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Mike at Franklin Avenue records the abrupt change this morning from country music to Top 40 — with Rick Dees as the morning guy on "Movin 93.9." How abrupt? KZLA, the last country music station on the Los Angeles airwaves, played Keith Urban's "Tonight I Wanna Cry" at 10:18, then came back with the Black Eyed Peas' "Let's Get It Started" at 10:25. Two songs later, the country listeners got Pink.
The format change probably makes sense for KZLA owner Emmis Communications. Emmis also owns hip-hop Power 106 (which once was a dance station, so it knows the format) -- and selling Power 106 and Movin 93.9 as a package is probably more attractive to advertisers than trying to sell a hip-hop station and a country station in the same breath. But there still won't be overlap -- top 40 KZLA will attract older women (think 25-54), while Power hits the younger teen and 18-34 crowd, so the stations won't cannibalize each other.The station's chief competition will be Clear Channel's KBIG 104.3, which has evolved to become a more dance-leaning adult contemporary station.