Los Angeles’ 95.5 KLOS Relaunches as a Yacht Rock station

Listeners who tuned in to 95.5 KLOS in Los Angeles on April 1 may have noticed a change of format on it's airwaves, in the form of Yacht Rock.

In a clear April Fools Day public relations stunt, the longtime Classic Rock station brought their listeners a switch of format. In coordinance with the event, listeners are being offered the chance to purchase commemorative KLOS Yacht Rock t-shirts to highlight the event.

KLOS' April 1 broadcast day began as usual, with their syndicated Heidi & Frank morning show, before throwing listeners a curveball, deviating away from their typical Rock n Roll format and instead treating their listeners with music from the likes of Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers, Ambrosia, Christopher Cross, Kenny Loggins, TOTO, and all the mainstays of Yacht Rock radio channels.

The format switch has stirred a frenzy of sorts on social media, especially on Facebook's Yacht Rock group, where anonymous comments such as "Welcome Back to the Airwaves, Yacht Rock" and " Thank you, Yacht Rock for coming back!! PLEASE STAY!!!" can be seen.

However not everyone is fooled, as other anonymous comments such as "I'm sure an April Fool's prank on their part" and "it's an April Fools joke", are followed by another commenter who remembers similar PR stunts in years past between several Los Angeles area radio stations "My favorite was when KROQ and KWPR changed formats for the AM and DJs". Facebook's Yacht Rock group has amassed over 160,000 followers and is the largest Yacht Rock related page on all social media platforms.

SiriusXM, which offers listeners a seasonal Yacht Rock Radio channel, 311, earlier this week announed that starting April 1, Yacht Rock Radio would be moving up to channel 15 for the season.

SiriusXM's Yacht Rock Radio proves to be a popular station with listeners, most recently causing a buzz by expanding programming with their launch of Yacht Soul, a secondary Yacht Rock channel which primarily focuses on the music of artists such as Al Jarreau and George Benson. Last year SiriusXM launched another Yacht Rock related segment called Club Yacht Rock, which aired through the Summer. Club Yacht Rock is also slated to return within the upcoming Summer months.