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KHJ (930 kHz) 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 ...
AM
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 ...
to
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
. Owned and operated by
Relevant Radio Relevant Radio (corporate name Relevant Radio, Inc.) is a radio network in the United States, mainly broadcasting talk radio and religious programming involving the Catholic Church. It is the largest Catholic radio network by owned station base. R ...
, Inc., the station broadcasts
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
religious programming Religious broadcasting, sometimes referred to as faith-based broadcasts, is the dissemination of television and/or radio content that intentionally has religious ideas, religious experience, or religious practice as its core focus. In some coun ...
as an affiliate of the Relevant Radio network. KHJ broadcasts at 5,000
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 ...
s, with a non-directional signal by day but 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 performanc ...
at night to protect other stations on
930 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 930 kHz: As classified by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, 930 AM is a regional broadcast frequency. In A ...
. KHJ's
transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...
is triplexed to three of the six towers of KBLA (1580 AM), near the intersection of
Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in ...
and
Alvarado Street Alvarado Street is a north–south thoroughfare in Los Angeles, California in the United States. The street was named after California governor Juan Bautista Alvarado. Geography North of Glendale Boulevard, it starts off as a residential street ...
in the
Echo Park Echo Park is a neighborhood in the east-central region of Los Angeles, California. Located to the northwest of Downtown, it is bordered by Silver Lake to the west and Chinatown to the east. The culturally diverse neighborhood has become known f ...
neighborhood of Los Angeles. Radio station KYPA (1230 AM) also uses two of KBLA's towers for its signal. KHJ's former towers at the intersection of
Venice Boulevard Venice Boulevard is a major east–west thoroughfare in Los Angeles, running from the ocean in the Venice district, past the I-10 intersection, into downtown Los Angeles. It was originally known as West 16th Street under the Los Angeles numbered ...
and
Fairfax Avenue Fairfax Avenue is a street in the north central area of the city of Los Angeles, California. It runs from La Cienega Boulevard in Culver City at its southern end to Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood on its northern end. From La Cienega Boulevard (be ...
in Mid-City were removed in February 2013. KHJ was 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 "cont ...
station from 1965 to 1980. The station switched to a
country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
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 was compelle ...
in 1980 and back to pop music in 1983. In 1986, KHJ changed its
call letters 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 KRTH, adopting 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 w ...
format as a
sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
to KRTH-FM (101.1 FM). Three years later, the station was sold to
Liberman Broadcasting Estrella Media (formerly known as Liberman Broadcasting, Inc. from 1987 to October 14, 2019 and LBI Media, Inc. from October 15, 2019 until February 2, 2020) is an American media company based in Burbank, California, owned by private equity fi ...
who aired
Spanish-language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Am ...
formats from 1990 to 2014, using the call letters KKHJ until 2000, when it regained its original calls.


