KNX-FM TO RETURN, IN A MELLOW MOOD

After nearly three years as a teen-oriented Top 40 station, KKHR-FM (93.1) takes a giant step backward Saturday by reverting to both its old format and call letters.

KNX-FM, whose soft-rock format was widely lamented when the station became KKHR in the summer of 1983, returns following a steady erosion of KKHR’s audience as measured by Arbitron Ratings Service during the past year.

The combination of pop album music, life-style reporting and calm, smooth-voiced deejays was aimed at an affluent “yuppie” audience throughout the decade that the KNX-FM “Mellow Rock” format operated over the CBS-owned station. With its abrupt shift to teen music, KKHR (for “Hit Radio”) showed an initial rise in listener ratings before it began a slow slide downward last year.

Station manager Robert Nelson attributed the format switch to continuous lobbying from former KNX-FM listeners, who never stopped calling and sending letters in an attempt to resurrect the soft-rock format.

KOST-FM (103.5), which has a love song/soft-rock format, filled some of the vacuum left when KNX-FM became KKHR. Once KNX ceased to be competition for the yuppie audience, KOST consistently placed among the 10 most-listened-to stations in Los Angeles, according to Arbitron.