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KRDC (1110 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to
Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...
, serving Greater Los Angeles as a full-time simulcast of
ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...
affiliate KSPN. The station is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company and is the only remaining radio property to be owned by the conglomerate under the
ABC, Inc. This is a list of assets currently or formerly owned by the Walt Disney Company, unless otherwise indicated. Corporate Walt Disney Studios Live-action production Animated production Disney Studio Services Disney Theatrica ...
subsidiary. KRDC was broadcast in the HD (hybrid) format until late 2014 when all
Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within the Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...
affiliates were sold except for the Los Angeles station which returned to analog transmissions. KRDC is still licensed for digital ( HD) operation. For 18 years, AM 1110 was the
flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyalt ...
for Radio Disney, carrying the main service from 2003 to 2017 as KDIS, then Radio Disney Country from 2017 to its late 2020 shutdown as KRDC; since then, KRDC has simulcast KSPN (a former sister station until it was sold to Good Karma Brands). 1110 AM is a United States clear-channel frequency; to protect KFAB in Omaha, Nebraska, KRDC reduces power to 20,000 watts and switches to a directional signal at night.


History

The station initially signed on as KPAS in 1942, a station featuring popular music. J. Frank Burke (Publisher-Editor) had owned the Santa Ana Register, buying in 1927, selling in 1935, and was the original KPAS licensee. Loyal Kletzein King (Business Manager) was J. Frank Burke's accountant and married to his daughter, Mary Burke King (Associate Editor). J. Frank Burke sold to William Dumm in 1945, who sold to Loyal King two years later. J. Frank Burke owned both KFVD and KPAS, and the FCC later gave notice to dispose of one of the stations. The ''Lamplighter Jazz Sessions'' were KPAS half-hour broadcasts from late in 1944 to early 1947, sponsored by the Coast Guard and was hosted by jazz writer Ted Yerxa, Lamplighter columnist for '' The Los Angeles Daily News''. In 1945 it took the call sign KXLA, becoming one of the earliest full-time country music stations. On-air personalities included Jim Hawthorne, Bob Wills, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and
Stan Freberg Stan Freberg (born Stanley Friberg; August 7, 1926 – April 7, 2015) was an American actor, author, comedian, musician, radio personality, puppeteer and advertising creative director. His best-known works include " St. George and the Dragonet ...
. The station originally broadcast from its
El Monte El Monte (Spanish for "the Mountain", also in archaic Spanish for "the wood") may refer to: * El Monte, California, United States, a city * El Monte, Chile, a city {{geodis ...
transmitter site, near Santa Anita Avenue and the Pomona Freeway, in the vicinity of the Peck Road exit.


KRLA (1959–2000)

