Radio Exitos 93.9 (KXOS)

KXOS (93.9 FM, Exitos 93.9) is a Spanish AC station serving Los Angeles and the surrounding area. The station is owned by Emmis Communications and operated by Radio Centro, which owns several stations in Mexico.



MOViN 93.9The Movin' 93.9 LogoOn August 17, 2006 at 10:20 a.m. Pacific time, KZLA's format was changed to rhythmic adult contemporary music. After the station played "Tonight I Wanna Cry" by Keith Urban to end the old format, KZLA played "Let's Get It Started" by the Black Eyed Peas to start the new one. The first DJ to be "let go" was the very popular Brian Douglas who did evenings for four years. Soon after that, the station's demise was well under way with others losing their positions as well.

They were also the second station in the United States to adopt the "Movin'" concept, the first being KQMV/Seattle, Washington. KQMV is not owned by Emmis; however they did acquire the rights to use the moniker from consultant Alan Burns, who helped launched KQMV's format. Burns also teamed up with fellow consultant Guy Zapoleon (whose partnership with Burns dates back to the launch of KHMX/Houston in 1991) on the new upstart.

Jimmy Steal, Emmis' vice president of programming, cited declining ratings of the country format as well as an opportunity to increase overall station and corporate revenue.

For a time, KZLA continued online, but the stream was later dropped. The FM station changed its call letters to KMVN on September 1, 2006. Tilden moved to KABC, where he worked until being laid off in cost-cutting moves in 2008. Other personalities moved to KKGO. Garner's show, which was flagshipped at KZLA, moved to Clear Channel Communications but does not have a Los Angeles affiliate.

On the heels of launching KMVN, Emmis also signed legendary entertainment personality Rick Dees to host the morning drivetime show. Dees was host at another area station, KIIS-FM, from 1983 to 2004. Dees returned to the airwaves on September 25 and also picked up his "Rick Dees' Weekly Top 40" program on Sunday mornings, which started October 1. KMVN aired Weekly Top 40 with most of the non-Rhythmic hits (mostly Rock/Pop) edited from the show because of KMVN's format. The morning show, Rick Dees in the Morning, aired from 5-10am and featured Patti "Long Legs" Lopez and Mark Wong. Over the course of a few months, the station began adding more staffers to its lineup, with Tera Bonilla doing middays, Mario Fuentes hired for afternoons, and Nena handling nights and weekends. In addition, DJ Enrie and DJ Rawn (both from KPWR) and DJ Icy Ice (a veteran of KKBT and KDAY) became the station's mixers, as KMVN started adding mixshows to its lineup, which aired weekdays at noon and 5PM, and on Fridays ("Fiesta Mix") and Saturdays ("Movin' Party Mix", hosted by Clarence Barnes) from 7pm to 12 Midnight.

The station had failed to bring in more than half of the audience it did as a country music station according to Radio and Records. After being stuck below a 1.0% share in the first two rating periods, KMVN finally recovered in the Spring 2007 arbitrons when it started to show its first increase to a 1.2% share. With KBIG's decision to shift to a regular Adult Top 40 direction in September 2007, KMVN was hoping to inherit its rival's displaced listeners, who had grown accustomed to hearing the Rhythmic fare that KBIG used to play.

By October 2007 KMVN began to phase out most of its currents and '90s product, along with the mix shows, in an effort to improve the ratings, which had not been spectacular. They also changed their slogan to "The '70s and '80s Mix That Makes You Move," to identify with its gold-based direction. The changes had yet to translate into ratings. In the May 2008 Arbitrends, KMVN was in 34th place with a 0.8% audience share. By Summer 2008 KMVN began adding Classic and Dance-friendly Modern/New Wave hits from the 1980s to its musical mix but continued to stay within the Rhythmic Gold realm.

KMVN had been in competition with KHHT "Hot 92.3", which began shifting from Urban AC to a Rhythmic AC approach in early 2008 in an effort to counter KMVN, whose format targeted the same Black/Hispanic audience as KHHT.