may refer to: Film * Troublemaker Studios, a Texan film production company founded by Robert Rodriguez and Elizabeth Avellan * ''Trouble Makers'' (1917 film), a lost silent film dra ...

'' in the playlist despite being on the playlist of KRZQ-FM (now KRFN). When the pop/alternative format began to fade nationally, KLCA moved more toward a pure pop/hits approach leading to today's positioning statement: "#1 for Today's New Music." However,

Mediabase Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytic ...

moved KLCA to the

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

panel, adespite

KWYL KWYL (102.9 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to South Lake Tahoe, California, and serving the Reno metropolitan area. The station broadcasts in full 5.1 digital surround sound and has a Top 40 (CHR) radio format. It is owned by ...

continuing the

trend. The last official day for

Nielsen BDS Broadcast Data Systems (also known as BDS or Luminate BDS), is a service that tracks radio, television and internet airplay of songs. The service, which is a unit of MRC Data, is a contributing factor to North American charts published by co-owned ...

reports as a

hot adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

for the station was on July 19,

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. After that, the shift to

completed, overlapping slightly for a month with its sister station

, which became adult hits after this. Two months later, the

format resurfaced on

KMXW KMXW (92.5 FM), also known as "Max 92.5" is a radio station broadcasting a Top 40 (CHR) format. The station previously broadcast a country music format, and was known as "New Country 92.5" under the call letters KDAD. Before that, it was known a ...

, replacing

station KRZQ-FM.

Translators

On-air line-up

*Bill and Deanna host mornings *Amy Foxx hosts mid-days *Landon Miller hosts afternoons

Alice program directors

* Blaze launched the station at 100.9 * Bob Walker (currently the PD at

WCTK WCTK (98.1 FM, "Cat Country 98.1") is a country- formatted radio station serving Southern New England, with studios in Providence, Rhode Island, and transmitter in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The station is owned by Hall Communications. Histor ...

/Providence) was the 2nd PD and moved the station to 96.5 * Carlos Campos * Benjamin "Beej" Bretz * Bill Schulz (also current Americom/Reno Media Group Director of Operations)

References

External links