KMET: A BRAND NAME TOO GOOD TO LET DIE

KMET is back!

Don’t jump to any conclusions. The Wave(KTWV until recently known as rocker KMET) is still in business, though the station has cut back on its wacky “playlets,” reportedly because listeners thought they sounded too much like commercials.

But just weeks after the Mighty Met bit the dust, the legendary rock brand-name has surfaced again at KGUD-AM (1490), a tiny, 1,000-watt, Riverside-based station that officially adopted its new KMET call letters last week. “We’d had a nostalgia-style big-band format until mid-February, when we switched over to a more MOR, soft-pop sound,” explained Program Director Mike Allen.

“We wanted to go with a new set of call letters. But it seemed as if every other set of call letters had already been taken, so we saw KMET’s were available and we applied for them and got them.”

Allen said the new station specializes in such adult-pop fare as Air Supply, Billy Joel, America, Bruce Hornsby & the Range, Lionel Richie and Chicago.

Call it the Mellow Met.

“KMET really gives us a good set of call letters, even if we’re obviously not going after their old audience,” Allen said. “They were such an identifiable station--you know, a lot of people know their name--that we felt the letters would help put us on the map with the big ad agencies in L.A.”

According to Allen, virtually anyone could’ve picked up the call letters. “There’s not even really a fee or anything,” he said. “You just file an application with the FCC. Apparently, six other stations applied, and we got first shot because of our seniority.”

Allen admits KMET’s name identification will help the station. “I was thinking about doing a bumper-sticker promotion,” he said with a laugh. “And then I realized that we wouldn’t even have to give any away, ‘cause there’s so many KMET stickers out there already.”