KWKW (1330 AM) is a commercial

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

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 to serve

Los Angeles, California 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' ...

, featuring a

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

known as "Tu Liga Radio 1330". Owned by

Lotus Communications Lotus Communications Corporation is a media company that owns numerous radio stations and a few TV stations, and is one of the largest privately owned radio station groups in the United States. Headquarters are located in Los Angeles, and the comp ...

, the station services

Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...

and much of surrounding

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

, and since September 2019 has been the Los Angeles affiliate for

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...

TUDN Radio TUDN Radio (formerly Univision Deportes Radio) is a U.S. Spanish-language sports radio network operated by Uforia Audio Network, a division of TelevisaUnivision. It launched on March 15, 2017 on ten AM and FM radio stations, most of which previ ...

. Having adopted the current sports format on October 1, 2005, KWKW is the Spanish language flagship station for multiple Los Angeles

professional sports In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larg ...

franchises including the

Rams In engineering, RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and safety)Lakers,

Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

, Kings,

Angels In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles incl ...

and the

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pl ...

. KWKW itself is Southern California's oldest Spanish language radio station, having begun operations in 1941 at and licensed to

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

and transferring to —also based in Pasadena—in 1950. KWKW's programming and

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 ...

moved to from in 1989 following Lotus' acquisition of the former and sale of the latter. Historically, this station is perhaps best known as KFAC, one of the most visible commercial

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

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 ...

stations in the United States, and one of the first to have adopted the format on a full-time basis. For all but the final two years of their tenure with the format, KFAC boasted an airstaff with unprecedented stability and continuity including announcers Carl Princi and Fred Crane, and possessed the largest classical

music library A music library contains music-related materials for patron use. Collections may also include non-print materials, such as digitized music scores or audio recordings. Use of such materials may be limited to specific patron groups, especially in ...

of its kind west of the Mississippi. By the time of their sales and format changes in 1989, KFAC and FM adjunct KFAC-FM (92.3) were two of only 41 stations—out of 9,000 commercial U.S. radio stations in operation—that played classical music, with ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' eulogizing KFAC as "a staple of Los Angeles's cultural life for 58 years". Launched by the antecedent of

Biola University Biola University () is a private, nondenominational, evangelical Christian university in La Mirada, California. It was founded in 1908 as the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. It has over 150 programs of study in nine schools offering bachelor's ...

in 1922, the current KWKW license also holds a distinction of being the oldest surviving radio station in the United States to have been built and signed on by a religious institution. Since 2003, the studios for KWKW have been located in the Los Angeles

Hollywood Hills The Hollywood Hills are a residential neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Geography The Hollywood Hills straddle the Cahuenga Pass within the Santa Monica Mountains. The neighborhood touches Studio City, Univer ...

neighborhood, while the station

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

is located in the nearby Crenshaw District, shared with KABC () and KFOX (). In addition to a standard

analog transmission Analog transmission is a transmission method of conveying information using a continuous signal which varies in amplitude, phase, or some other property in proportion to that information. It could be the transfer of an analog signal, using an an ...

, KWKW's programming is streamed online and relayed over both low-power FM

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

K264CQ () and full-power Pomona station

KTMZ KTMZ (1220 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pomona, California. Owned by Lotus Communications, KTMZ operates as a simulcast of Los Angeles-licensed KWKW, carrying that station's Spanish-language sports format as an affiliate of TUDN ...

().

History

KJS and KTBI

The

Bible Institute of Los Angeles Biola University () is a private, nondenominational, evangelical Christian university in La Mirada, California. It was founded in 1908 as the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. It has over 150 programs of study in nine schools offering bachelor's ...

signed on station KJS on March 22, 1922, operating from their headquarters at Sixth and Hope Streets. Standing for "King Jesus Saves", KJS was the second religious broadcast station to have been established in the United States, four months after the Church of the Covenant established WDM in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and four months before John Wanamaker launched

WOO Woo, WoO, WOO, W.O.O. and variants may refer to: People Woo or Wu, romanization of several East Asian names: * Hu (surname): 胡, 瓠, 護, 戶, 扈, 虎, 呼, 忽, 斛 * Wu (surname): 吳, 伍, 武, 仵, 烏, 鄔, 巫 * Ng (name): 吳, 伍 * ...

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. Sinc ...

. Not long after going on air, a 1,000-watt transmitter was scheduled to be put into service in October. As KJS was one of fourteen radio stations in operation in the region, a complex time-share arrangement between all stations to operate at was established with preference given to KHJ, itself recently established by 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 Un ...

''. Consequently, KJS only operated for one hour on Sunday mornings, 45 minutes on Sunday evenings and 30 minutes on Wednesday nights at launch. Programming primarily consisted of church services, including from the institute's affiliated

Church of the Open Door Built in 1914, the 4000-seat Church of the Open Door was conceived by R. A. Torrey who had come to Los Angeles to start a Bible institute (now known as Biola University) similar to Moody Bible Institute. The church was to be strictly non-denominat ...

, though programs from other churches were also featured along with live musical offerings. Charles E. Fuller, who would later become board chairman of the Bible Institute and host of ''The Old Fashioned Revival Hour'', began his radio career at KJS in 1924. In August 1925, the station changed its call letters to KTBI to identify the station with The Bible Institute. KTBI's program director in 1927, Herbert G. Tovey, also conducted the institute's women's glee club; the Bible Institute offered a range of music courses to its students. Programming continued to feature the Church of the Open Door, as well as devotionals and a "Jewish Radio Hour", in addition to a daily children's program, ''Aunt Martha's Children's Hour''. The station broadcast on a variety of frequencies—including , (sharing time with KHJ), and —before receiving the assignment in

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 ...

reallocation. KTBI moved to new studios in June 1928 alongside a power increase to . General Order 40 paired the station with another religious outlet: KGEF, the station of controversial evangelist Robert P. Shuler and his Trinity Methodist Church. KTBI operated on a noncommercial basis. As a result, when the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

hit and donations fell, the station became unsustainable for the institute to operate. While oil magnate Lyman Stewart helped found and finance construction of the institute, he failed to endow it prior to his death, exacerbating their financial crisis. Additionally, 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) informed the institute that it preferred religious programs be broadcast over commercially operated stations. In 1931, the Bible Institute sold KTBI for $37,500 (equivalent to $ in ) to the Los Angeles Broadcasting Company, and following a brief period of silence for technical repairs relaunched as a commercial outlet on April 30 under the KFAC call sign; the KFAC calls had themselves previously been used between 1922 and 1923 on a short-lived station in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...

, owned by the ''Glendale Daily Press''. Along with the sale, the institute continued to have several programs broadcast over the new KFAC and the time share with KGEF was to be maintained. A very visible reminder of KJS/KTBI's past existence would soon be constructed by the Bible Institute: two large red "Jesus Saves" neon signs on top of their headquarters next to the former transmission tower. Removed after the building's 1988 demolition, the sign was purchased by

Gene Scott William Eugene Scott (August 14, 1929 – February 21, 2005) was an American minister and teacher who served for almost 50 years as a pastor and broadcaster in Los Angeles, California. He pastored the Faith Center and Wescott Christian Center ...

and placed on the United Artists Theatre in Los Angeles' downtown (renamed "University Cathedral") and later were moved to Glendale along with the ministry's headquarters. A replica sign exists at the current Biola University campus in

La Mirada La Mirada ( Spanish for "The Look") is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, California United States, and is one of the Gateway Cities. The population was 48,527 at the 2010 census, up from 46,783 at the 2000 census. The La Mirada Theatre ...