History


1920s and 1930s

Effective December 1, 1921, the U.S. government adopted regulations formally defining "broadcasting stations". The wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz) was designated for entertainment broadcasts, while 485 meters (619 kHz) was reserved for broadcasting official weather and other government reports."Miscellaneous: Amendments to Regulations"
''Radio Service Bulletin'', January 3, 1922, page 10.
KHJ was first licensed on March 18, 1922 to C. R. Kierulff & Company in Los Angeles, for operation on the 360 meter entertainment wavelength. The Kierulff company acted as contractors responsible for installing the station in the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'' building at First and Broadway, and in November the newspaper's owner, the
Times Mirror Company The Times Mirror Company was an American newspaper and print media publisher from 1884 until 2000. History It had its roots in the Mirror Printing and Binding House, a commercial printing company founded in 1873, and the ''Los Angeles Times'' ...
, became the official licensee. The KHJ call letters were randomly assigned from a roster of available call signs, although the station quickly adopted the slogan "Kindness, Happiness and Joy". Test transmissions began on April 8th. The station's formal debut broadcast was held on April 13th from 6:45 to 7:45 p.m., featuring, in the words of the newspaper, "the powerful baritone voice of Joseph Schwarz of the Chicago Grand Opera Company in the prologue from 'I Pagliacci', and a dulcet tonal treat by Edith Mason, diva of the same company, and flashing the news of the world to the Southwest". 1922 saw a rapid expansion in the number of broadcasting stations, most sharing the single entertainment wavelength of 360 meters, which required progressively more complicated time sharing schedules among stations in the same region. In September 1922 the Department of Commerce set aside a second entertainment wavelength, 400 meters (750 kHz) for "Class B" stations that had quality equipment and programming, and KHJ was assigned to this more exclusive wavelength, where it was later joined, on a timesharing basis, by
KFI KFI (640 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc. It began operations in 1922 and became one of the first high-powered, clear-channel station, clear-channel List of ...
. Along with the 400 meter authorization, KHJ was also authorized to broadcast on the 485 meter "market and weather reports" wavelength. In May 1923 additional "Class B" frequencies were made available, with Los Angeles allocated 640 and 760 kHz, and KHJ was assigned to 760 kHz, while KFI moved to 640 kHz. In early 1925, KHJ was assigned to 740 kHz. The
Federal Radio Commission The Federal Radio Commission (FRC) was a government agency that regulated United States radio communication from its creation in 1927 until 1934, when it was succeeded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FRC was established by t ...
(FRC) was formed in early 1927. That fall it moved KHJ to 720 kHz, and in early 1928 the station was reassigned to 750 kHz. On November 11, 1928, the FRC made a major reallocation under the provisions of its
General Order 40 The Federal Radio Commission's (FRC) General Order 40, dated August 30, 1928, described the standards for a sweeping reorganization of radio broadcasting in the United States. This order grouped the AM radio band transmitting frequencies into thre ...
, which moved KHJ to 900 kHz, a frequency designated for "regional" service, with 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 ...
s of power For a short time during the late 1920s and early 1930s KHJ was the Los Angeles affiliate and West Coast production hub of the fledgling
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
radio network, the originating station for Bing Crosby's first national network radio show in 1931. On April 29, 1934, the cartoon character
Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...
made his first appearance, on the ''California Melodies'' radio program of KHJ, a few days before he debuted in animated form in the ''
Silly Symphony ''Silly Symphony'' is an American animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the ''Silly Symphonies'' were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces ...
'' short ''
The Wise Little Hen ''The Wise Little Hen'' is a 1934 Walt Disney's ''Silly Symphony'' cartoon, based on the fable '' The Little Red Hen''. The cartoon features the debut of Donald Duck, dancing to the Sailor's Hornpipe. Donald and his friend Peter Pig try to avoi ...
''. CBS would eventually purchase a more-powerful West Coast flagship station, 50,000-watt KNX, and part company with KHJ. The station was purchased in the fall of 1927 by Don Lee, a local automobile dealer who also owned KFRC (610 AM) in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
and eventually accumulated 21 radio stations. In 1949, the broadcasting company, including KHJ, merged with RKO General. On December 18, 1934, KHJ was one of four stations granted permission to increase power to 5,000 watts. In 1941, a major reorganization of the AM band by the
Federal Communications Commission 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 jurisdicti ...
(FCC, successor to the FRC), due to the implementation of the
North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement 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 ...
, moved the station to 930 kHz, where it continues to operate. During Lee's ownership KHJ became the West Coast
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 ...
of the
Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. ra ...
, one of the "big four" radio networks (with CBS,
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
, and ABC) from the 1930s to the 1970s.
George Burns George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebr ...
,
Gracie Allen Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen (July 26, 1895 – August 27, 1964) was an American vaudevillian, singer, actress, and comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns, her straight man, ...
, and
Steve Allen Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television personality, radio personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-cre ...
appeared on KHJ, and at one point the station employed a 50-piece orchestra to accompany its musical guests. On a 1931 broadcast (a portion of which survives) KHJ introduced an up-and-coming singer,
Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
. Pat Weaver (president of NBC, creator of ''
The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It ...
'' and ''
The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...
'', and father of
Sigourney Weaver Susan Alexandra "Sigourney" Weaver (; born October 8, 1949) is an American actress. A figure in science fiction and popular culture, she has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Gramm ...
) was a KHJ announcer.


