KLVJ (102.1
FM, "K-Love" is a
non-commercial educational
A non-commercial educational station (NCE station) is a radio station or television station that does not accept on-air advertisements (TV ads or radio ads), as defined in the United States by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and was or ...
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 ...
licensed to
Encinitas, California
Encinitas (Spanish language, Spanish for "Small Oaks") is a beach city in the North County (San Diego area), North County area of San Diego County, California. Located within Southern California, it is approximately north of San Diego, between ...
and serving
San Diego County
San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...
. The station is owned by
Educational Media Foundation
Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville.
EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest ...
and broadcasts a
contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...
format as an affiliate of the
K-Love network. KLVJ (then KPRI)'s studios were previously located in the
Sorrento Valley
Sorrento Valley is a neighborhood of San Diego, California. It is located about 17 mi (27 km) north of Downtown San Diego and its main airport, Lindbergh Field. It is roughly bounded by Interstate 5 and Interstate 805, Camino Santa Fe t ...
district in north San Diego. Prior to 2015, the station, holding the KPRI call letters, was locally owned by Compass Radio Group and broadcast an
adult album alternative
Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...
format. On September 28, it was announced that Compass sold KPRI to EMF; the station began carrying K-Love programming the same day.
History
The station was first licensed to
Oceanside, California
Oceanside is a city on the South Coast (California), South Coast of California, located in San Diego County, California, San Diego County. The city had a population of 167,086 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The city is a popular ...
as KXST; the city of license later changed to Encinitas.
KPRI - 'Capri-by-the-Sea'
When it first went on the air in the 1950s at 106.5 FM, the station billed itself as "KPRI: Capri-by-the-Sea", a
middle of the road and jazz station with studios on 5th Avenue in San Diego. This early version of KPRI featured popular DJs like Rod Page and George Manning. KPRI continued with its MOR format, supplemented by a
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
show hosted by pioneering underground disc jockey Steve Brown (under the name "OB Jetty"). Finally, in May 1968, KPRI switched to a full-time progressive rock format. The lineup included Gabriel Wisdom, Fred Nurk, Dana Jones, and Joe Chandler. Peter Franklin (with British accent) was an early program director. Later additions to the air staff included Jerry Lubin, Adrian Bolt, The Kapusta Kid, Barrance Q Zakar, and Larry Himmel. Jim Lanter (known on-air as "Jim LaFawn") was the program director from 1971 to 1973; he later worked at
KLOS Klos or KLOS may refer to:
*Klos (surname)
*Klos, Dibër, a town in eastern Albania
** Harketari Klos KF, a defunct football club based in Klos, Dibër
*Klos, Elbasan, a village in central Albania
* Klos, Mallakastër, a village in south-central Alb ...
in Los Angeles. In the early 1970s, Gerry Gazlay was the station's news director. Larry Shushan owned the station until 1971, when he sold it to Southwestern Broadcasting.
In 1973, KPRI hired Michael Harrison as PD. He installed a more mainstream
album oriented rock
Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock.
Album-oriente ...
format which influenced many other stations around the country. That same year, Gazley left KPRI to become a newscaster for competitor KGB-AM-
FM; Gabriel Wisdom, Larry Himmel, and Barrance Q Zakar eventually followed him. KPRI and KGB-FM and battled for ratings supremacy throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s. Ultimately, KPRI lost the ratings war to KGB-FM.
KPRI - 'Independent Radio'
On January 9, 1984, KPRI changed its call letters and format. The last song that the station played as KPRI was "
The End
The End may refer to:
Films
* ''The End'' (1953 film), a film by Christopher Maclaine
* ''The End'' (1978 film), a comedy by Burt Reynolds
* ''The End'' (1997 film), a Canadian film of 1997
* ''The End'' (1998 film), a skateboarding document ...
" by
the Doors
The Doors were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential ro ...
