KLAX-FM (97.9 FM) is an American commercial

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

located in

East Los Angeles, California East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010 United States Cen ...

, broadcasting to the

Greater Los Angeles area Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...

. KLAX-FM airs a

regional Mexican Regional Mexican is a Latin music radio format encompassing the musical genres from the different parts of rural Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Genres include banda, country en español, Duranguense, grupero, mariachi, New Mexico ...

music format branded as "La Raza". The station has studios in Los Angeles, and its transmitter is based in

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

History

KNOB

The station began broadcasting on April 22, 1949, holding the call sign KNOB.History Cards for KLAX-FM
fcc.gov. Retrieved June 1, 2019. It originally broadcast at 103.1 MHz and was licensed to

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

. On August 18, 1957, the station switched to an all

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

format, becoming the world's first all-jazz station. It was branded "The Jazz Knob". Its owner was Sleepy Stein, who was able to get permission from the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

for a power increase by switching the frequency to 97.9 in 1958.Los Angeles Times - The Daily Mirror
/ref> It broadcast from a studio at their transmitter site atop Signal Hill, near

Long Beach Airport Long Beach Airport is a public airport three miles northeast of downtown Long Beach, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is also called Daugherty Field, named after local aviator Earl Daugherty. The airport was an operating base ...

. The building and tower remain to this day, though the station has moved away to Flint Peak near

. The station's original high-power transmitter was a Western Electric 10 kW that had previously been installed at KNX-FM. In 1966, the station was sold to Jeanette Pennino Banoczi and husband Jack Banoczi, owners of the Pennino Music Company, for $262,850. KNOB's studios were moved to

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

. Later that year, the station switched to an all-request middle of the road (MOR) format, with ethnic programming on Sundays. KNOB would later air a

beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator mu ...

format.
Broadcasting Yearbook 1980
',

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...

, 1980. p. C-22. Retrieved June 3, 2019.Bornstein, Rollye.
Los Angeles Market Profile
, '' Billboard''. August 21, 1982. p. 20. Retrieved June 3, 2019. In the early 1980s, the station began airing a syndicated MOR format. In September 1985, it adopted a

soft adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet sto ...

"love songs" format branded "For Lovers Only".McDougal, Dennis.
Radio in the Afternoon
, ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. April 6, 1986. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1986
', Broadcasting/Cablecasting, 1986. p. B-30. Retrieved June 3, 2019.

KSKQ-FM

In 1988, KNOB was sold to

Spanish Broadcasting System Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. (SBS) is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States. SBS is also invested in television and internet properties, deriving the majority of its income from advertising through i ...

for $15 million and its call sign was changed to KSKQ-FM.Call Sign History
fcc.gov. Retrieved May 3, 2019. The station aired a

Spanish-language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

format.Format Changes
, ''The M Street Journal''. Vol. 9, No. 31. August 5, 1992. p. 1. Retrieved June 3, 2019.Simonett, Helena (2011).
Banda: Mexican Musical Life Across Borders
'.

Wesleyan University Press Wesleyan University Press is a university press that is part of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. The press is currently directed by Suzanna Tamminen, a published poet and essayist. History and overview Founded (in its present for ...

. 37. Retrieved June 3, 2019.

KLAX-FM

In 1992, under the direction of general manager Alfredo Rodriguez and consultant

Alfredo Alonso Alfredo Alonso is a retired Cuba-born media executive. He held senior management positions in Spanish-language media publishing, radio broadcasting, television production, corporate event management and restaurateur. He is known as an innovator of ...

, KSKQ-FM was turned into a

Banda music Banda is a genre of Regional Mexican music and type of ensemble in which wind (mostly brass) and percussion instruments are performed. The history of banda music in Mexico dates from the middle of the 19th century with the arrival of piston br ...

station, KLAX-FM, branded "La Equis".Puig, Claudia.
Latino Radio Surge: A Coming of Age: Ratings: The rise of KLAX-FM to top-dog status in the Arbitron rankings reflects the ascendance of an immigrant population
, ''

''. January 7, 1993. Retrieved June 3, 2019. In January 1993, KLAX-FM became the most-listened-to station in the market, the first Spanish-language station in Los Angeles to achieve this. In 1998, KLAX-FM moved its

city of license In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broa ...

from

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

East Los Angeles East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...

. In 2002, KLAX dropped the contemporary hits and went to a more focused regional format as "La Raza 97.9." In March 2017, KLAX began carrying the morning show hosted by Terry "El Terrible" Cortez, Kristel "La Kristy" Yañez, and Johnny "El Perro" Orta, of WLEY, "La Ley 107.9" in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

.SBS Syndicates El Terrible From Chicago To Los Angeles & San Francisco
, ''Radio Insight''. March 9, 2017. Retrieved June 3, 2019. The program also airs on

KRZZ KRZZ (93.3 FM) is a commercial radio station located in San Francisco, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KRZZ airs a regional Mexican music format branded as "La Raza". The station's studios are located in San Jose just ...

in San Francisco. Before joining KRZZ in 2014, Cortez and Yañez had been part of

Eddie "Piolín" Sotelo Eddie "Piolín" Sotelo, (born December 1, 1972) is a Mexican radio broadcaster. He is currently host of the nationally syndicated radio show ''El Show De Piolín'' on Entravision''.'' His nickname means "Tweety Bird" in Mexican Spanish, a nickname ...

's syndicated morning show for 12 years.

Immigration debate

Renán "El Cucuy" Almendárez Coello, the station's morning show host, helped coordinate a demonstration held on the streets of downtown Los Angeles on March 25, 2006.Watanabe, Teresa and Becerra, Hector. "The Immigration Debate." ''Los Angeles Times'' Mar 28 2006, page A1. The event drew an estimated 500,000 participants and was a springboard to further similar events held throughout the United States. The protesters marched in opposition to H.R. 4437, a proposal Congressional law that would theoretically make

illegal immigration Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...

to the U.S. more difficult. Coello received attention in various media following the original protests, including an appearance on

Tom Leykis Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

' English-language radio talk show.

References

External links

KLAX-FM official website
{{coord, 34.164, N, 118.196, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title LAX-FM Regional Mexican radio stations in the United States LAX-FM Spanish Broadcasting System radio stations Eastside Los Angeles Hispanic and Latino American culture in Los Angeles Mexican-American culture in Los Angeles Mass media in Los Angeles County, California Radio stations established in 1949 1949 establishments in California