KFAC

Move to Wilshire

The Los Angeles Broadcasting Company was headed up by Errett Lobban Cord, a manufacturer best known for the Auburn and

Cord Cord or CORD may refer to: People * Alex Cord (1933–2021), American actor and writer * Chris Cord (born 1940), American racing driver * Errett Lobban Cord (1894–1974) American industrialist * Ronnie Cord (1943–1986), Brazilian singer * Co ...

automobile lines, and by O.R. "Ollie" Fuller, a

dairy farmer Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history that ...

who owned the Los Angeles dealership for Auburn-Cord, Fuller Motors; accordingly, KFAC stood for "Fuller-Auburn-Cord". Cord and Fuller also had purchased KFVD in Culver City, based at Hal Roach Studios; both they and KFAC would remain at their original sites until both relocated to the Fuller Motors dealership in

Wilshire Center Wilshire Center is a neighborhood in the Wilshire region of Los Angeles, California. Geography The name "Wilshire Center" is a relatively modern moniker that refers to much of the eastern portion of the Wilshire Community Plan area (CPA), ge ...

, directly adjacent to the Wilshire Community Church. KFAC broadcast a live three-hour program on April 12, 1932, to celebrate the grand opening of the new studios, with on-air talent from competing stations as special guests. As the studios were located in the dealership's fifth floor

penthouse Penthouse most often refers to: *Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building *Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine *Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...

, large radio towers were erected on the roof but were purely for display and advertisement purposes as KFAC's actual transmitter site was moved to Los Angeles' Crestview neighborhood. O.R. Fuller and his company went bankrupt prior to completion of the studios in 1932, prompting Cord to acquire KFAC and KFVD outright. In the wake of the

Lindbergh kidnapping On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. (born June 22, 1930), the 20-month-old son of aviators Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was abducted from his crib in the upper floor of the Lindberghs' home, Highfields, in East Am ...

, the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

and ''

'' ran stories on March 21, 1934, regarding a kidnapping threat made against E.L. Cord's children. Borgeson, pp. 174. In response, Cord secretly fled with his immediate family to the United Kingdom, the news of his fleeing would not be made known until a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' story that May 30, when a company associate only would say that Cord "would remain away for an indefinite period". The full reason for this sudden action was never truly disclosed. KFVD would be spun off to Standard Broadcasting Co. for $50,000 on July 15, 1936, and moved out of the dealership two years later. Cord divested his automotive holdings, which were merged into the

Aviation Corporation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes airplane, fixed-wing and helicopter, rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as aerostat, lighter- ...

in 1933, to separate interests in 1937 for $2.5 million. Starting in 1932, KFAC began broadcasting unlimited time through a series of authorizations under special temporary authority; this arrangement became permanent in January 1933 when the FRC deleted KGEF's license over Shuler's controversial views following a series of failed appeals. This would soon extend to 24-hour broadcasting for KFAC starting on March 8, 1935, joining KGFJ, which broadcast around the clock starting in 1927; both stations preceded WNEW 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 ...

, which started unlimited broadcasting that August 6. Between 1933 and 1935, the ''

Los Angeles Herald-Express The ''Los Angeles Herald-Express'' was one of Los Angeles' oldest newspapers, formed after a combination of the '' Los Angeles Herald'' and the '' Los Angeles Express''. After a 1962 combination with Hearst Corporation's ''Los Angeles Examiner ...

'' was affiliated with KFAC, though it held no ownership interest; the alliance ended when the newspaper bought KTM in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

and KELW of Burbank. The station was almost forced to share its frequency again when, in January 1936, a

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 jurisdiction ...

(FCC) hearing examiner approved an application by Los Angeles city councilmember and real estate operator Will H. Kindig for a new shared-time station with KFAC (which would have been renewed for half-time only), saying the proposed Kindig station would increase media diversity in Los Angeles; the FCC broadcast division, however, reversed the examiner's ruling that July. When the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) was enacted in 1941, KFAC moved to .

''Whoa Bill'' and a springboard to stardom

Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California (64206)

Shortly after relaunching as KFAC, on July 30, 1931, an afternoon

children's radio Children's radio is a radio format aimed primarily at preteen children. Examples include the now defunct Radio Disney network of radio stations, Kids Place Live satellite radio channel and in the UK Fun Kids. Stations See also *List of childre ...

program titled the ''"Whoa Bill" Club'' debuted, hosted by Harry Jackson with the alternative rural title ''The Keeper of the Pig'', carrying over a show he had previously hosted for four years on

KFWB KFWB (980 AM) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California. It airs a classic Regional Mexican music format. KFWB is owned by Lotus Communications. The station has a colorful history, being the radio voice of Warner Bros. Studios i ...

. Sponsored by Bullock's department store, the ''"Whoa Bill" Club'' aired every weekday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. for the next 20 years, and found lasting success when Nick Nelson took over as main emcee in 1941 under the name "Uncle Whoa Bill". At its peak, the ''Bullock's "Whoa Bill" Club'' boasted a membership of 50,000 fans—known as "Whoa Billers"—in 1944. The show also broadcast live performances every Friday afternoon for a

live studio audience A studio audience is an audience present for the recording of all or part of a television program or radio program. The primary purpose of the studio audience is to provide applause and/or laughter to the program's soundtrack (as opposed to canned ...

of children under the age of 12, Nelson himself also performed weekly puppet shows at Bullock's on Saturday afternoons. Among the child actors who performed on the ''"Whoa Bill" Club'', bobby soxer Louise Erickson found the most fame, having started her professional career at age seven, cast as a fairy princess. Publicist/talent agent Aaron "Red" Doff, who managed the careers of

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...

Liberace Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordi ...

and

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American Singing, singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to hi ...

, also was a recurring child actor on the program. The station also carried games from the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

of the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

starting with the 1936 season, the majority of which would be recreations produced at their studios. Entertainer

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 ...

hosted a half-hour "radio rally" over KFAC on November 21, 1937, to promote the upcoming Loyola- Gonzaga

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

matchup that included a musical performance by Crosby—a Gonzaga alum—and an on-air debate between Crosby and ''Times'' sports editor Bill Henry. KFAC would also debut a popular music program, ''

Lucky Lager Lucky Lager is an American lager with U.S. brewing and distribution rights held by the Pabst Brewing Company. Originally launched in 1934 by the San Francisco-based General Brewing Company, Lucky Lager grew to be one of the prominent beers of ...

Dance Time'', on August 1, 1941; hosted by Ira Cook, the late-evening program would later be regarded as one of the first

record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often ...

programs of its kind, and even featured conductor

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appear ...

as a guest host once. KFAC would prove to be a springboard for entertainers and performers. Legendary broadcaster Stan Chambers began his career in 1937 as an actor for a weekly children's program produced by one of his teachers at St. Brendan School, visiting the station repeatedly. John Conte started his career in show business as an announcer at KFAC for two years. Barbara Eiler was cast for a KFAC show portraying famous actresses in their teens after being approached by a high school classmate asking if she wanted to act on the radio; that

sustaining program A sustaining program is a radio or television program that, despite airing on a commercial broadcast station, does not have commercial sponsorship or advertising. This term, mostly used in the United States, was common in the early days of radio, b ...

led to supporting roles in ''

The Life of Riley ''The Life of Riley'' is an American radio situation comedy series of the 1940s that was adapted into a 1949 feature film, a 1950s television series, and a 1958 comic book. Radio The radio program initially aired on the Blue Network (later kn ...

'' and '' A Day in the Life of Dennis Day'', along with various film and television roles. Following a broadcast of the ''Radio Chautauqua Show'' in 1936, the station received a phone call from

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences, ...

inquiring about one of the young girls who performed on the program;

Deanna Durbin Edna Mae Durbin (December 4, 1921 – April 17, 2013), known professionally as Deanna Durbin, was a Canadian-born actress and singer, who moved to the USA with her family in infancy. She appeared in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s. With t ...

would become a part of Cantor's radio show and later, a movie star signed to Universal Studios.

