KVEC (920 AM) is a 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 ...

that is

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 ...

San Luis Obispo, California San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfwa ...

, United States and serves the

Central Coast of California The Central Coast is an area of California, roughly spanning the coastal region between Point Mugu and Monterey Bay. It lies northwest of Los Angeles County and south of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, and includes the rugged, undevelope ...

. The station is owned by

American General Media American General Media is a media company specializing in radio. It was founded by Lawrence Brandon and is operated by sons Anthony and Rogers. American General Media is headquartered in Bakersfield, California. Lawrence Brandon owned and op ...

and broadcasts a

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

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, ...

featuring a variety of nationally syndicated talk shows as well as a program hosted by Dave Congalton. KVEC is rebroadcast on FM

translator station 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 ...

K243CL on 96.5

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 ...

in San Luis Obispo.

History

KVEC first signed on in 1937 on the 1200

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 ...

frequency. The station originally was owned by Valley Electric Company (hence its

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 ...

), headed by Christina M. Jacobson. In March 1941, under the terms of the

NARBA The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA, es, Convenio Regional Norteamericano de Radiodifusión) refers to a series of international treaties that defined technical standards for AM band (mediumwave) radio stations. These agreem ...

Havana Treaty, KVEC was relocated to 1230 kHz. The station changed frequencies once more in 1946 to 920 kHz. In April 1956, Jacobson sold KVEC and its television sister station KVEC-TV (channel 6) to The Valley Enterprises Company for $450,000. The media company, headed by John C. Cohan, was the owner of KSBW-AM- TV in

Salinas, California Salinas (; Spanish for "Salt Marsh or Salt Flats") is a city in California and the county seat of Monterey County. With a population of 163,542 in the 2020 Census, Salinas is the most populous city in Monterey County. Salinas is an urban area lo ...

. Cohan took sole ownership of KVEC and its TV counterpart, then known as KSBY-TV, the following year. In November 1965, Cohen sold KVEC and its three-year-old FM sister station (now

KZOZ KZOZ (93.3 FM) is a commercial radio station that is licensed to and serves San Luis Obispo, California. The station is owned by American General Media and broadcasts a classic rock format. History The station's first license was granted in 1962 ...

) to West Coast Broadcasters Inc., majority owned by James L. Sephier, for $360,000. On January 6, 1975, West Coast Broadcasters sold KVEC to Century Broadcasting Company for $500,000. The 1980s and 1990s saw KVEC face a series of financial troubles and ownership changes. In 1985, Five Cities Broadcasting Inc. purchased the station from the Century Broadcasting Company Liquidating Trust for $500,000 and paired it with KPGA (95.3 FM). However, the following year, Five Cities defaulted on a loan, leading to the involuntary transfer of both stations' licenses to U.S. Media Company. In August 1989, U.S. Media sold

-formatted KVEC to Chorro Communications Inc. for $300,000; KPGA was divested separately a month later. In September 1991, Richard Mason sold his 70% stake in Chorro Communications to partner Francis Sheahan for $353,900, granting the latter full control of KVEC. Portions of the proceeds were used to settle a debt owed to Mason and to pay taxes owed to the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

. In November 2000,

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

purchased KVEC from Chorro for $950,000 as part of a nationwide station buying spree. In July 2007, the station was among 16 Clear Channel outlets in California and Arizona that were sold to El Dorado Broadcasters for $40 million. In early 2016, El Dorado began selling off its Central Coast stations. These divestitures included KVEC, sold to

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

-based

for $450,000 that May.

References

External links

* * * {{News/Talk Radio Stations in California

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Mass media in San Luis Obispo County, California Radio stations established in 1937 1937 establishments in California