"Boss Radio"

In April 1965, programming consultant
Bill Drake Bill Drake (January 14, 1937 – November 29, 2008), born Philip Yarbrough, was an American radio programmer who co-developed the Boss Radio format with Gene Chenault via their company Drake-Chenault.Douglas, Susan, "Listening In: Radio and the ...
crafted KHJ's
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 "cont ...
format. Drake hired program director Ron Jacobs, who had created formats in Hawaii and California. The format, known as "
Boss Radio Boss Radio was the name of two radio programming formats, both launched in the early 1960s: One in the United States, and one in the United Kingdom. Although the names were the same, the formats were quite different. The word "boss" was early 196 ...
", featured a restricted playlist and restrained commentary by announcers (although a few, such as
Robert W. Morgan Robert Wilbur Morgan (July 23, 1937 – May 22, 1998) was an American radio personality best known for his work at several stations in Los Angeles, California, in particular KHJ-AM. Morgan also did morning drive at KMPC-AM, KIQQ-FM and KMG ...
,
Charlie Tuna Arthur W. Ferguson (April 18, 1944 – February 19, 2016), known professionally as Charlie Tuna, was a radio personality and television host based in Los Angeles, California. Career Radio At age 16, Tuna began working at his hometown's radio s ...
, Humble Harve Miller, and
The Real Don Steele Don Steele (born Donald Steele Revert; April 1, 1936 – August 5, 1997) was one of the most popular disc jockeys in the United States from the middle of the 1960s until his retirement (for health reasons) in May 1997. He was better known as ...
, were allowed to develop on-air personas). Other DJs from this era (1965–1980) included Roger Christian, Gary Mack,
Dave Diamond Sidney Ivan Davison Jr. (August 7, 1936 – May 5, 2014), known professionally as Dave Diamond, was an American radio DJ whose programs in the late 1960s and early 1970s helped popularise many psychedelic and acid rock bands. He was also an ac ...
,
Beau Weaver Beau Weaver (born January 19, 1952) is an American voice actor in television and film, heard widely in trailers for feature films, network television promos, documentaries, national radio and television commercials and cartoons. Career Weaver ...
, John Leader, Sam Riddle, Johnny Williams, Frank Terry, Johnny Mitchell, Tommy Vance, Scotty Brink, Steve Clark, Bobby Tripp, Tom Maule, and Bill Wade. One defining characteristic of Boss Radio was the
jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...
s by the
Johnny Mann Singers John Russell Mann (August 30, 1928June 18, 2014) was an American arranger, composer, conductor, entertainer, singer, and recording artist. Career Johnny Mann's began his music career in the late 1940s in his hometown of Baltimore before servin ...
. Drake's format spread throughout North America, bringing high ratings to KFRC in San Francisco,
WFIL WFIL (560 AM) is a radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, with a Christian radio format consisting of teaching and talk programs. Owned by Salem Media Group, studios and transmitter facilities are shared with co-owned W ...
in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
, KGB in
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 eighth most populous city in the United States ...
, WQXI in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...
,
WRKO WRKO (680 AM) is a commercial news/talk radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. Owned by iHeartMedia, WRKO is a Class B AM station that provides secondary coverage to portio ...
in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, and
CKLW CKLW (800 AM) is a commercial radio station in Windsor, Ontario, serving Southwestern Ontario and Metro Detroit. CKLW has a news/ talk format. It features local hosts in morning and afternoon drive times, with syndicated Canadian hosts ...
in
Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the southe ...
, Canada (serving
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
). Drake and his business partner Gene Chenault brought many of their announcers from the other Boss stations, using those stations as a
farm system In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...
to develop talent. KHJ's call-in request number used the Los Angeles
area code 213 Area codes 213 and 323 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of California. They are assigned to a numbering plan area (NPA) that comprises, roughly, the area of central Los Angeles, and includes ...
and a 520
exchange Exchange may refer to: Physics *Gas exchange is the movement of oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Places United States * Exchange, Indiana, an unincorporated community * ...
, followed by the current year. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the station competed with three other local stations with similar formats:
KFI KFI (640 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc. It began operations in 1922 and became one of the first high-powered, clear-channel station, clear-channel List of ...
,
KTNQ KTNQ (1020 AM) is a radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, with a Spanish News/ Talk format. It is owned by TelevisaUnivision. From its original licensing on March 13, 1925 until 1955 it was called KFVD. The station has studios on ...
, and
Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and
< ...
-based
border blaster A border blaster is a broadcast station that, though not licensed as an external service, is, in practice, used to target another country. The term "border blaster" is of North American origin, and usually associated with Mexican AM station ...
XETRA-AM XEWW-AM (690 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to the Tijuana/Rosarito area of Baja California, Mexico. Its studios and offices are located in Burbank, California, United States and it is leased by H&H USA. Transmitter XEWW is a ...
(The Mighty 690). KHJ also competed with three " soul radio" stations serving the Los Angeles radio market:
KDAY KDAY (93.5 FM, "93.5 KDAY") is a radio station that is licensed to Redondo Beach, California and serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Meruelo Media and airs a classic hip hop format. The station's studios are located in ...
, KGFJ, and, from
Rosarito Rosarito is a coastal city in Playas de Rosarito Municipality, Baja California, situated on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. As of 2010, the city had a population of 65,278. Located south of the US-Mexico border, Rosarito is a part of the greater ...
, Mexico,
XERB XERB-AM/XHRB-FM is a radio station in Mexico, broadcasting on 810 AM and 89.9 FM in Cozumel, Quintana Roo. History The first station to carry the XERB callsign was a border blaster on 1090 kHz in Rosarito Beach, Baja California, which was ...
. In mid-1970, a KHJ contest led to a fatality and a large legal judgment against RKO General. That summer, the station ran a series of contests known as the "Super Summer Spectacular". In the contests, the Real Don Steele drove a red car to a particular area and announcers encouraged listeners to find him with clues as to his whereabouts. The first person who found Steele and fulfilled a condition received a cash prize and was interviewed by Steele. The conditions varied, from answering a question to possessing certain items of clothing. An example of an on-air clue was: "The Real Don Steele is moving into Canoga Park — so be on the lookout for him. I'll tell you what will happen if you get to The Real Don Steele. He's got twenty-five dollars to give away if you can get it ... and baby, all signed and sealed and delivered and wrapped up."''Weirum v. RKO General, Inc.''
15 Cal.3d 40, 539 P.2d 36, 123 Cal. Rptr. 468 (1975). From
Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes ...
. Retrieved on August 4, 2012.
At the time, KHJ had the largest teenage audience in the Los Angeles area (48 percent, compared to its nearest competitor's 13 percent). On July 16, 1970, two teenagers, following Steele in separate cars, drove at speeds up to so they could be closest to him when the next clue was announced. One of the teenagers forced another motorist, 32-year-old Ronald Weirum, off the road; Weirum was killed when his car overturned. Weirum's wife and children filed a wrongful-death suit against both teenagers, the manufacturer of Weirum's car, and RKO General. One of the teenagers settled the case before the trial for the limits of his insurance policy. A jury found in favor of the car's manufacturer, but found both the second teenager and RKO General liable for the accident and awarded the plaintiffs $300,000 in damages. RKO General appealed to the California Supreme Court, which upheld the verdict in 1975. The higher court ruled that KHJ negligently created an undue risk to the public by causing a situation in which its listeners were encouraged to race on the roads, and that there was sufficient evidence for the jury to find that the contest's risk of harm to the public (including Weirum) was foreseeable.