Classical evolution

KFAC Gas Company Evening Concert 25th Birthday advert

While KFAC later regarded January 15, 1938, as their "birthdate" in the station's 1978 "40th Anniversary" program guide—which was in reality the birthday of then-general manager George Fritzinger—the station began playing recorded

on a set schedule with the launch of ''Concert Hall'' on October 14, 1935, a daily program narrated by P. Alfred Leonard. Leonard had been hired as KFAC's "director of symphonic music" and promised in a ''Times'' interview to lift the station's musical standards with shows devoted to

music appreciation Music appreciation is a division of musicology that is designed to teach students how to understand and describe the contexts and creative processes involved in music composition. The concept of music appreciation is often taught as a subset o ...

. Through the remainder of the 1930s, and indeed on that aforementioned 1938 date, KFAC's program lineup was a mixture of ''Concert Hall'', live and recorded music, ''Times'' newscasts, sporting events, the ''"Whoa Bill" Club'' and scripted fare. Their first regularly-scheduled long-form classical music program, '' The Gas Company Evening Concert'', debuted on October 1, 1940, and aired six nights a week, Sundays excluded. Having been encouraged by his wife to enter radio broadcasting, Thomas Cassidy joined the station from

KIDO Kido or KIDO may refer to: * Kido (surname) Kido (written: 木戸 lit. "tree door" or "wooden door", or 城戸 lit. "castle door") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname * Kido Takayoshi (1833–1877), Japanese politician of the ...

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown are ...

, in December 1943 as the host of ''Evening Concert'', a role he would maintain for the next 43 years. Cassidy would become so closely associated with the program that his obituary erroneously regarded his joining the station as when ''Evening Concert'' began. KFAC and The Gas Company eventually expanded ''Evening Concert's'' reach via regional

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

to both

Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...

's KPRO () on January 1, 1958, and Santa Barbara's KDB () by June 1963. During this transitional period,

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 ...

was hired as an overnight announcer on KFAC in 1943, having been recommended for the job by

Madelyn Pugh Davis Madelyn Pugh (March 15, 1921 – April 20, 2011), sometimes credited as Madelyn Pugh Davis, Madelyn Davis, or Madelyn Martin, was a television writer who became known in the 1950s for her work on the ''I Love Lucy'' television series. Early ...

, who heard him perform on KOY () 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 ...

. Allen lasted at the station for only six months in part due to not following directives and his humorous tone not fitting the station's classical selections, but soon landed at KHJ co-hosting ''Smile Time'' with Wendell Noble over the

Don Lee Network The Don Lee Network, sometimes called the Don Lee Broadcasting System was an American regional network of radio stations in the old-time radio era. Origin Don Lee made a fortune as the exclusive West Coast distributor of Cadillac automobiles. He ...

. That program, and a future late-night variety program on the

CBS Radio Network CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. It ...

, would be precursors to his tenure as the first host of

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 ...

's ''

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 ...

'' franchise. The success of ''Evening Concert'', as well as ''Musical Masterpieces'', another program hosted by Cassidy, facilitated the station's evolution into a full-time classical music outlet. Harry Mitchell, a former announcer at the

Hollywood Palladium The Hollywood Palladium is a theater located at 6215 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. It was built in a Streamline Moderne, Art Deco style and includes an dance floor including a mezzanine and a floor level with room for up to 4,000 ...

, was appointed as program director on July 6, 1944, and pledged to have the station place a greater emphasis on live programming. E.L. Cord allegedly toured the studios one day in 1945 and recognized the substantial investments KFAC had made in classical recordings, finalizing the evolution. While very much still a commercial station, Cord continued to operate KFAC mostly as a personal hobby despite not knowing much about the classical music genre; Borgeson, pp. 113. his own personal tastes and expectations were eventually reflected in the station's on-air presentation that persisted for decades.

Unprecedented on-air continuity

KFAC also was in the process of slowly assembling an airstaff that had an unprecedented level of continuity. Fred Crane, an actor most famous for his supporting role as Brent Tarleton in ''Gone with the Wind'', was hired as a part-time announcer while still continuing to perform on film and television; Fred's position became full-time in the early 1960s. Tom Dixon and Dick Crawford notably were hired on the same date in 1947. Dixon—an

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

native who joined the station after simultaneous work at KHJ, KNX () and KMPC () emceeing multiple programs, including ''

The Billie Burke Show The Billie Burke Show was an old-time radio Sitcom, situation comedy in the United States. It was broadcast on CBS April 3, 1943 - September 21, 1946. Format Actress Billie Burke played herself as "a well-meaning young woman with her head in the c ...

''—served as afternoon announcer for nearly 39 years, while Crawford primarily worked on weekends. Carl Princi joined the station in 1953 after freelance work at KMGM-FM and a short stint as a bilingual presenter at KWKW (). While at KWKW, that station's general manager referred Princi to KFAC's general manager in hopes of securing full-time work; KFAC host Mark Breneman unexpectedly died the day after Princi's job interview, prompting the station to hire him. Referring to himself as "the newest of the old timers", when Princi was interviewed by ''Hamilton Radio Quarterly'' in 1976 about his longevity, he replied that "he'd ''only'' been there 23 years." Princi hosted ''The World of Opera'' every weekday afternoon throughout his entire tenure with the station and conducted most of the station interviews with musicians. Bill Carlson also joined KFAC in 1953 as host of the ''Noontime Concert'', which he presided over for the next 30 years. This core group of Cassidy, Crane, Dixon, Crawford, Princi, and Carlson was fundamentally unchanged between 1953 and 1983. ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:22 PlotArea = left:170 bottom:65 top:30 right:20 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1930 till:01/01/1990 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:show value:rgb(0.7,0.8,0.6) legend:KFAC_program id:host value:rgb(0.1,0.5,0.7) legend:Years_at_KFAC id:Lines value:black legend:Station_ownership_change id:bars value:gray(1) id:grid1 value:rgb(0.5,0.5,0.5) id:grid2 value:gray(0.92) Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom BackgroundColors = bars:bars ScaleMajor = increment:5 start:1930 gridcolor:grid1 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1930 gridcolor:grid2 LineData = at:04/13/1931 color:black layer:back at:12/17/1962 color:black layer:back at:10/29/1969 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1987 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1989 color:black layer:back TextData= pos:(187,517) fontsize:M text:Tenure of personalities and shows over KFAC and KFAC-FM, 1931-1989 BarData = bar:UncleBill text:Bullock's "Whoa Bill Club" bar:Concert text:The Gas Co. Evening Concert bar:Cassidy text:Thomas Cassidy bar:Crane text:Fred Crane bar:Dixon text:Tom Dixon bar:Crawford text:Dick Crawford bar:Rhines text:Howard Rhines bar:Joy text:Dick Joy bar:Carlson text:Bill Carlson bar:Princi text:Carl Princi bar:Lincoln text:Luncheon at the Music Center bar:Skip text:Skip Weshner bar:Global text:Global Village bar:Choice text:Brian Clewer's "Cynic's Choice" bar:Workman text:Martin Workman bar:Orudino text:Doug Orudino bar:Santana text:John Santana bar:Liska text:A. James Liska bar:Capparela text:Rich Capparela bar:Fain text:Mary Fain bar:Perlich text:Martin Perlich PlotData= width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:UncleBill width:15 from:07/30/1931 till:09/15/1951 color:show bar:Concert width:15 from:10/01/1940 till:09/20/1989 color:show bar:Cassidy width:15 from:12/01/1943 till:02/07/1987 color:host bar:Crane width:15 from:01/01/1946 till:12/31/1986 color:host bar:Dixon width:15 from:01/01/1947 till:12/31/1986 color:host bar:Crawford width:15 from:01/01/1947 till:12/31/1984 color:host bar:Rhines width:15 from:07/01/1949 till:12/31/1971 color:host bar:Joy width:15 from:12/01/1951 till:12/31/1967 color:host bar:Carlson width:15 from:01/01/1953 till:07/31/1983 color:host bar:Princi width:15 from:08/21/1953 till:12/31/1986 color:host bar:Lincoln width:15 from:10/01/1965 till:12/31/1986 color:show bar:Global width:15 from:01/01/1971 till:12/31/1986 color:show bar:Skip width:15 from:01/01/1971 till:12/31/1971 color:host bar:Skip width:15 from:01/01/1973 till:12/31/1979 color:host bar:Skip width:15 from:01/01/1983 till:12/31/1984 color:host bar:Choice width:15 from:01/01/1971 till:12/31/1988 color:show bar:Workman width:15 from:01/01/1973 till:12/31/1986 color:host bar:Orudino width:15 from:01/01/1974 till:12/31/1986 color:host bar:Santana width:15 from:01/01/1976 till:09/20/1989 color:host bar:Liska width:15 from:01/01/1981 till:12/31/1986 color:host bar:Capparela width:15 from:01/01/1987 till:09/20/1989 color:host bar:Fain width:15 from:01/01/1987 till:09/20/1989 color:host bar:Perlich width:15 from:01/01/1987 till:09/20/1989 color:host Pacific Coast League baseball broadcasts, ''Lucky Lager Dance Time'' and ''Uncle Whoa Bill'' were among the last remaining non-classical programs to remain on the schedule; the baseball games at times wound up delaying the start time for ''Evening Concert'' by as much as two hours before being dropped at the end of the 1945 season. Ira Cook began working for both KFAC and KMPC, and even KSL in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, in similar capacities before ''Lucky Lager Dance Time'' was cancelled at the end of 1948, Cook would continue the show, itself later supervised by

