"Hey!! Don't forget KSAN 94.9 back in the 90s!!"
It's interesting to think how times have changed. MetroMedia owned both KNEW and KSAN in the 60s through the 80s. KNEW had been very successful with Country music since the mid 70s, and KSAN was a heritage album-rock station. But as FM grew in popularity, rock on KSAN was losing ratings, so MetroMedia decided to corner the SF market on Country music by having the format on both AM and FM. At some point, KNEW became classic Country (Oldies).
As I remember, both stations had solid ratings through the 80s. But Country music had mass appeal then (think "Urban Cowboy"). At the same time, African American artists were complaining bitterly that they couldn't get airtime on MTV, or on radio outside of "soul" stations. I remember the management of KBLX complaining publicly and angrily that they couldn't get advertisers to buy time on "Black" stations, despite their decent ratings.
A verydifferent time...