End of an era

The format brought high ratings to the station until the late 1970s, when
FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...
became the dominant form of music broadcasting. In November 1980, during Bob Shannon's show, and after the song " Rock and Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life)" by
Mac Davis Morris Mac Davis (January 21, 1942 – September 29, 2020) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and actor. A native of Lubbock, Texas, he enjoyed success as a crossover artist, and during his early career he wrote for Elvis Presley, ...
was played, KHJ switched from top 40 to a
country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
format with the slogan "We all grew up to be cowboys". The change attempted to capitalize on the rise of pop-driven country, a trend driven in part by the film ''
Urban Cowboy ''Urban Cowboy'' is a 1980 American romantic Western film directed by James Bridges. The plot concerns the love-hate relationship between Buford Uan "Bud" Davis (John Travolta) and Sissy (Debra Winger). The film's success was credited for spur ...
'' which was released that year. However, that format lasted only three years. On April 1, 1983, KHJ switched to 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 w ...
format: "The Boss is Back", featuring the original Johnny Mann Singers' Boss Radio jingles. In 1984, KHJ launched "Car Radio 93", a top 40 variant targeted to commuters, featuring traffic reports every ten minutes. On the evening of January 31, 1986, "Car Radio" DJ Dave Sebastian Williams was joined in the studio by
Robert W. Morgan Robert Wilbur Morgan (July 23, 1937 – May 22, 1998) was an American radio personality best known for his work at several stations in Los Angeles, California, in particular KHJ-AM. Morgan also did morning drive at KMPC-AM, KIQQ-FM and KMG ...
. Participants in KHJ's Boss Radio heyday (DJs
M.G. Kelly Gary D. Sinclair (born 1952), known professionally as Michael Gary "M.G." Kelly and Machine Gun Kelly, is an American actor, disc jockey, and radio personality. In addition to hosting several radio programs over the years, Kelly has held severa ...
, Bobby Ocean, and Jimmy Rabbitt, and program director Ron Jacobs) phoned in for a farewell broadcast, playing the songs which had made KHJ a popular AM station in the 1960s and 1970s. The last song played on KHJ was "
Rock Around the Clock "Rock Around the Clock" is a rock and roll song in the 12-bar blues format written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers (the latter being under the pseudonym "Jimmy De Knight") in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was record ...
" by
Bill Haley & His Comets Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band founded in 1947 that continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group record ...
. On February 1, at Midnight, the station adopted new call letters KRTH to match those of its FM sister station and a format known as "Smokin' Oldies", featuring hits from the
rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm ...
era's first decade. The station used "AM 930" as its moniker. With the format change, RKO General dismissed about two dozen staff members from both stations.