Bill Gavin Bill Gavin (November 6, 1907 – January 27, 1985) was an American radio personality and publisher of the influential ''Gavin Report''. Life and education Gavin was born in Chetek, Wisconsin in 1907. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Cla ...

, at KMPC. Meanwhile, ''Uncle Whoa Bill''—whom Thomas Cassidy's son was a fan of—lasted up to September 14, 1951, when it was quietly dropped from the lineup; ''Viennese Varieties'', sponsored by Baker Boy Bakeries and hosted by Dick Crawford, replaced it the following Monday. ''Uncle Whoa Bill'' host Nick Nelson would subsequently join

KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV ou ...

as the emcee of ''Mister Whistle'', airing at the same time period on Sunday afternoons. Howard Rhines was hired away from KMPC in 1949 to become KFAC's program director. Under Rhines' oversight, KFAC continued to place a heavy emphasis on sustained programming like ''Evening Concert'' and forbade the use of commercial jingles on-air, explaining to ''Billboard'' that "you can't go out of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

and into a rhythmic jingle." In addition, all seven staff announcers—including Rhines—were now required to be fluent in at least four distinct languages. KFAC also hired veteran radio announcer/actor

Dick Joy Dick Joy (December 28, 1915 – October 31, 1991) was an American radio and television announcer. A journalism major at the University of Southern California, he went on to become well known on network radio and television. Early years Joy's in ...

as their news director in 1951, handling all newscasts in the morning and some in the early afternoon until 1967.

Branching to FM; solidifying the format

KFAC signed on an FM adjunct, KFAC-FM, on December 29, 1948, at . The FM antenna was initially placed at the AM transmitter site, which had moved to the

Crenshaw Crenshaw may refer to: Places in the United States *Crenshaw, Los Angeles **Crenshaw High School *Crenshaw County, Alabama *Crenshaw, Mississippi *Crenshaw, Pennsylvania Transportation *Crenshaw Boulevard *Crenshaw station (C Line, Los Angeles Met ...

district in 1947 along with a power increase for the AM station to ; this site is still in use today by KWKW, as well as KABC and KFOX. KFAC started carrying live concerts from the

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018. The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...

amphitheater in 1952 as part of ''Evening Concert''. The station pioneered an early form of stereo broadcasting by having two microphones placed on different sides of the venue, with the audio separately fed to the AM and FM stations. Advertisements placed by The Gas Company encouraged ''Evening Concert'' listeners at home who had two radios were instructed to place them seven to twelve feet apart, with one tuned to KFAC-FM and the other tuned to KFAC. The first such broadcast in 1953 had mixed reviews due to KFAC-FM's relatively weak signal strength; an opinion column in the ''

Redlands Daily Facts The ''Redlands Daily Facts'' is a paid daily newspaper based in Redlands, California, serving the Redlands area. The ''Daily Facts'' is a member of Southern California News Group (formerly the Los Angeles Newspaper Group), a division of Digital ...

'' concluded their review by publicly advocating for KFAC-FM's antenna to be moved to Mount Wilson alongside the TV stations. KFAC-FM would do just that, filing paperwork with the FCC in March 1954 to move the antenna to Mount Wilson and shifting frequencies from to , increasing the potential audience by 1.5 million people and the overall coverage area from 720 square miles to 8,300 square miles. While the facility changes took place a few days prior, it was formally dedicated as part of another pseudo-stereo broadcast from the Bowl on July 15, 1954. As KFAC-FM moved to Mount Wilson prior to the FCC enacting limits for power output by FM stations in 1962, it is formally classified as a "superpower" FM by operating at a maximum power level, but with the antenna being placed well above the height limit. Both KFAC and KFAC-FM would move out of the Fuller Motors dealership penthouse to new studios at the Prudential Square in the

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district, now known as SAG-AFTRA Plaza. An advertisement taken out by KFAC in ''

Broadcasting Magazine ''Broadcasting & Cable'' (or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') is a weekly telecommunications industry trade magazine published by Future US. Previous names included ''Broadcasting-Telecasting'', ''Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising'', and ''Broadcast ...

'' celebrating the studio move also boasted that they now held a library of music recordings that weighed over 28 tons, enough to ensure that the stations could be programmed for a full year without any duplication. The studio move was completed in April 1953 when KFAC general manager Calvin Smith,

Los Angeles Mayor The mayor of the City of Los Angeles is the official head and chief executive officer of Los Angeles. The officeholder is elected for a four-year term and is limited to serving no more than two terms. (Under the Constitution of California, all j ...

Fletcher Bowron and

Prudential Insurance Prudential Financial, Inc. is an American Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, retirement planning, investment management, and other products and services to both retail and institutional customers ...

vice president Harry Volk participated in a ceremonial

soldering Soldering (; ) is a process in which two or more items are joined by melting and putting a filler metal (solder) into the joint, the filler metal having a lower melting point than the adjoining metal. Unlike welding, soldering does not involv ...

ceremony; KFAC experienced no loss of air time in the process. As KFAC solidified its reputation and format as a classical music outlet, it also set out to remove some of the few remaining deviations from its format. On February 15, 1957, it notified the First Methodist Church of Los Angeles, which paid commercial rates to broadcast its Sunday morning service over KFAC, that it would terminate the agreement. First Methodist claimed to have the oldest church service broadcasts in America, which were first made in 1923. KFAC carried First Methodist's morning and evening services beginning in 1942; in 1951, the station had removed the evening service from its schedule. After First Methodist asked the FCC for a hearing into the issue, claiming that the cancellation affected the station's commitment at its last license renewal to carry 1.79 percent religious programming, the commission denied the request in May. With the petition denied, the church began airing its services over KPOL.

From Cleveland to Atlantic

The two stations would remain in E.L. Cord's name until August 1962, when he would sell them to Cleveland Broadcasting Incorporated, headed by former

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Ray T. Miller Raymond Thomas Miller, Sr. (January 10, 1893 – July 13, 1966), commonly known as Ray T. Miller, was an American politician who served as the 43rd Mayor of Cleveland, mayor of Cleveland, and the chairman of the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyaho ...

