KSUR (630

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...

) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

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 A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Monterey, California Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bo ...

. KSUR serves the

Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area and its major city at the south of the bay, San Jose. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by a ...

and Santa Cruz area. The station is owned by Mount Wilson Broadcasting and currently broadcasts an

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

. KSUR broadcasts at 1,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s, using a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates or receives greater power in specific directions allowing increased performance and reduced interference from unwanted sources. Directional antennas provide increased performance ...

to protect other stations on

630 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 630 kHz: 630 AM is a regional U.S. broadcast frequency. 630 kHz is a Philippine clear-channel frequency used by NTC. DZMM share Class A status at 630 kHz and being defunctional because of ...

from interference. In addition, it broadcasts on

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

K294CA at 106.7

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

History

In 1955, the station first

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...

as KXXL. It was owned by Pacific Ventures, Inc. The station was later owned by Robert Sherry and his wife Julie Conway. Sherry owned and managed the station until Walton Broadcasting bought it in the mid-1970s. Sherry had been an

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

staff announcer in New York. Conway was an entertainer who had a million-selling record, "

Jingle Jangle Jingle "Jingle Jangle Jingle", also known as 'I've Got Spurs That Jingle Jangle Jingle", is a song written by Joseph J. Lilley and Frank Loesser, and published in 1942.

." Walton, owner of several stations in the Southwest, brought Claude D. Barnett to Monterey. Walton had to surrender the license of KIKX,

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, to the FCC after his staff staged a phony kidnapping as a ratings stunt. For many years, KIDD offered an adult standards/MOR format, using the name "Magic 63". On April 7, 2009, the station shifted to an

playlist comprising a wide range of mid-1950s to 1970s pop songs. This was prompted by

KOMY KOMY (1340 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a news/talk format. Licensed to La Selva Beach ( Santa Cruz County), California, United States, the station serves the Monterey Bay Area. KOMY was originally licensed to nearby Watsonville for many ...

's dropping of the oldies format. The morning hours were hosted by Kevin Kahl, who had been an on-air voice for "Magic 63". Weekend host Ed Dickinson's long-running "Way Back Now" music-nostalgia program survived the format change for two additional years before being canceled in late May 2011. At the time of its shutdown in 2014, the station was carrying 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". ...

Network. Structural problems with the station's towers at Reservation Road and Seaside Court prompted owner

Buckley Broadcasting Buckley Broadcasting (or Buckley Radio) was an American broadcasting company that previously held radio stations in the states of New York, Rhode Island, California and Connecticut. History Buckley Broadcasting Radio was founded in 1954 as Buckl ...

to take KIDD silent on December 31, 2014. The towers, more than 50 years old and badly rusted, were dismantled. Buckley (already liquidating its other assets) put the license up for sale. In April 2015, KIDD was purchased by Saul Levine's Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters, owner of Monterey station KBOQ and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

stations

KKGO KKGO (105.1 FM, "Go Country 105") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Los Angeles, California, United States and serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters and airs a country music for ...

, KMZT, and KMZT-FM. Because the original tower site is now a protected wetlands, Levine erected a new transmitting facility in

Marina, California Marina is a city in Monterey County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,359, up from 19,718 in 2010. The city is located along the central coast of California, west of Salinas and northeast of Monterey. It ...

. The sale of KIDD was consummated on July 31, 2015, at a purchase price of $50,000. On October 23, 2015, KIDD returned to the air with 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. It is operating under FCC

special temporary authority Special Temporary Authority (STA) in U.S. broadcast law is a type of broadcast license which temporarily allows a broadcast station to operate outside of its normal technical or legal parameters. In the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) stat ...

at the KNRY tower, which is quite short for 630 kHz and nondirectional. At the previous site, KIDD was licensed with two directional patterns to protect 620 kHz in Hanford. It can't be permanently licensed as nondirectional. In November 2019, Levine donated KIDD to The Balanced Radio Foundation, a nonprofit broadcasting company incorporated October 7 in Foresthill, California, but the donation was never consummated. In April 2020, KIDD went silent.Six Stations Cease Operations This Week Due To Coronavirus Impacts
Radioinsight - April 19, 2020 On November 12, 2021, Mount Wilson FM changed the station

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

to KSUR and returned to the air in December 2021 with an oldies format.

Past personalities

KIDD's glory days were the 1960s and rose back to the top of the Arbitron ratings in the early 1980s with a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

format. KIDD remained a driving force in Monterey radio until 1985. In 1985, while facing strong competition from FM stations, under the direction of General Manager Claude D. Barnett, KIDD fired the entire air staff and joined a growing movement at the time in radio by switching to satellite programming. Many of the Central Coast's top personalities worked there, including Dave Andrews (the son of movie star Dana Andrews), Dave Bennett, Buck Buchanan, Byng Robbins, Phil Keller and Rob Mahr. Others appearing on KIDD include

Jack Paar Jack Harold Paar (May 1, 1918 – January 27, 2004) was an American talk show host, author, radio and television comedian, and film actor. He was the second host of ''The Tonight Show'' from 1957 to 1962. ''Time'' magazine's obituary of Paar repo ...

, Anthony Mafazolli, Jerry Teal, Ed Dickinson, Nick Souza, Sloan "Not So Loud the Neighbors Will Hear Us" Brown, Eileen Cashman, news stringer Jerry, Gene Rusco of KGO fame, and Rich Dixon who had a brief run at KGO in the late 1980s. Art Bell was on KIDD, when he lived in the Monterey area in the 1970s.

Sean "Hollywood" Hamilton Sean "Hollywood" Hamilton is an American radio personality. On November 8, 2019 he was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. He is the creator and host of the ''Weekend Top30 Countdown'' and the ''Remix Top30 Countdown'' heard in over 15 ...

also spent some time on KIDD before moving on to Z-100 in New York and

KIIS-FM KIIS-FM (102.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, United States, and broadcasts to the Greater Los Angeles area. The station airs a top 40 format. Owned by iHeartMedia, KIIS-FM is the origin of the conglomer ...

in Los Angeles.

References

External links

FCC History Cards for KSUR
{{Oldies Radio Stations in California SUR Radio stations established in 1955 1955 establishments in California Oldies radio stations in the United States