The station became KRLA, "The Big 11-10", on September 1, 1959, and quickly became one of the top radio stations in the Los Angeles area. The on-air personalities included Dave Hull (The Hullabalooer),
Emperor Bob Hudson An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...
,
Ted Quillin Theodore Quillin (born February 17, 1930, in Oklahoma City – April 20, 2011) was an American radio personality who worked at pioneering Top 40 station KFWB. He was one of the original "Seven Swingin' Gentlemen" who brought rock and roll i ...
, Rebel Foster, Jimmy Rabbitt, Casey Kasem, Bob Eubanks, Dick Biondi, Sam Riddle, Dick Moreland, Jimmy O'Neill, Wink Martindale,
Johnny Hayes John Joseph Hayes (April 10, 1886 – August 25, 1965) was an American athlete, a member of the Irish American Athletic Club, and winner of the marathon race at the 1908 Summer Olympics. Hayes' Olympic victory contributed to the early growt ...
and
Sie Holliday Sie Holliday (pronounced "sigh holiday") was the radio name of Shirley Schneider (November 10, 1930 – June 23, 2006). She was a Los Angeles radio personality at KRLA 1962–76 (where she was one of the narrators of the Pop Chronicles) and KMPC 1 ...
. In 1968, Lew Irwin became news director in order to create The Credibility Gap, which broadcast topical comedy along with the news. In 1969, John Gilliland debuted the Pop Chronicles music documentary. KHJ (AM) countered with "The History of Rock and Roll," a 48-hour “rockumentary” that chronicled the evolution of Rock and Roll, on Friday February 21, 1969 at 12 noon, the beginning of a
Washington’s Birthday Presidents' Day, also called Washington's Birthday at the federal governmental level, is a holiday in the United States celebrated on the third Monday of February to honor all persons who served as presidents of the United States and, since 187 ...
holiday weekend. The 1969 film '' The Model Shop'' features a radio newscast by Ralph Thompson, KRLA. During the 1960s, the KRLA studio was in an old carriage house just off the parking lot of the old Huntington Sheraton Hotel on Oak Knoll Drive in Pasadena, making it possible to drop by and watch the on-air DJ do his show, those who did were called "porch people" by the staff. When Dave Hull was fired, "Porch people" and other listeners staged a sit-in. When the station switched to oldies, KRLA was noted for its prominence in Southern California Chicano culture. One of the highlights of this station was the ''Big 11 Countdown Show'' hosted by Johnny Hayes, with stories and facts about the songs and the artists, as well as the historical events that were going on at that time. The show also included a trivia question that Hayes asked for people to call in with their answer in order to win a prize. Each day's show counted down the top 11 songs from that date in a previous year as well as a few extras. In 1962, the Federal Communications Commission deleted KRLA's license for airing fraudulent contests. Monterey International Pop Festival was broadcast live on KRLA from the Monterey Fairgrounds.
Art Laboe Art Laboe (born Arthur Egnoian; August 7, 1925 – October 7, 2022) was an American disc jockey, songwriter, record producer, and radio station owner. He was generally credited with coining the term "Oldies but Goodies". Early life and educatio ...
co-owned KRLA with Bob Hope in the 1970s. The station evolved to an adult contemporary format by 1982, and focused on oldies by 1983. They dropped current music in 1984, electing to play the oldies of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. By 1994, KRLA leaned towards an urban oldies format. On February 25, 1997,
CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...
announced that it would trade WMMR in Philadelphia, and WOAZ and WBOS in Boston to Greater Media in exchange for KRLA and sister station KLSX, as part of its acquisition of Infinity Broadcasting Corporation. The swap was completed on August 22. At Noon on November 30, 1998, KRLA abandoned music entirely and went all talk. As a talk radio station, KRLA featured many cast-offs from KABC, such as Michael Jackson and Ken Minyard, as well as Don Imus, Dr. Toni Grant, G. Gordon Liddy, Ron Barr's '' Sports Byline USA'', and Ed Tyll. The station also aired play-by-play of the
Kings Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...
and Angels.


KSPN (2000–2002)

In 2000, Infinity sold KRLA (alongside KRAK in Sacramento) to the
Burbank Burbank may refer to: Places Australia * Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane United States * Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County * Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place * Burbank, Illinois, ...
-based Walt Disney Company due to ownership limits. On December 1, the station became the
ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...
outlet for the Los Angeles market (as KSPN). Disney completed the acquisition on March 1, 2001.


KDIS (2003–2017)

AM 710 and 1110 swapped formats on January 1, 2003, with the sports format moving to 710, and Radio Disney moving to 1110 (a change made reportedly because the 1110 signal could not be heard in Orange County at night, when most Anaheim Angels games are played). In May 2014, Mediabase moved KDIS to the Top 40/CHR panel, although Radio Disney was still considered a children's station. On August 13, 2014, it was revealed that all of Radio Disney's remaining stations, excluding KDIS, were to be sold in an effort to focus more on digital distribution of the Radio Disney network. KDIS was retained to serve as the originator of Radio Disney's programming, and its operations were assumed by the network's national staff.


KRDC (2017–Present)