, for a combined $2 million (equivalent to $ in ). Miller also owned

WLEC WLEC (1450 AM) – branded as 1450 AM WLEC – is a commercial oldies/full service radio station licensed to Sandusky, Ohio. Owned by Fremont-based BAS Broadcasting, the station serves the Sandusky/ Norwalk/ Port Clinton market (collectively re ...

and WLEC-FM in

Sandusky, Ohio Sandusky ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Erie County, Ohio, Erie County, Ohio, United States. Situated along the shores of Lake Erie in the northern part of the state, Sandusky is located roughly midway between Toledo, Ohio, Toledo ( wes ...

, and had founded

WERE ''Were'' and ''wer'' are archaic terms for adult male humans and were often used for alliteration with wife as "were and wife" in Germanic-speaking cultures ( ang, wer, odt, wer, got, waír, ofs, wer, osx, wer, goh, wer, non, verr). In ...

and WERE-FM in Cleveland, and pledged to maintain KFAC's classical format. The ''Los Angeles Times'' would later write of Cord's ownership, "What seems indisputable is that Cord oversaw the station like a benevolent, disinterested patriarch." The pseudo-stereo broadcasts over KFAC and KFAC-FM continued until KFAC-FM converted to

stereophonic sound Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

in 1964, at one point, those broadcasts were offered for 12 hours each week. General manager Ed Stevens regarded the $20,000 investment in FM multiplexing as a "big bonanza" for the radio and recording industries, pledging to increase KFAC-FM's stereo output over time; ''Evening Concert'' was cited as a program that would be unable to see such a complete stereo conversion due to the volume of titles for that show valued for their initial mono pressings. By 1971, the last remaining program devoted to selections from their original 78 rpm phonograph record collection, ''Collector's Shelf'', was dropped from the schedule. KFAC at this time boasted weekly concert broadcasts by the Hollywood Bowl Symphony and the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...

, in addition to concert series from the Los Angeles Symphonies' high school and the Los Angeles Art Museum. Another long-running weekday program, ''Luncheon at the Music Center'', debuted in 1965. Taking place every weekday at the

Los Angeles Music Center The Music Center (officially named the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County) is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Located in downtown Los Angeles, The Music Center is composed of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion ...

's Pavilion Restaurant, Thomas Cassidy was the program's original host, primarily interviewing classical music artists. Martin Workman became a substitute host in 1973 and succeeded Cassidy as host in 1976, broadening the show's focus to include opera, ballet, operetta and theater. Ray T. Miller died on July 13, 1966. One of his sons, Robert Miller, divested his stake in Cleveland Broadcasting Incorporated in April 1968 into an

irrevocable trust A trust is a legal relationship in which the holder of a right gives it to another person or entity who must keep and use it solely for another's benefit. In the Anglo-American common law, the party who entrusts the right is known as the " sett ...

when he acquired WDBN in

Medina, Ohio Medina ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Medina County, Ohio, United States. The population was 26,094 at the 2020 Census. It lies about 33 miles (53 km) south of Cleveland and 23 miles (37 km) west of Akron within the Clevelan ...

—but served both the Cleveland and

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

markets—for $1 million, then a record valuation for a full-power FM signal. The following month, Atlantic States Industries (ASI), a subsidiary of McGavren-Guild Radio, purchased the company for a combined $9 million (equivalent to $ in ). Due to ASI already owning five AM stations and one FM station, and because of an interim policy/proposed rule by the FCC prohibiting the purchase of an AM and FM station in the same market—the "one-to-a-customer" policy—KFAC and KFAC-FM would need a waiver in order to be exempted. Both stations purchased two full-page ads in the ''Los Angeles Times'' on January 19 and 23, 1969, soliciting listeners to write to KFAC in support of a waiver, claiming that if both stations were separated—even with a forced adoption of separate programming via the

FM Non-Duplication Rule The FM Non-Duplication Rule was adopted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on July 1, 1964, after a year's consideration. It limited holders of FM broadcasting in the United States, FM licenses in City of license, cities of more t ...

—the format would be rendered unsustainable. Approximately 3,000 people sent letters to KFAC in the first few days; by February 9, a total of 15,000 letters were sent in support, including 500 letters from

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181, ...

alone. KFAC then forwarded the letters to the FCC. The waiver for KFAC and KFAC-FM was ultimately granted by the commission, and the deal was approved on October 29, 1969, on the condition that WERE-FM would be sold "as soon as practicable"; WERE-FM and the Sandusky stations had already been ordered for divestiture instead of either KFAC or KFAC-FM earlier in the process. After initial deals for all three fell through, the Sandusky stations were spun off to a separate entity run by another son of Raymond Miller.

General Cinema Corporation General Cinema Corporation, also known as General Cinema, GCC, or General Cinema Theatres, was a chain of movie theaters in the United States. At its peak, the company operated about 1,500 screens, some of which were among the first cinemas certif ...

acquired WERE-FM in May 1970 for $525,000.

The ''Listeners' Guild'' and innovative programming

Despite the arguments presented to the FCC that separate program lineups and philosophies on KFAC and KFAC-FM would be unworkable, the full-time simulcast ended in 1970 with the FM station programmed separately for 18 hours a day; both stations also eschewed "semi-classical" programming in favor of more serious works. Another noticeable change was the adoption of clustered commercial breaks and on-air identifications similar to the

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, which was claimed to help increase the amount of music the stations could play. The stations also established the ''KFAC Listeners' Guild'' in 1970 supported by an annual $3 membership fee, allowing listeners to provide direct feedback to the station and its operations. The ''Guild'' boasted over 11,000 paid members within the first year. On January 17, 1972, under newly installed program director Bernie Alan, the AM station took a more "popular" approach to music selections, playing familiar tunes and melodies with the aim of attracting younger listeners, while KFAC-FM took a more serious approach via a deeper playlist and broader spectrum of selections. Both stations continued to simulcast core programming like ''Evening Concert'', ''Luncheon at the Lincoln Center'', and ''Continental Classics''. All of these changes were not without controversy as a group of listeners filed challenges to KFAC's licenses with the FCC over the newly instituted programming policies. The station settled the dispute by November 1972 by resuming publication of a program guide, seeking to tone down commercials, increasing the variety of selections aired on the AM frequency and ultimately relieving Bernie Alan of his programming duties. SAG-AFTRA headquarters

Clyde Allen, Ph.D. served as KFAC's music director for 14 years in addition to being the music director for the

Los Angeles Ballet Los Angeles Ballet (LAB) is a classical ballet company based in Los Angeles. While rehearsals take place at the Los Angeles Ballet Center, the company tours venues across LA County, such as the Dolby Theatre and Royce Hall, during its performanc ...

upon their 1974 formation. Allen wrote and produced multiple documentaries, including a 12-hour KFAC retrospective that aired over both stations on January 14, 1979. Billed as celebrating "40 years of classical music programming," with an assortment of interviews,

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 ...

s from past programs and other archival material, it was a largely

apocrypha Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

l marketing promotion. After moving studios from Prudential Square to the former Villa Capri restaurant on Hollywood's Yucca Street in 1982, KFAC unveiled a large mural painted by Thomas Surlyz outside of the station building on Christmas Day, 1983, showing their long-tenured airstaff cavorting with their respective favorite historical composers. The station formally broke the glass ceiling in May 1985 with actress Lynne Warfel's hiring as the station's first female staff announcer; Carl Princi explained he had to wait several years for a job opening among the heavily tenured all-male staff. Despite this distinction, Nicola Lubitsch—daughter of movie director

Ernst Lubitsch Ernst Lubitsch (; January 29, 1892November 30, 1947) was a German-born American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as ...

—had an on-air tryout to be a regular station announcer, with later press accounts erroneously attributing her as the first female announcer, but management opted to hire Warfel. Moreover, Leonora Schildkraut had been the first female to host a regularly scheduled program over KFAC in 1972 with the youth-oriented ''Through the Looking Glass''. Co-produced by the

Los Angeles Board of Education Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...

for additional use within the city's school district, this weekly show won KFAC its lone

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

in 1974. Gertrude "Gussie" Moran also began a short-lived daily sportscast over KFAC on May 8, 1972, becoming the second female radio sportscaster in the city after KNX's

Jane Chastain Jane Chastain (born March 12, 1943) was the first woman sportscaster on the local and national level in the United States and is a current conservative political writer and commentator. Early life Jane Steppe was born in Knoxville, Tenn. to Lina ...

