KSON (103.7 FM, "103-7 KSON") 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 ...

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 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 List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Owned by

Audacy, Inc. Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corporation, it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning 235 radio stations across 48 media ...

, the station broadcasts 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. The station's current call letters and programming originate from a sister station now known as

KWFN KWFN (97.3 FM) – branded as 97.3 The Fan – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to serve San Diego, California. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station covers both the Greater San Diego market and the San Diego–Tijuana transborder aggl ...

. 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 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 ...

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 KSDO is a radio station in San Diego, California, broadcasts at 1130 KHz. The station is licensed for 10,000 watts of power from a directional antenna system, but has been operating since 2016 with 2,500 watts non-directional from a different site ...

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 Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...

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 Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

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 Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

oriented.

Adult contemporary (1990-1995)

In 1990, it shifted to a

soft AC 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 sto ...

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 Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

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 Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terre ...

left the terrestrial airwaves and moved to

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Sirius ...

. 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 Philip Stephen Hendrie (born September 1, 1952) is an American radio personality and actor. He is widely known for his voiceover talent throughout the radio and film industry. He came to prominence in the 1990s hosting ''The Phil Hendrie Show'', a ...

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 for

. On March 5, 2007, the Generation Y University Show replaced the

Dick and Skibba The Dangerous Dick and Skibba show was a radio program on KSON (FM), 103.7 Free FM in San Diego. The show aired from March 1, 2006 through February 14, 2007. Previously they had done past midnight shows on Saturday at 1am, additionally Sundays at 9p ...

show. The show was hosted by three 23-year-old men who were all Mt. Carmel High School

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

who grew up in

Rancho Peñasquitos Rancho or Ranchos may refer to: Settlements and communities *Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad *Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California **List of California Ranchos *Ranchos, Buenos Ai ...

. 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

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 Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March (Souther ...

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 New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

( WFNY) and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, 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 List of Ca ...

( 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 Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...

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

family of stations, its sister station in

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

(

KZON KZON (103.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Gilbert, Arizona, and broadcasting to the Phoenix metropolitan area. KZON airs a Rhythmic Hot AC radio format branded as "Hot 97.5/103.9" (simulcasting with KMVA 97.5 FM Dewey-Humboldt ...

) 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 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 ...

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 The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

. 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 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 s ...

, branded as “Sophie @ 103.7”, adapted slightly from sister station

KLLC KLLC (97.3 FM, Alice @ 97.3) is a commercial radio station located in San Francisco, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. Its transmitter is off Wolfback Ridge Road on Mount Beacon in the ...

, 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 Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corporation, it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning 235 radio stations across 48 media ...

(which owns

KBZT KBZT (94.9 FM, "Alt 94-9") is a commercial radio station licensed to San Diego, California. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station broadcasts an alternative rock format. Its studios are located in San Diego's Stonecrest area, and the transmitter is ...

KXSN KXSN (98.1 FM broadcasting, FM) is a Commercial broadcasting, commercial radio station in San Diego, California, branded as Sunny 98.1. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station airs a classic hits radio format. The studios and offices are located in Sa ...

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 Audacy, previously known as Radio.com, is a free broadcast and Internet radio platform owned by the namesake company Audacy, Inc. (formerly known as Entercom). The Audacy platform functions as a music recommender system and is the national umbr ...

from vinyl records to CDs to MP3s. At the same time the show was being cancelled, the

International Bluegrass Music Association The International Bluegrass Music Association, or IBMA, is a trade association to promote bluegrass music. Formed in 1985, IBMA established its first headquarters in Owensboro, Kentucky. In 1988 they announced plans to create the International ...

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