Switch to Spanish and call-sign problem

RKO General had been under investigation by federal regulators since the 1960s for unethical conduct at its television stations, including KRTH's television sister
KHJ-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). Both stations share studios at the CBS S ...
. The company was eventually ruled an unfit broadcast licensee and was compelled by the FCC to sell its broadcast properties. In January 1989, RKO sold KRTH-AM-FM to Beasley Broadcasting for $86.6 million. That October, Beasley spun off the AM station to
Liberman Broadcasting Estrella Media (formerly known as Liberman Broadcasting, Inc. from 1987 to October 14, 2019 and LBI Media, Inc. from October 15, 2019 until February 2, 2020) is an American media company based in Burbank, California, owned by private equity fi ...
for $23 million; this transaction closed in March 1990. During this period, KRTH dropped the "Smokin' Oldies" format and
simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simul ...
ed KRTH-FM's broad-based oldies format. Upon closing, KRTH became a full-time
Spanish-language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Am ...
station broadcasting a
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 Mex ...
music format branded "Radio Alegria". Liberman changed the station's call letters to KKHJ in honor of its history as KHJ. From November 1997 to January 1999, KKHJ aired a Spanish
all-news All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news. All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news stations can run the ...
format, the only one of its kind in the United States. The station's ratings suffered, prompting a return to regional Mexican as "La Ranchera". Program director Alfredo Rodriguez and chief engineer Jerry Lewine wished to bring back the original KHJ call sign; however, the FCC stopped issuing three-letter call signs to radio stations in the 1930s. Rodriguez and Lewine conceived a plan to convince the FCC to change the station's call sign. Since the Spanish pronunciation of KKHJ's first two letters ("kah-kah") sounded like ''caca'' (slang for "
feces Feces ( or faeces), known colloquially and in slang as poo and poop, are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. Feces contain a rela ...
" in that language), the call letters were pronounced in English for a decade. This was awkward, so the station collected letters from listeners and lobbied the FCC to allow the station to drop one of its letters. The commission allowed the station to return to its original call, KHJ, on March 15, 2000. On August 21, 2007, the
Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League West, West division. Established in 1883 i ...
reached a deal with KHJ to broadcast the team's games in Spanish for the 2008 season, moving from
KWKW KWKW (1330 AM) is a commercial Spanish language radio station licensed to serve Los Angeles, California, featuring a sports format known as "Tu Liga Radio 1330". Owned by Lotus Communications, the station services Greater Los Angeles and mu ...
after 20 years there.


Switch to Catholic Radio format

On July 15, 2014, Liberman reached an agreement to sell KHJ to
IHR Educational Broadcasting IHR Educational Broadcasting dba Immaculate Heart Radio operates a network of radio stations in the Western United States, airing Roman Catholic religious programming. The network provides a 24-hour a day schedule consisting of call-in tal ...
for $9.75 million; the sale was consummated on November 6. At that time, KHJ began
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
-oriented
religious programming Religious broadcasting, sometimes referred to as faith-based broadcasts, is the dissemination of television and/or radio content that intentionally has religious ideas, religious experience, or religious practice as its core focus. In some coun ...
; the "La Ranchera" format moved to
KWIZ KWIZ (96.7 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Santa Ana, California, and broadcasting to the Los Angeles- Orange County area. KWIZ airs a Spanish Christian radio format branded as "Vision Latina 96.7 FM". It is currently owned by ...
(96.7 FM) in
Santa Ana, California Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the 13th-m ...
. The format change marked the station returning to English-language programming. KHJ switched to the
Relevant Radio Relevant Radio (corporate name Relevant Radio, Inc.) is a radio network in the United States, mainly broadcasting talk radio and religious programming involving the Catholic Church. It is the largest Catholic radio network by owned station base. R ...
branding when IHR Educational Broadcasting and Starboard Media Foundation consummated their merger on June 30, 2017. On May 2, 2018, the FCC granted Immaculate Heart Media's request to switch KHJ's license from
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 o ...
to commercial status.