. KFAC would continue to develop different specialty shows. ''Global Village'' debuted in 1971 and aired for two hours every Friday night; developed by Dennis Parnell, it was a "mosaic program concept" that included selections of ''any'' type of music, along with poetry and other readings. After Dennis Parnell left the station,

KCSN KCSN (88.5 FM, "The SoCal Sound") is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Northridge, California and owned by California State University, Northridge. The station simulcasts with KSBR from Saddleback College in Mission Viejo. ...

host Doug Ordunio assumed several of Parnell's duties, taking over ''Global Village's'' production and provided the impetus for other shows. Those shows included: ''Soundscape'', simulcast over both stations, with no set format but the intent to display similarities between different music styles, along with discussions over the selections by Fred Crane; ''At Home With'', featuring interviews recorded at the homes of classical musical celebrities who lived in Southern California; ''The Circular Path'', a set of five four-hour specials surrounding music concepts and forms which would eventually repeat themselves; and ''Making Waves'', a weekly program of

new-age music New-age is a genre of music intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation technique, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management to bring about a state of ecs ...

. ''Soundscape'' replaced a self-titled show hosted by Skip Weshner that ran from 1973 to 1979, Weshner would return to the station in 1983 to host the show again for one additional year. Ordunio also became a staff announcer in 1981 hosting ''Artsline'', a daily call-in

talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

show devoted to the arts that aired exclusively on the AM frequency.

Dismissing the "KFAC Old Guard"

Classic Communications, Inc., a group of investors headed by Louise Heifetz—the daughter-in-law of

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'' or , "virtuous", Late Latin ''virtuosus'', Latin ''virtus'', "virtue", "excellence" or "skill") is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as ...

Jascha Heifetz Jascha Heifetz (; December 10, 1987) was a Russian-born American violinist. Born in Vilnius, he moved while still a teenager to the United States, where his Carnegie Hall debut was rapturously received. He was a virtuoso since childhood. Fritz ...

—purchased the two stations from ASI on April 8, 1986, for $33.5 million (equivalent to $ in ); KFAC executive vice president/sales manager Edward Argow was also a part of the group and was named

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

. At age 57, Ralph Guild, the head of ASI, thought it was time to sell KFAC. When the sale closed on December 17, program director Carl Princi announced his departure effective January 1, 1987,

KUSC KUSC (91.5 FM) is a listener-supported classical music radio station broadcasting from downtown Los Angeles, California, United States. KUSC is owned and operated by the University of Southern California, which also operates student-run Internet s ...

executive Robert Goldfarb was appointed as his replacement; while Heifetz did mention some program changes would take place, she denied KFAC would change format. In a shocking move, however, Princi, Tom Dixon, Fred Crane, Martin Workman, Doug Ordunio and A. James Liska were all fired outright on December 31, 1986, along with most of the engineering staff. Dixon notably was dismissed in the middle of his airshift, while Workman was fired immediately after his show ended; ''The Gas Company Evening Concert'' was the lone show retained on the schedule due to being a sponsored program under a separate contract. ''Evening Concert'' host Thomas Cassidy himself retired from full-time duties on February 7. Robert Goldfarb publicly re-positioned KFAC as "100% classical", eschewing jazz selections and Broadway show tunes, with a younger airstaff consisting of Mary Fain from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

's KING-FM, KUSC announcer Rich Capparela, KFAC part-timer John Santana, returning staffer Bernie Alan and Martin Perlich. KFAC also cancelled ''

Adventures in Good Music ''Adventures in Good Music'', hosted by Karl Haas, was radio's most widely listened-to classical music program, and aired nationally in the U.S. from 1970 to 2007. The program was also syndicated to commercial and public radio stations around th ...

'' and dropped their

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 Old-time radio, golden ...

affiliation. Jeff Pollack, a programming consultant famously associated with

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-oriente ...

stations, signed a contract to consult KFAC. Heifetz and Argow defended the moves by saying that KFAC's programming scope needed to be broadened in order to attract younger listeners and improve perennially low Arbitron ratings, and the tenured airstaff just didn't fit their plans. One month later, KMET's entire airstaff was dismissed and format changed outright due to declining ratings of their own, echoing Heifetz and Argow's rationale. This was still a major departure from prior ASI management who regarded KFAC's audience as wealthy, educated and attractive to loyal

high-end In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good for which demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a greater proportion of overall spending. Luxury goods are in contrast t ...

advertisers, a belief supported by the fact KFAC never operated with a financial loss. The firings and programming adjustments were met with a generally negative response from the public and dismay among the fired personnel. A commentary piece for the ''Los Angeles Times'' by Marc Shulgold noted how he had an "unsettling experience" while listening to the revamped format and concluded by saying the fired air talent and their listeners all deserved a better fate. For their part, Carl Princi, Tom Dixon and Fred Crane all told the ''Times'' that Heifetz, Goldfarb and Argow badly misjudged the station's audience and predicted that KFAC's ratings and revenue would suffer as a result, while Dixon noted the outpouring of support from listeners upset at his removal far exceeded the recognition he received at any other point in his career. The dismissed announcers would subsequently file an age-discrimination

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

against KFAC and prevailed in court.

The end of KFAC

KFAC and KFAC-FM were sold in two separate deals for a combined $63.7 million. After being put on the market in April 1988, KFAC was sold to

for $8.7 million (equivalent to $ in ) on July 15. Just before that deal closed on January 17, 1989, KFAC-FM was subsequently sold to Evergreen Media for $55 million (equivalent to $ in ). The FM alone set a record for the most expensive sale of a classical music outlet in the United States. At the end, just five percent of KFAC-AM-FM's combined total audience listened to the AM frequency, which is why it was sold off first; even though KFAC-FM was not on the market, the offer made by Evergreen was high enough that it prompted Classic Communications to consider selling. Immediately, the news of the KFAC-FM sale in particular raised alarms from industry experts that the station was about to exit the classical format. While Evergreen head Scott Ginsberg initially told ''

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 ...

'' that the station's format would remain in place, ''American Radio'' publisher James Duncan, Jr. warned, "Classical radio stations are not in vogue. What's in vogue is FM stations in Los Angeles," saying that Evergreen would have no choice but to change formats in order to make the revenue needed to pay the debt service incurred in acquiring KFAC-FM. After months of speculation, Evergreen donated the music library from both stations, estimated at 50,000 recordings, to

, along with a $35,000 check;

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and the

Los Angeles Public Library The Los Angeles Public Library system (LAPL) is a public library system in Los Angeles, California. The system holds more than six million volumes, and with around 19 million residents in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area, it serves the large ...

acquired KFAC's

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

library, the majority of titles KUSC already held. KUSC also acquired the programming rights to the Philadelphia Orchestra and the ''Texaco Metropolitan Opera'' broadcasts. KFAC's demise was seen as the end of an era in Los Angeles. In July, KPFK held a two-hour program that served as an "early wake" for KFAC, during which 20 listeners called into the station.

KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programm ...

presented a three-hour documentary—titled "KFAC: Requiem for a Radio Station"—hosted by Nicola Lubitsch with appearances from Fred Crane, Carl Princi, Thomas Cassidy and Tom Dixon, and a look back at KFAC's history. The ''Los Angeles Times''

editorial board The editorial board is a group of experts, usually at a publication, who dictate the tone and direction the publication's editorial policy will take. Mass media At a newspaper, the editorial board usually consists of the editorial page editor, a ...

mused on the pending switch, noting the dubious distinction of Los Angeles becoming the only major American city without a commercial classical music radio station, and advocated for another station in the market to adopt the format.

Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters, Inc., a subsidiary of Mt. Wilson Broadcasting Inc., is a Los Angeles-based radio broadcasting company owned by Saul Levine. The company was founded in 1959, and Levine is the only independent operator of an FM commer ...

' KKGO-FM had already announced the adoption of classical programming during the daytime starting in January 1990, with its existing

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 ...

format being transferred to KKGO (). Mount Wilson chairman Saul Levine expressed interest in acquiring the entire KFAC music library, but abandoned the offer when presented with a $1 million asking price; newly appointed general manager Jim de Castro—who joined the station in March from Evergreen's

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

outlet WLUP and presided over the station's music library donations—denied seeking that amount, but that two appraisers valued the collection at upwards of $1.8 million. Meanwhile, new ownership capitalized on the attention to begin teasing 92.3's next format. The station carried part of a

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

press conference in Los Angeles in mid-July, and in August, it paid for a billboard on

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 t ...

reading, "

Pirate Radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...

, KLSX,

KLOS Klos or KLOS may refer to: * Klos (surname) * Klos, Dibër, a town in eastern Albania ** Harketari Klos KF, a defunct football club based in Klos, Dibër * Klos, Elbasan, a village in central Albania * Klos, Mallakastër, a village in south-central ...

: Get Ready to Move Over and Let the Big Dogs Eat!" While published reports speculated that the station was to call itself "KBDE" as an acronym for "Big Dogs Eat", James de Castro admitted to ''Radio & Records'' that the Sunset Boulevard billboard installation only came about after he won a bet playing golf, providing him (and Evergreen) full use of it for a full month. The earlier warnings posited by James Duncan, Jr. and the dismissed KFAC personnel would become prophetic, as de Castro told ''The New York Times'' that KFAC suffered a significant decline in advertising revenue that rendered the format economically impossible to continue. Evergreen hired Liz Kiley from

KOST KOST (103.5 FM) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California. Owned by iHeartMedia, it broadcasts an AC radio format, switching to Christmas music for much of November and December. Its studios are co-located with its sister stati ...

as program director for the replacement format; despite her background in

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, quie ...

and

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

, Kiley ordered for the station several AOR-related syndicated radio specials. De Castro also expressed surprise in a ''Los Angeles Times'' interview that no organized effort to challenge the format change ever materialized, even as the station received a steady amount of protest letters and phone calls. While the station had prepared a final schedule of music programming for the entire month of September 1989, the switch ended up occurring mid-month, as had been anticipated. That schedule for the last two days of the month was to have included, at the end of every air shift, Haydn's "Farewell" Symphony. The soon-to-be-dismissed airstaff made pointed references on-air to the station's demise in the days leading up to it; Rich Capparela compared it to an

execution by firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...

before reading a weather forecast, while after playing

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

's ''Symphony No. 6'', Mary Fain said that the piece was "composed just a few months before his death, and played just a few hours before ours at KFAC." The classical music station in San Diego,

KFSD KFSD (1450 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station based in North San Diego County, California, North County, San Diego, California. It is owned by Raul Caro and Stephen Beuerle, through licensee IHS Media, and is currently off the air. The s ...

, ran advertising on KFAC promoting itself as "classical music for San Diego—and now for Orange County". At the same time, Evergreen took out local ads on ''

L.A. Law ''L.A. Law'' is an American legal drama television series that ran for eight seasons on NBC, from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994. Created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, it centers on the partners, associates and staff of a Los ...

'', the 1989 MTV Movie Awards, and ''

The Arsenio Hall Show ''The Arsenio Hall Show'' is an American syndicated late-night talk show created by and starring comedian Arsenio Hall. There have been two different incarnations of ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. The original series premiered on January 3, 1989, ...

'' that teased the new station. At noon on September 20, 1989, KUSC, which had also placed advertising for its classical offerings on KFAC in the final days, simulcast the final hour of KFAC's classical programming. This included Jim de Castro ceremoniously " passing a baton" to KUSC general manager Wallace Smith, followed by a farewell message from Rich Capparela, who would rejoin KUSC's airstaff; the hour concluded with KFAC-FM's final classical selection—the "Farewell" Symphony—and a moment of silence led by de Castro. At 1 p.m., after 60 seconds of silence, the FM station began stunting with heartbeat sounds, interspersed with brief snippets of rock songs, ahead of the debut of KKBT "The Beat" the next day. The mural of KFAC's core airstaff outside of the Villa Capri studios was eventually painted over and an outdoor "wall of fame" of brass plaques honoring classical music

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

s was supplanted by a series of plaques honoring

contemporary music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included serial ...

artists. The KFAC call letters, which were also donated to KUSC, were placed on one of their repeater stations in Santa Barbara from 1991 to 2004; that station is now KCRW repeater

KDRW KDRW (88.7 MHz) is a non-commercial FM radio station that is licensed to Santa Barbara, California. The station is owned by Santa Monica College and mostly simulcasts KCRW and its public radio format, a mix of news, talk and specialty music p ...

KWKW

KWKW moves to 1330

In contrast to the FM, the AM station would have a more straightforward fate. In order to facilitate their acquisition of KFAC and comply with then-existing FCC regulations, Lotus divested their existing Los Angeles AM property, KWKW () in

, to NetworksAmerica—headed by former KFAC station manager George Fritzinger—for $4.5 million (equivalent to $ in ); paperwork filed with the FCC showed Classic Communications purchasing KWKW from Lotus for the same dollar amount then acting as the seller. Lotus retained the KWKW call letters, all on and off-air personnel, programming, and history; the previous KWKW, owned by Lotus since 1962, was Southern California's oldest Spanish-language outlet, which had been broadcasting since 1941 and operated on the facility since 1950 following a similar asset/license swap. KWKW had been owned by Lotus since 1962 and was the first station to be purchased by the nascent broadcast chain. On January 14, 1989, KFAC's call letters were changed to KWKW, and the programming heard on the previous KWKW effectively "moved" from 1300 to 1330, representing a coverage boost improving reception in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

. In the process, a British comedy program known as ''Cynic's Choice'' hosted by Brian Clewer, which had aired only on the AM frequency since 1971, was displaced. NetworksAmerica concurrently changed the former KWKW's call letters to

KAZN KAZN (1300 AM) is a broadcast radio station in the United States. Licensed to Pasadena, California, KAZN serves the Greater Los Angeles area with a Mandarin Chinese language format. The station was founded in 1948 as KAGH. From 1950 to 1989, ...

and relaunched it as an Asian radio station—the first such radio station to operate in the Los Angeles area. With the switch to , KWKW expanded its focus on

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 ...

music (including mariachi and banda), calling itself "La Mexicana". It also brought with it its sports coverage, which included Spanish-language broadcasts of 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) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

and

Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then agai ...

. Dodgers broadcasts were headed up by

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

announcer

Jaime Jarrín Jaime Jarrín (; born December 10, 1935) is an Ecuadorian-born American sportscaster known as the Spanish-language voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He began broadcasting for the Dodgers in 1959 and was the 1998 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Aw ...

