KSON (103.7 FM, "103-7 KSON") is a commercial radio station licensed to San Diego, California. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station broadcasts a country music format. The station's current call letters and programming originate from a sister station now known as KWFN. Following Entercom (now Audacy)'s merger with

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 ...

, the new sister stations swapped signals to improve KSON's reach following the divestment of its former simulcast partner on 92.1 FM. Prior to its current format, the station had aired beautiful music, top 40, various adult contemporary formats, and classic rock formats, as well as CBS Radio's ultimately unsuccessful hot talk format ''

Free FM Free FM was a short-lived, mostly-talk-radio format and brand name for eleven FM CBS Radio stations in the United States, and was created because of Howard Stern's departure to Sirius Satellite Radio in January 2006. Free FM was given its name ...

''. KSON broadcasts in the

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

format; its second subchannel features a legendary country format branded as ''Nashville Legends''.

History

Classical (1965-1971)

The station began broadcasting in February 1965 as KSDO-FM, and aired a

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

format.History Cards for KSON
fcc.gov. Retrieved May 27, 2019. It was co-owned with KSDO AM.

Country (1971-1977)

In spring 1971, the station adopted a country music format. On August 16, 1971, the station's call sign was changed to KOZN-FM, and it was branded "Your Country Cousin".Nashville Scene
, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''. September 11, 1971. p. 52. Retrieved May 27, 2019. The station was later branded "Z-104".News Notes
, ''

Radio & Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...

''. September 9, 1977. p. 42. Retrieved May 27, 2019.

Beautiful music (1977-1990)

On September 7, 1977, the station adopted a beautiful music format. On May 20, 1979, the call letters were changed to KJQY and the station was known as "K-Joy". In the late 1980s, KJQY and other Group W easy listening stations shifted to a format termed "adult spectrum radio".Ross, Sean.
Record Biz Fave Edged Out By AC K-Lite; Group W Easy Outlets Now ASR Stations
, ''

''. May 20, 1989. p. 10. Retrieved May 29, 2019. Instrumentals continued to make up a majority of the station's playlist, but it became more jazz oriented.

Adult contemporary (1990-1995)

In 1990, it shifted to a soft AC format. The station was branded "Sunny 103.7".

Classic rock (1995-2005)

On February 16, 1995, it became "Rock Mix 103.7", playing classic rock music. Its callsign was changed to KMKX the following month.Call Sign History
fcc.gov. Retrieved May 29, 2019. On July 5, 1996, the call letters changed to KPLN and the station was then known as "The Planet", continuing with a classic rock format.

Hot talk (2005-2007)

On October 25, 2005, the station changed formats from classic rock to an FM talk format with the brand "

", and their call letters changed on October 28 from KPLN to KSCF. In December 2005, Howard Stern left the terrestrial airwaves and moved to Sirius Satellite Radio. At the beginning,

Adam Carolla Adam Carolla (born May 27, 1964) is an American radio personality, comedian, actor and podcaster. He hosts '' The Adam Carolla Show'', a talk show distributed as a podcast which set the record as the "most downloaded podcast" as judged by ''Guin ...

was their morning show host. He started January 3, 2006, replacing Stern. On March 1, 2006,

The Phil Hendrie Show ''The World of Phil Hendrie'' is a comedy talk radio program. The show is syndicated throughout North America on Westwood One. It is known for outrageous guests, the majority of whom are fictional and voiced live by the host, Phil Hendrie. Though ...

was replaced by the Dick and Skibba Show, a local show formerly from sister 97.1 Free FM in Los Angeles. The show aired in the 7pm-10pm time slot, then the only live and local talk show in San Diego in the evening. As a result, this pushed Phil Hendrie to a later 10pm-1am time slot. Dick and Skibba were fired on February 14, 2007, according to program director Jim Daniels, the show was too

cerebral Cerebral may refer to: * Of or relating to the brain * Cerebrum, the largest and uppermost part of the brain * Cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the cerebrum * Retroflex consonant, also referred to as a cerebral consonant, a type of consonant so ...

for San Diego. On March 5, 2007, the Generation Y University Show replaced the Dick and Skibba show. The show was hosted by three 23-year-old men who were all Mt. Carmel High School alumni who grew up in Rancho Peñasquitos. The show had previously aired on Sunday afternoons from 5pm-7pm. The show was cancelled on April 25, 2007, and replaced by Generic Radio. At first, CBS Radio had high hopes for KSCF with extensive marketing aimed at attracting the adult male demos, but ever since they switched formats from KPLN to

, the station's ratings started to drop. In fall 2005, (when 103.7 became Free FM), ratings were at a 2.2 share, mainly due to Howard Stern being the morning show host. In the beginning of 2006, 103.7's ratings dropped in half to a rating of 1.1, due to a much less popular Adam Carolla morning show. The ratings would later slip in Summer 2006 to a rating of 1.0, and remained at 1.0 in the Fall 2006

In the end, the attempt to make Free FM a success in San Diego had proven to be too difficult and like other

sister stations in New York City (

WFNY WFNY (1440 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Gloversville, New York, United States. Programming primarily consists of what is known as a variety format, focusing on pop music from the 1950s to the 1980s, along with local weather fo ...