Legacy

A
low-power FM Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a broadcast station at a low transmitter power output to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region. It is often distinguished from "micropower broadcasting" (more commonly " ...
(LPFM) station in
Madras, Oregon Madras ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Oregon, United States. Originally called "The Basin" after the circular valley the city is in, it is unclear whether Madras was named in 1903 for the cotton fabric called "Madras" ...
, KHJA-LP (102.1 FM), aired an oldies format as a tribute to the 1960s–1970s era KHJ and used the Los Angeles station's logo,
jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...
s, and "Boss Radio" slogans. (In 2008, it changed its call sign to KGBZ-LP and started re-broadcasting a Spanish Christian network called " Ondas de Vida" from California.) In 2016, a new LPFM in
Albany, Oregon Albany is the county seat of Linn County, Oregon, and is the eleventh largest city in that state. Albany is located in the Willamette Valley at the confluence of the Calapooia River and the Willamette River in both Linn and Benton counties, just ...
was issued the call sign KHJJ-LP on a frequency of 105.3 FM. It adopted the nickname KHJFM as a tribute to the original "93 KHJ" as programmed by Bill Drake. Los Angeles area "Boss Jocks" who worked at the original 93 KHJ are heard on this station. WKHJ (104.5 FM), a
hot adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...
station in
Mountain Lake Park, Maryland Mountain Lake Park is a town in Garrett County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 2,092. Donald W. Sincell is the current Mayor of Mountain Lake Park. Sincell was appointed to the position by the town counci ...
, has always used the "KHJ" nickname. In
Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...
,
New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
, Canada, country station
CKHJ CKHJ is a radio station in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, broadcasting at 1260 AM. The station broadcasts a country format under the ''Pure Country'' branding. The station is owned by Bell Media which also owns sister stations CFXY-FM and ...
used the moniker KHJ until 2019, when it rebranded as "Pure Country". The KKHJ call sign used during the 1990s by Liberman was assigned to an
FM station FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is capa ...
in
American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the Internatio ...
. That station broadcasts at 93.1 FM and uses the "93 KHJ" on-air name and jingles. An
aircheck In the radio industry, an aircheck is generally a demonstration recording, often intended to show off the talent of an announcer or programmer to a prospective employer, but mainly intended for legal archiving purposes. A ''scoped'' (short for "te ...
sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of ...
of an old KHJ jingle is heard at the beginning of "
AM Radio AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transmis ...
" by Everclear.
Harry Chapin Harold Forster Chapin (; December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer-songwriter, philanthropist, and hunger activist best known for his folk rock and pop rock songs. He achieved worldwide success in the 1970s. Chapin, a Grammy A ...
, on his ''
Greatest Stories Live ''Greatest Stories Live'' is a 1976 greatest hits live album by the American singer-songwriter Harry Chapin. It was recorded over three nights at three California venues in November 1975. Certain elements had to be re-recorded in the studio due t ...
'' album, refers to KHJ in " WOLD" ("I am the morning DJ at KHJ, playing all the hits for you, play them night and day") to the audience's delight; the song was probably recorded in a location served by KHJ. The 2019 film ''
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ''Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'' is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Produced by Columbia Pictures, Bona Film Group, Heyday Films, and Visiona Romantica and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is ...
'' features the Boss Radio era of KHJ. The movie and official
soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' ...
include airchecks of boss jocks Humble Harve and The Real Don Steele as well as original 93 KHJ jingles and advertisements.


References


External links

*
FCC History Cards for KHJ
(covering 1927-1980) *

''(one of the earliest known surviving sound checks of any radio station)''
Boss Radio ForeverInside Boss Radio
''(commercial)''
KHJA-LP in Madras, Oregon''93/KHJ Boss Radio: A Look Back''
A collection of promotional material from KHJ's Boss Radio years {{Coord, 34, 05, 08, N, 118, 15, 24, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title 1922 establishments in California HJ Mutual Broadcasting System Radio stations established in 1922 HJ Relevant Radio stations RKO General Radio stations licensed before 1923 and still broadcasting