, a position he has held continuously since the 1959 season; Jarrín began working at KWKW in 1955 as a news reporter. The station was further recognized by the National Association of Broadcasters as 1992's Spanish-language station of the year during their annual Marconi Radio Awards. That same year, Jim Kalmenson of Lotus attributed the success of KWKW to an audience that preferred tradition over change and needed a source of community information. In 1994, new program director Alberto Vera shuffled the station's lineup, leading to the resignations of several members of the air staff and protests from listeners; Vera sought to make the station better for family listening and reduce the number of

double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...

s heard on the air. KWKW experimented with a

format in 1995 but could not fully commit to it because of contracts relating to the hosts of its music-driven shows. On August 11, 1997, KWKW left its regional Mexican music format and became just the second Spanish-language all-talk station in the United States (

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 ...

was the first). It was the only Spanish-language radio station in the United States to send a crew to cover the 1998 visit of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

to Cuba. In 2000,

Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...

surveys showed its listenership included the oldest and wealthiest Spanish speakers in the area; its programming, in addition to the Dodgers, included a live call-in show on immigration topics (''Inmigración 1330'') and hourly newscasts covering Mexican and Central American news. In 1996, the station became the Spanish-language flagship of the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

in Kobe Bryant's rookie season, timing that was credited with helping the Lakers cement themselves as the most important sports franchise in the Los Angeles Hispanic market. Lotus acquired KWPA (), a 250-watt station in Pomona, from Multicultural Broadcasting in 1999 for $750,000 (equivalent to $ in ). Lotus renamed it KWKU and converted it to a simulcast of KWKW's sports programming improving reception in Pomona and

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, in addition to serving as an overflow station for KWKW sports coverage; KWKU also exclusively carried broadcasts of the

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks (LA Sparks) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was foun ...

of the WNBA. The KWKU nominal main studio in Pomona would prove critical to getting KWKW back on the air on December 6, 2001, when a major fire at the Sunset Vine Tower, home to the Lotus cluster, caused extensive electrical damage to the building, which was deemed unsafe by fire officials. 105 computers, mixers and other equipment were carted out of the building, and John Cooper, the chief engineer for Lotus Los Angeles, drove them to Pomona, where the station was back on the air in six hours. As a result of the extensive damage, Lotus relocated temporarily to the recently vacated KTNQ studios and later purchased a building near

Universal Studios Hollywood Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusemen ...

to be fitted out for its operation. In 2003, Armando Aguayo—today one of the radio voices of Los Angeles FC, heard in Spanish on KWKW's sister station

—got his start in the market on KWKW.

ESPN Deportes and Tu Liga Radio

On October 1, 2005, KWKW went full-time as a Spanish-language

station, the flagship of a new radio network,

ESPN Deportes Radio ESPN Deportes Radio was an American Spanish language sports radio network created and produced by Disney-owned ESPN. Programming included call-in talk shows and commentary from hosts about a full range of sporting events, including soccer, Amer ...

. At the time, the station also carried

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. Guada ...

games. However, the station's relationship with the Dodgers—which had been on KWKW from 1958 to 1972 and then again beginning in 1986—ended after the 2007 season, when the franchise, citing its dislike of soccer preemptions that could have happened under the station's new deal to carry

games, opted to sign with KHJ. The Galaxy deal was arranged after

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending fr ...

signed a landmark contract with the

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club, boosting the club and leagues' visibility on an international scale. Consequently, the station inked a five-year contract to become the Spanish-language flagship of the

, but Jaime Jarrín remained with the Dodgers broadcast team, ending a 51-year long run at KWKW as both a news reporter and sportscaster. Current Galaxy announcer Rolando 'Veloz' González has credited Jarrín with helping him get a start in U.S. broadcasting after

immigrating Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

from his native

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

. Along with the Galaxy coverage, the station has carried the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

; while coverage of the 2006 edition was in Spanish, KWKW carried most of

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". ...

's English-language coverage of the 2010 edition, allowing ESPN Radio affiliates KSPN and KLAA to continue with their normal program schedules. In 2018, the station contracted with Fútbol de Primera, the national soccer radio network that holds World Cup rights, to exclusively produce coverage for KWKW. KWKW and Fútbol de Primera teamed up again in 2019 to broadcast the first ever Spanish-language U.S. radio coverage of the FIFA Women's World Cup. KWKW also was the Spanish flagship of the

Los Angeles Avengers The Los Angeles Avengers were an Arena Football League team based in Los Angeles, California, from 2000 through 2008. They folded on April 19, 2009. History The Los Angeles Avengers played their home games at the Staples Center, which is also th ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

until the team folded in April 2009. 2009 also saw KWKW add the other NBA team in Los Angeles, the

, to its rights portfolio, carrying 48 games in the first season. In 2016, KWKW became the Spanish-language home of the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

, heading up a multi-station network that also includes Lotus's Spanish sports outlet in Las Vegas,

KENO Keno is a lottery-like gambling game often played at modern casinos, and also offered as a game in some lotteries. Players wager by choosing numbers ranging from 1 through (usually) 80. After all players make their wagers, 20 numbers (some va ...

. Two years later, the station picked up 10 games of the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

—the first time in 20 years that any of the NHL team's games were broadcast in Spanish. With Francisco X. Rivera and Nano Cortes as the announcers, this addition coincided with the Kings moving their English-language coverage onto the

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming Computing platform, platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbr ...

platform; the team evaluated the KWKW partnership's viability through

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

feedback and interactions. The relationship was renewed for the 2019–20 season, with 12 home games airing on KWKW. When ESPN Deportes ended operations on September 8, 2019, KWKW affiliated with

, another Spanish-language sports network operated by

, airing its programming on nights and weekends." KWKW did not learn of the network's folding until it was publicly announced; general manager Jim Kalmenson said that ESPN Deportes programming was largely supplemental to the station's local sports talk programming which earned higher ratings. The station also rebranded to ''Tu Liga'' (Your League) reflecting the addition of

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

soccer to the lineup via TUDN Radio's play-by-play. Along with the switch, prior TUDN affiliate KTNQ—itself owned by Univision—switched back to a talk format.

Programming

Weekdays and weekends

Local sports programming on KWKW includes ''Mi Raza'' with Rafael Ramos Villagrana and Halim "Rakata" Zadat in early afternoons and ''SuperGol'' with Armando Aguayo, Troy Santiago and Mario Amaya in late afternoons.

programming airs on nights and weekends. There are several non-sports specialty programs that air on KWKW: in morning hours, from 8 a.m. to midnight on Saturdays, and on Sunday mornings. Weekday mornings, the station presents ''Mañanas Centroamericanas'' (Central American Mornings) and a health program, ''Nutrición al Día'' (Nutrition Today) hosted by Dr. Neyda Carballo-Ricardo. Saturdays are given over to

Salvadoran Salvadorans (Spanish: ''Salvadoreños''), also known as Salvadorians (alternate spelling: Salvadoreans), are citizens of El Salvador, a country in Central America. Most Salvadorans live in El Salvador, although there is also a significant Salvad ...

programs under the banner of ''Sábados Salvadoreños''; similarly, a four-hour Sunday morning block, ''Domingos Guatemaltecos'', presents

n music.

Play-by-play

KWKW is currently the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

of a four-station Spanish-language network for the

(

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

), with Jose "Pepe" Mantilla, Fernando González and Francisco Pinto as announcers; all games are broadcast live. The station is additionally the flagship of a multi-station Spanish-language network for the

( NFL) featuring play-by-play announcer Troy Santiago and color analyst Ricardo López. All games from the

(

) are broadcast exclusively on KWKW with play-by-play announcer Rolando 'Veloz' González, whose involvement with the team dates back to 1996. KWKW also airs Spanish-language play-by-play of the following teams: the

(

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

) with announcer

José Tolentino José Franco Tolentino (born June 3, 1961) is a Mexican former professional first baseman who played in Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball. He played for the Houston Astros in . He was a coach for the Mexico national baseba ...

, the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

(NBA) with announcer Armando Garcia and the

(

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

) with announcer Francisco X. Rivera. Select coverage of

matches are broadcast on KWKW via TUDN Radio. Co-owned

also carries select play-by-play from the aforementioned teams in the event of schedule conflicts.

FM translator

In 2017, KWKW began broadcasting on an FM translator, K264CQ (), which has its transmitter mounted to one of KWKW's AM towers.

References

External links

* * * * *
KWKW staff contact information
{{TUDN Radio WKW WKW Sports radio stations in the United States Hispanic and Latino American culture in Los Angeles 1922 establishments in California Radio stations established in 1922 Lotus Communications stations Radio stations licensed before 1923 and still broadcasting