SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Veteran broadcaster Robin Rothschild has already jumped into being a part of the South Lake Tahoe community and loves what she sees. Robin’s company, Rothschild Broadcasting LLC, recently purchased local radio stations KRLT-FM and KOWL-AM, and she’s been busy creating a new studio for the stations in the Swiss Chalet Village.
Robin has owned radio stations on the East Coast in Vermont, Delaware, and Maryland, and when the South Lake Tahoe stations came up for sale, she was immediately interested and started to make the deal come true.
The Washington, D.C. native lived in Manhattan, where she had a fitness business before heading to the airwaves. Her father was retired from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and she went to “hang out with him” in Ocean City, Maryland, after moving out of New York. It was there the possibility of owning a radio station came to fruition, and they rest they could say, is history.
Her life since Ocean City has been an alphabet soup of call letters, including WOCM, WVAY, WCTG, WKTT, WICO, and now she’s on the West Coast with KRLT and KOWL. All the stations she’s owned were in small markets and resort towns, so Lake Tahoe is right up her alley, or should we say she’s “dialed in?”
Robin was in South Lake Tahoe this week to oversee construction on the new studios. With her were longtime friends and broadcasters and program directors T.J. Allen and Bob Steele, who also happen to be very handy with remodeling tools.
“We’re getting ready to roll,” said Robin as things to take shape. “I’m getting excited with new programs.”
Longtime Lake Tahoe radio personality and comedian Howie Nave will be part of the new station, and his morning show returns. Howie jokingly said he came with the purchase of the station. Robin will also be behind the mic from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on weeknights once they go live.
“I appreciate how much Howie is involved in the community,” said Robin. They met months ago over lunch at Artemis, and she said she immediately knew she needed Howie on board.
She expects the stations to be ready to go in April. They will be concentrating on community, music, information, entertainment, and local events. The new station location overlooking Lake Tahoe Boulevard was chosen for its being in the middle of town.
“It will be a new station with a new format,” said Robin.
The format will be AAA, or adult album alternative. She developed AAA on the East Coast with friends long before it was popular, and now more stations have followed, especially after iHeart Radio was launched. AAA focuses on a broader range of music than traditional “hit radio” and caters to adults, often featuring both album tracks and singles from various genres like indie, alternative, folk, and Americana. Every station Robin has owned has been with an AAA format.
The public will soon be able to find both KRLT 93.9 FM and KOWL 1490 AM on the new format in about a month, but in the meantime, there is a music placeholder waiting for the new Rothschild Broadcasting to go live.
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