The Los Angeles area has lost its last country music station as KZLA changes its format after 25 years to a pop format that will feature R&B and dance tunes.

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KZLA had billed itself as "America's most listened-to country station," but it nevertheless gave up on a market where more country music is sold than anywhere else in the country, the Los Angeles Times said Sunday.

The change occurred on the same night that singers Faith Hill and Tim McGraw opened the first of their three sold-out shows at the downtown Staples Center.

The Burbank station's shift is apparently a national trend. Over the past decade, the Times said, country fans have lost their stations in coastal areas, such as New York, San Francisco and a half dozen other markets.

Station executives say radio audiences are a dying breed due to iPods and satellite broadcasters, and they must be willing to adjust their formats to attract coveted listeners.

Country music listening nationwide has remained steady for almost a decade, according to the radio-ratings agency Arbitron.