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W W W. D O W N T O W N N E W S . C O M
March 8, 2010
Volume 39, Number 10
SPRING PREVIEW
Bach to the Future How Downtown’s KUSC Became the Top-Ranked Public Radio Station in the Country by Ryan Vaillancourt
Urban Scrawl on red light cameras.
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Nelson Rising’s view of the economy.
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A century of Mikawaya’s mochi.
staff writer
T
he country’s top-rated public radio station isn’t known for in-depth news programming and it’s got little cachet in the department of gripping storytelling, à la Ira Glass. Its listeners will hear not a note of popular bands like Arcade Fire, Radiohead or, Beethoven forbid, Lady Gaga. At Downtown-based KUSC, it’s all classical, all the time. Though these days, the station has something else it could broadcast: the message “We’re number one.” According to the most recent Arbitron ratings, Classical KUSC 91.5, which broad-
casts from the 20th floor of the Manulife Plaza building at 515 S. Figueroa St., reaches more listeners than any other public radio outlet in the country. It edges out not just the local competition, but also NPR affiliates WNYC in New York and WQED in San Francisco. The station’s rise to the top charts back to February 2007, when its former competitor, the commercial station KMZT (known as K-Mozart), switched formats to country music. By spring 2008, KUSC notched the top ranking in Los Angeles for public stations, and one year later hit see KUSC, page 22
photo by Gary Leonard
Brenda Barnes, shown here with host Alan Chapman, has led Classical KUSC for 12 years. The station based in an office tower on Figueroa Street is the most listened to public radio outlet in the country, according to ratings service Arbitron.
From Linens to Lofts Justice on Fashion District Building Gets a Two Wheels $6 Million Transformation
Downtown Bike Messengers Step Up Against Cycle Thieves
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by Ryan Vaillancourt staff writer
T
here was the time a few months ago when a group of Downtown bike messengers detained some teens suspected of stealing a bike outside Macy’s Plaza until the cops showed up.
The return of muralist Kent Twitchell.
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Then, a few weeks later, some of the same hard-riding messengers, who make their living delivering legal documents to law offices and courts, took off from Downtown, out toward Mid-City after another suspected bike thief. That one got away. see Messengers, page 21
photo by Gary Leonard
Developer Jack Ravan spent $6 million turning a 1922 building at 308 E. Ninth St. into a 38-unit project. It opened in January.
What’s up on Spring Street?
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16 CALENDAR LISTINGS 24 MAP 25 CLASSIFIEDS
by Richard Guzmán city editor
I
f you are not specifically looking for it, it is easy to miss the entrance to the Emil Brown Lofts. The brown door almost blends in to the surrounding cityscape, the huge spools of fabric and other materials from adjacent businesses dominating the busy sidewalks of the Fashion District. Up until a few years ago, the edifice at 308 E. Ninth St., near Santee Street, was a clothing manufacturing facility feeding product to many of the stores below. Although the
façade has not changed much since then, the interior has been transformed into 38 lofts that are leasing quickly. After a Jan. 10 opening, 27 units have been reserved. “I think the product sells itself because it’s a true loft,” said Jack Ravan, president of the South Park Group, the developer of the project. “We’ve got the ceiling heights, the industrial feel; it’s a true loft versus a lot of the other projects that I think are more similar to an apartment.” Units in the $6 million project range from 750-1,700 square feet, see Lofts, page 23
photo by Gary Leonard
Mario Mejia (left) and Victor Lluville are fed up with rampant bicycle stealing. They are part of a group of bike messengers who have recently thwarted several attempted Downtown bike thefts. They asked that their faces not be shown.
RowanBottomPageLATimes_Layout 1 3/1/10 5:01 PM Page 1
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