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Free FM was a format and brand name for elevenFMCBS Radio stations in theUnited States, and was created because ofHoward Stern's departure toSirius Satellite Radio in January 2006. Free FM was given its name to highlight that its stations broadcastfree-to-air, instead of requiring asubscription fee like satellite radio services. Launched on October 25, 2005, Free FM was phased out over the course of 2007, with the final station using it,KLSX, dropping the brand in November 2008.
Free FM stations targeted a largelymale demographic ranking from 18 to 49, attracting those who normally listen to FMrock andalternative stations, instead of existingAMtalk radio listeners. Programs were moreribald than AM talk stations and include more discussion of dating, personal relationships, more comedy, and more discussion of celebrities and entertainment. Some Free FM stations also included music programs.[1] Most Free FM programs were generally of thehot talk format.
OneCanadian radio station,CFRI-FM inGrande Prairie,Alberta, used to use the Free FM brand name before flipping to '2DayFM', although its ownership and format are unrelated to the American stations.
On October 25, 2005, Infinity Broadcasting (now CBS Radio) officially announced that it would be replacingHoward Stern on many of its radio stations withDavid Lee Roth inNew York City and several other eastern markets,Rover's Morning Glory with Shane "Rover" French in the midwest, andAdam Carolla inLos Angeles and several other western markets, along with already established DC-based morning showThe Junkies onWJFK-FM in D.C. andWHFS-FM in Baltimore. On the same day, several of these Infinity/CBS radio stations became known as "Free FM"; some of the stations already had an all-talk format, while others switched from a music format, andWXRKNew York announced that it would become "Free FM" starting January 3, 2006.
In addition to the morning shows, Free FM also announced at this time the creation ofPenn Radio, an hourlong radio show hosted from Las Vegas by illusionistPenn Jillette and co-hosted byMichael Goudeau, juggler at the Lance Burton Show. Other programming syndicated to a large number of Free FM stations included programming already in syndication at the time:TheDon and Mike Show,The Tom Leykis Show, andLoveline. All three programs were being aired onWestwood One, at the time a corporate sister to CBS Radio.
On March 2, 2007,Penn Radio, hosted byPenn Jillette, aired its last show.
In April 2006 rumors were reported that Roth's show would be dumped due to lowratings (The ratings for Roth's show inmorning drive went down eighty percent compared to Howard Stern's ratings in the same slot a year prior) and would be replaced byXM'sOpie and Anthony. The move markedOpie andAnthony's return to the New Yorkterrestrial radio scene and to CBS Radio; their show was canceled by CBS/Infinity in 2002 when they were syndicated through sister stationWNEW-FM due to a broadcast of the "Sex For Sam III" skit fromSt. Patrick's Cathedral, New York that generated much controversy.
The move was confirmed by Opie and Anthony on their show and website on Friday, April 21. As of that date, David Lee Roth's web site, david.freefm.com, had disappeared along with any mention of him on the Free FM local affiliates. On Monday, April 24, aFlash presentation presented on the Free FM local affiliates alluded to a debut time of 9 a.m. that day for the announcement of the return of the Opie and Anthony show. The show debuted on the former David Lee Roth affiliates on April 26.
In addition to the departure of Roth,Rover's Morning Glory was removed from the Free FM stations—including what was his newly assigned flagshipWCKG/Chicago, andWKRK/Detroit; both instances due to very low ratings. Following the WCKG cancellation, Rover returned toCleveland, Ohio on his previous flagship, WXRK—which becameWKRK-FM—and a handful of remaining affiliates.
Most of Rover's affiliates were on stations spun off by CBS Radio to different companies includingWMFS/Memphis,WAQZ/Cincinnati andWZNE/Rochester, which went to Entercom; andWAZU/Columbus, which went to Wilks Broadcast Group. WAZU becamecountry-formattedWNNK in January 2007, while WAQZ flipped to alternative rock asWSWD on a different frequency in November 2006; WMFS became anESPN Radio affiliate in 2009.Rover's Morning Glory moved to rival stationWMMS in 2008, thereby ending the CBS radio relationship altogether.
Now owned byStephens Media Group, WZNE continued to air the show[2] until November 2020.[3]
With the lack of success that Free FM produced, CBS slowly phased out the homogenized Free FM brand. No new "Free FM" branded stations were launched since the network was created (althoughKCKC in Kansas City and KDJM (nowKKSE-FM) in Denver were reportedly close to flipping to it before Free FM's demise), and newhot talk stations were branded in other ways: for instance, WTZN (nowKDKA-FM) inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania was launched as a hot talk station in April 2007 as "The Zone" instead of Free FM, and even that station has since changed formats twice, first toTop 40/CHR and then tosports radio.
In addition, all of the original Free FM stations eventually removed their "Free FM" branding, and have since changed formats altogether.
As of June 2007, CBS Radio has all but completely dropped the title of "Free FM" as a format and has instead replaced it with the more generic "FM Talk." New domain names without the "Free FM" are now in use for several of the "Free FM" stations.[4] By October 1, 2007, only one Free FM station remained: KLSX. In 2008, KLSX dropped the "Free FM" moniker and was simply referred to as "The FM Talk Station".
When KLSX switchedformat completely away from talk in February 2009, nearly all currently running shows were canceled, includingThe Adam Carolla Show which was the last program specifically created for Free FM to be discontinued, due to KLSX being itsflagship station. The cancellation was a result of KLSX's shift tocontemporary hit radio "AMP Radio" at that time. Two weeks later,Opie and Anthony were axed from terrestrial radio after WXRK changed formats, again to contemporary hit radio. The last hot-talk station in CBS's portfolio, WJFK-FM, abandoned the format forsports radio in July 2009, resulting in the cancellation of theMike O'Meara Show, which was syndicated to many hot talk and Free FM stations.
CBS Radio's corporate successorEntercom introduced a hot talk-oriented format onKEGY San Diego (which, upon the completion of the merger in November 2017, had moved its long-time country format asKSON to the former KSCF in exchange for then-currentEnergy format), branded asThe Machine, in March 2018. The station featured hot talk programming during its weekday lineup, but broadcastclassic rock interspersed with comedy bits at all other times, along withSan Diego Padres baseball.[5][6] The format, however, was short-lived; a promotional campaign for KEGY's Kevin Klein morning show (which invited listeners to "Jump ... to a new morning show", over a photo of theSan Diego–Coronado Bridge) attracted criticism for glorifyingsuicide by bridge jumping, while Padres executiveRon Fowler expressed concerns over being associated with the station's content. KEGY transitioned to a conventional sports talk format asThe Fan on April 12, 2018.[7][8]