On June 9, 2017, KDIS changed call letters to KRDC and flipped to a country format as "Radio Disney Country", becoming the first terrestrial radio station carrying the formerly online-only platform. KRDC also added a translator, 99.1 K256CX, which broadcasts from KRDC's transmitter in Irwindale. The children's radio/contemporary hit radio hybrid continued in the market on KRTH's HD2 subchannel until Entercom's deal with Radio Disney expired at the end of May 2018. On December 3, 2020, Disney announced that Radio Disney and Radio Disney Country will be shut down in the first quarter of 2021. As part of the process, KRDC will be put up for sale. Radio Disney Country ceased operations at noon on December 31, 2020 with the station switching back to the main Radio Disney feed until its shutdown; while the network was slated to shut down in the first quarter of 2021, the station's AM feed continued to play an automated playlist of songs from throughout Radio Disney’s history until April 14, 2021. The final song broadcast was Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten". The station’s feed was previously available on iHeartRadio until it was removed sometime in March 2021. Following the end of the Radio Disney feed, KRDC simulcasts KSPN, the
ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...
affiliate for Los Angeles, pending a station sale. KRDC also serves as an overflow station for several sports teams in the Los Angeles area. The station airs
Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...
broadcasts in the event that KSPN airs a
Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...
game and
Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club, commonly referred to as LAFC, is an American professional Association football team based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The club ...
matches when KSPN airs the Lakers, Rams, or Angels. The station formerly aired
Anaheim Ducks The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California. The Ducks compete in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division, and play their home games at Honda Center. ...
games in the event that KLAA broadcast a Los Angeles Angels game until the end of the
2021–22 NHL season The 2021–22 NHL season was the 105th season of operation (104th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league expanded to 32 teams with the addition of the Seattle Kraken. The league had an October-to-April regular season sche ...
; the following season, Ducks radio broadcasts moved to Ducks Stream, an online station available via TuneIn.


Transmitter

In 1987, KRLA moved its transmitter site from South El Monte to Irwindale, where a similar antenna array was installed. During the 1990s, KRLA was authorized to increase nighttime power from 10,000 to 20,000 watts. When the power increase went into effect, KRLA started broadcasting from the new transmitter site in Irwindale. This is a few miles north of the old El Monte site. The El Monte transmitter building still stands as a shell. The entire inside is burned out; however, there are still clues to its historic past, namely the first incarnation of its directional antenna arrays (four in-line 135-degree towers, one days, four nights), the second incarnation (four 135-degree towers in a parallelogram, days and a 90-, two 135-, and a 180-degree towers, nights), and the last incarnation, with seven total towers, four days and four nights, with one tower in common, days and nights). There are numerous ducts to keep the equipment cool and an underground channel to divert the cooling water for the transmitters. A well nearby supplied the water. Still visible is the wooden archway where the transmission cables gently bent toward underground conduits running to the transmission towers in the nearby field. All that remains of these towers are the concrete pylons, all aligned as described. The present Irwindale site includes five 135-degree towers, two days and four nights, with one in common. The significantly northern location, relative to the old El Monte site, allows the large "
Inland Empire The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the cities o ...
" to be served with 50,000 watts and only two towers, ''not'' four, days, and the greater Los Angeles metro to be served with 20,000 watts and four towers, nights.


K256CX

K256CX is a broadcast translator licensed to Pasadena. The transmitter is located in Irwindale. The station went on the air June 9, 2017, and rebroadcasts KRDC on 99.1 MHz.


History

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted an original construction permit on December 6, 2013, to build an FM translator (K293BZ, now K256CX) licensed in Beaumont, California, and located in the 106.5 MHz frequency, which would rebroadcast KWVE-FM in San Clemente. On October 18, 2016, KDIS's licensee ABC Radio Los Angeles Assets agreed to acquire from the Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa the permit with the intention to rebroadcast the AM station for $45,000. On November 8, the FCC, as part of the AM revitalization program, granted a modification to move the transmitter location to Irwindale (although the translator will maintain Beaumont as its license city) and change the frequency to 99.1. The transaction was closed on February 7, 2017. Following the launch of K256CX and KDIS' switch to Radio Disney Country as KRDC on June 9, 2017, Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters, owner of existing country music station KKGO, said in a statement welcoming the station that the translator would mainly cover the
San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley ( es, Valle de San Gabriel) is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, lying immediately to the east of the eastern city limits of the city of Los Angeles, and occupying the vast majority of the eastern part ...
and that the FCC had also authorized another station on the 99.1 FM frequency in Long Beach.


References


External links


FCC History Cards for KRDC
* *
The "KRLA Beat" website, one of America's earliest rock-n-roll newspapers
* * {{Sports Radio Stations in California RDC (AM) Disney radio stations ESPN Radio stations Radio stations established in 1942 1942 establishments in California