KMKY (1310 AM) is a

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

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the ...

that broadcasts with 5,000

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

s. It calls itself "Radio Punjab" and airs programming in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

and

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

aimed at the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area G ...

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...

n community. It is owned by Charanjit Batth, through licensee Radio Punjab AM 1310 Inc. Its

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

is located in Oakland near the toll plaza for the

San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland, it carries about 260,000 ...

. The 1310 AM frequency from 1959 to 1997 was the home of

Urban adult contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music ...

and

Gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is co ...

KDIA. It later served as the San Francisco home of

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within the Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programmi ...

from 1997 to 2015, using the

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 ass ...

KMKY, the last three letters standing for the Disney character

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

History

KMKY is the second-oldest surviving radio station in the Bay Area. It began as KLS on March 10, 1922 on 1200 kHz. It moved to 1220 kHz in 1927 then 1440 kHz in 1928. It moved to 1280 kHz in 1937 then 1310 kHz in 1941 as a result of the NARBA agreement. In 1945, when the station was owned by the Warner Brothers of Oakland, no relation to the movie studio, it changed its call letters to KWBR and changed its format to focus on an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

audience. In 1959, it was bought by the owners of

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

radio station

WDIA WDIA (1070 AM) is a radio station based in Memphis, Tennessee. Active since 1947, it soon became the first radio station in the United States that was programmed entirely for African Americans. It featured black radio personalities; its success i ...

, and the call letters were changed to KDIA. During the 1960s through the 1980s, the station was the premier

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...

station in the

Sly Stone Sylvester Stewart (born March 15, 1943), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer who is most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the ...

was a DJ at the station before launching

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band from San Francisco. Active from 1966 to 1983, it was pivotal in the development of funk, soul, rock, and psychedelic music. Its core line-up was led by singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi ...

br>
In December 1984, the station was sold to Adam Clayton Powell III, who turned the station into KFYI, with an all-news format backed by a 32-member news team. After Powell failed to make payroll for KFYI — having lost a reported $4-million in funding invested by Aetna Insurance in less than six months on the air — the station went silent on April 9, 1985. It returned to air in July, however, having reclaimed its legacy KDIA call letters, while resuming its Urban Music format. In the early 1990s, KDIA was co-owned by then mayor of

Elihu Harris Elihu Mason Harris (born August 15, 1947) is a retired American politician and college administrator. A member of the Democratic Party, Harris served as the 46th Mayor of Oakland, California from 1991 to 1999; he previously served for 12 years ...

, with then

California Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The Ass ...

Speaker Willie Brown. In 1992, the late Oakland journalist

Chauncey Bailey Chauncey Wendell Bailey Jr. (October 20, 1949 – August 2, 2007) was an American journalist noted for his work primarily on issues of the African American community. He served as editor-in-chief of '' The Oakland Post'' in Oakland, California, ...

returned to the Bay Area to work as public affairs director and newscaster on KDIA. Bailey later became the editor of the '' Oakland Post'' who was murdered on the streets of

downtown Oakland Downtown Oakland is the central business district of Oakland, California, United States; roughly bounded by both the Oakland Estuary and Interstate 880 on the southwest, Interstate 980 on the northwest, Grand Avenue on the northeast, and Lak ...

. KDIA changed from

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is co ...

on December 15, 1997, when the station was sold to

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on Octobe ...

. KDIA's first song as Radio Disney was "Cruella de Vil" from

One Hundred and One Dalmatians ''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (also simply known as ''101 Dalmatians'') is a 1961 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and based on the 1956 novel '' The Hundred and One Dalmatians'' by Dodie Smith. Th ...

. On August 13, 2014, Disney put KMKY and 22 other Radio Disney stations up for sale, in order to focus more on digital distribution of the Radio Disney network. On June 24, 2015, RD San Francisco Assets filed an application to sell KMKY to Radio Mirchi, for $600,000. The sale was completed on October 6, 2015.Consummation Notice - FCC
/ref> Radio Disney programming for the region later moved to the

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

HD3 digital subchannel, where it aired until June 2018.

References

External links

FCC History Cards for KMKY

The Early History Of KLS/KWBR/KDIA Oakland, California
1922 establishments in California Asian-American culture in Oakland, California Hindi-language radio stations Indian-American culture in California Pakistani-American culture in California Punjabi-American culture Punjabi-language mass media Radio stations established in 1922 MKY South Asian American culture Former_subsidiaries_of_The_Walt_Disney_Company Radio stations licensed before 1923 and still broadcasting {{California-radio-station-stub