. Since then, the 106.5 FM frequency undergone several identity changes. According to David Tanny, operator of ''San Diego Radio News'': "The KPRI that is back is basically the station that used to be KCBQ-FM ten years ago on
105.3 until it shifted radio transmitter locations from San Diego to Oceanside's 102.1 in a complex deal swap. In 2002, the station at 102.1 picked up the KPRI call sign when that became available. It was KXST from 1996 to 2002 between those times". While operating as KXST, the station called itself "Sets-102" and its programming featured sets of two or more songs by the same artist.
That format was dropped with the switch to the KPRI call letters in 2002.
KPRI's transmission emitted a city-grade signal that covered most of San Diego County, but due to the topography of the county, there were certain areas the station served better than others. San Diego's affluent North County Coastal areas received the signal without interruption, while areas in main San Diego such as Pacific Beach or La Jolla had degraded "in home" reception due to interference caused by
Mount Soledad
Mount Soledad, also known as Soledad Mountain, is a prominent landmark in the city of San Diego, California, United States. The mountaintop is the site of the Mount Soledad Cross, the subject of a 25-year controversy over the involvement of reli ...
. Previous ownership had set up rebroadcasters scattered across
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
to improve transmission of the station, but because those created as many problems as they solved, KPRI stopped using some of them in 1997. On February 13,
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
, KPRI moved its transmitter to
Mount Soledad
Mount Soledad, also known as Soledad Mountain, is a prominent landmark in the city of San Diego, California, United States. The mountaintop is the site of the Mount Soledad Cross, the subject of a 25-year controversy over the involvement of reli ...
. In 2014, the owners turned down an $8 million offer to sell the station.
From 1998 through 2015, the station operated under an
adult album alternative
Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...
(AAA) format. Believed the only AAA station in San Diego, and one of the few stations offering the format across the entire state, KPRI became known for its eclectic playlist. KPRI held various listener appreciation concerts, hosting artists such as
Adele
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a reco ...
,
Ed Sheeran
Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...
,
Imagine Dragons
Imagine Dragons is an American pop rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, consisting of lead singer Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee and drummer Daniel Platzman. The band first gained exposure with the release of their sing ...
, and
Norah Jones
Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and as of 2012, has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. ''Billboard'' named her the ...
, as well as sponsoring the Green Flash concert series, held at the
Birch Aquarium
Birch Aquarium at Scripps (sometimes referred to as Scripps Aquarium or Birch Aquarium) is an aquarium and the public outreach center for Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Accredited by the Association ...
.
[
]
KLVJ - 'K-LOVE'
On the morning of September 28, 2015, KPRI's 20 employees were told that they had been laid off, and that the station had been sold to the Educational Media Foundation
Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville.
EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest ...
. At 5PM, after playing Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
's " Forever Young" as its final song, KPRI flipped to contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...
from EMF's K-Love network. Owner Hughes explained that KPRI had been a "true labor of love". He stated, "I thank each and every one who has helped us create and sustain a truly amazing radio station."[ Hughes had noted that the independent ownership had made KPRI difficult to operate profitably, as other stations in the market are owned by conglomerates in clusters of multiple stations each, and enjoy financial synergies as a result of their scale.][
The sale to EMF, reportedly valued at $12 million, was subject to approval by the ]FCC
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 jurisdictio ...
, and was consummated on January 15, 2016. KPRI is EMF's third and largest station in the greater San Diego area, behind KKLJ Julian (which also airs K-Love) and KYDO
KYDO (96.1 FM, "Air 1") is a radio station licensed to Campo, California, and broadcasting to the San Diego radio market. The station has a main transmitter site near Lake Morena, just west of Campo. The station also uses KYDO-FM1, a 700 watt ...
Campo (which airs sister network Air1
Air1 is an American Christian radio network. Owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), it primarily broadcasts contemporary worship music, and is a sister to the EMF's K-Love network.
History
In 1986, KLRD began broadcasting Christia ...
).[
On October 27, 2015, KPRI changed callsigns to KLVJ.
]
References
External links
{{coord, 32.840, N, 117.249, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title
Radio stations established in 1962
LVJ (FM)
K-Love radio stations
LVJ (FM)
1962 establishments in California
Educational Media Foundation radio stations