) and San Francisco ( KIFR), which returned to

active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

and classic hits respectively, KSCF decided to switch formats in June 2007. To add to the demise of the

family of stations, its sister station in Phoenix ( KZON) flipped to

Rhythmic Contemporary Rhythmic contemporary, also known as Rhythmic Top 40, Rhythmic CHR or rhythmic crossover, is a primarily American music-radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip hop and upbeat R&B hits. Rhythmic contemporary never uses ...

at the same exact time as KSCF's format switch.

Modern adult contemporary (2007-2012)

On June 22, 2007, at 3 p.m., KSCF flipped to Oldies as "K-Surf 103.7." The first song played was "

Surfin' U.S.A. "Surfin' U.S.A." is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys, credited to Chuck Berry and Brian Wilson. It is a rewritten version of Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen" set to new lyrics penned by Wilson and an uncredited Mike Love. The song w ...

" by The Beach Boys. They were supposed to be the market's first FM Oldies outlet since 2005, when XHOCL had the format prior to its flip to

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 ...

. The last song played in the short-lived oldies format was "Bobby's Girl" by

Marcie Blane Marcia Blank (born May 21, 1944),, known as Marcie Blane, is a former American pop singer from 1962 to 1965. Life and career Blane was born in Brooklyn, New York. As a favor to a friend, Blane recorded a demo for Seville Records. The song was ...

. Following "Bobby's Girl" at 5 p.m., the Oldies format turned out to be a stunt as the station revealed its true format, Modern AC, branded as “Sophie @ 103.7”, adapted slightly from sister station KLLC in San Francisco, which is known as ''Alice @ 97.3''. Its first song under this format was Jack Johnson's " Upside Down", followed by

Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...

's "

Thnks fr th Mmrs "Thnks fr th Mmrs" (a disemvoweling of "Thanks for the Memories") is a song by American rock band Fall Out Boy. The song debuted on radio on March 20, 2007, and was released on March 27 as the third single from their third studio album, ''Infini ...

Top 40 (2012-2017)

On March 29, 2012, CBS Radio announced that at 5 p.m. that day, it would flip KSCF to a CHR format with a heavy emphasis on upbeat Rhythmic, Dance and Pop hits targeting Teens and Adults 18–34 years old, as "Energy 103.7". In a statement made to radio industry website All Access, SVP/Market Manager Bob Bolinger noted that "Today's charts are dominated by energetic and upbeat Top 40 hits and the fans of this popular music are among the most engaged and digitally focused listeners. Using a powerful combination of over the air and online will produce a superior product and great results for brands that support the station." On April 2, KSCF changed its call letters to KEGY. On September 4, 2012, radio show host AJ Machado announced via AJ in the Morning's Facebook page that he would be joining KEGY in morning drive. AJ and his longtime producer, Hula, have been without a radio show home since leaving Star 94.1 in mid-July of the same year.

Country (2017-present)

On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom (which owns KBZT, KXSN and KSON). Prior to the completion of the transaction, both KEGY and KSON announced that they would be moving to different signals; the two stations ultimately swapped. Immediately after the deal closed on the 16th at 9:00 p.m. (which would be midnight on the 17th at Entercom's headquarters), Entercom moved the country format and KSON intellectual properties to 103.7; 97.3 then began stunting with a loop advising listeners of the swap, while KEGY's ''Energy'' programming was temporarily moved online-only over the weekend before re-launching there the following Monday. The callsigns were swapped on November 24, completing the move. KSON was home to one of the longest running award-winning shows. The "KSON Bluegrass Special" with Wayne Rice started on March 7, 1976, with the last show airing on September 13, 2020. For 44 years and more than 2,300 shows, San Diego bluegrass fans found a home on KSON as the station transitioned from AM to AM/FM to FM to streaming on radio.com from vinyl records to CDs to MP3s. At the same time the show was being cancelled, the International Bluegrass Music Association was presenting another award to long time DJ Wayne Rice.

HD Programming

KSON broadcasts using an HD Radio transmitter, the HD1 channel is the digitized standard signal as required by law, current other channels are as follows: *HD2: Nashville Legends

Previous HD channels

*HD2: ''Until the sale to Entercom'', a simulcast of

KROQ-FM KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The stat ...

in Pasadena *HD3: ''Until the sale to Entercom'', House of Sophie, a

dance hits Dance/Mix Show Airplay (formerly Hot Dance Airplay) is a monitored electronic dance music radio chart that is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. History The chart came about as a result of the small but influential impact of electronic d ...

format, later became ''Entercom Radio''

alternative music Alternative music may refer to the following types of music: *Alternative rock *Alternative pop *Alternative R&B *Neo soul, sometimes known as alternative soul *Alternative reggaeton *Alternative hip hop *Alternative dance *Alternative metal *Chris ...

after the format change and sale. HD3 channel is off air as of November 17, 2018

References

External links

* *
FCC History Cards for KSON
{{Entercom Country radio stations in the United States

SON A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...

Audacy, Inc. radio stations Radio stations established in 1965 1965 establishments in California