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KABC-AM San Antonio from 1943

Y2kTheNewOldies

Y2kTheNewOldies


Before KABC became associated with Los Angeles. Those call letters were originally used for a San Antonio radio station in the 1940's. That station in San Antonio is known as KKYX-AM.

When San Antonio had the KABC Call letters it was known as Alamo Broadcasting Company named after the owner at the time. Also it's a factor why ABC never renamed KGO-AM as KABC-AM for San Francisco in the same lines as KNBC-AM and KCBS-AM were associated with San Francisco for a time in the 1940's until they realized that Los Angeles is a bigger city than San Francisco.
 
Y2kTheNewOldies said:

Before KABC became associated with Los Angeles. Those call letters were originally used for a San Antonio radio station in the 1940's. That station in San Antonio is known as KKYX-AM.

When San Antonio had the KABC Call letters it was known as Alamo Broadcasting Company named after the owner at the time. Also it's a factor why ABC never renamed KGO-AM as KABC-AM for San Francisco in the same lines as KNBC-AM and KCBS-AM were associated with San Francisco for a time in the 1940's until they realized that Los Angeles is a bigger city than San Francisco.
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Some history and some clarity:

San Francisco was the larger of the two metropolitan areas until after World War II. In the 1940 census, taken the year before we entered the war, the Bay Area population was 1.7 million. The L.A. metro was 1.5 million.

ABC was created by the 1944 breakup of the NBC Red and NBC Blue networks. KGO was the Blue network flagship, so it was part of the deal.

I doubt re-naming KGO as KABC was ever even considered. ABC didn't see branding individual stations with network calls as a priority. By the time they did, L.A. was the larger city. KECA in Los Angeles didn't become KABC until 1954. WJZ, New York didn't become WABC until 1957.

NBC didn't rename its TV station in L.A. as KNBC until 1962. It had been KNBH and then KRCA--for NBC parent company RCA--until then. KNBC (680) became KNBR.

And CBS only renamed its L.A. TV station in 1984, after an FCC ruling allowing call letters to be re-used on different broadcast bands (AM/FM/TV) in other markets with permission. If that rule hadn't come down, who knows whether CBS would have made that move?

Worth noting that even though they renamed KNX-FM (93.1) KCBS-FM in 1991, they've never even floated the idea of changing calls of the San Francisco and L.A. AMs....likely because of the enormous brand equity both have enjoyed for decades.
 
michael hagerty said:
Some history and some clarity:

San Francisco was the larger of the two metropolitan areas until after World War II. In the 1940 census, taken the year before we entered the war, the Bay Area population was 1.7 million. The L.A. metro was 1.5 million.

ABC was created by the 1944 breakup of the NBC Red and NBC Blue networks. KGO was the Blue network flagship, so it was part of the deal.

I doubt re-naming KGO as KABC was ever even considered. ABC didn't see branding individual stations with network calls as a priority. By the time they did, L.A. was the larger city. KECA in Los Angeles didn't become KABC until 1954. WJZ, New York didn't become WABC until 1957.

NBC didn't rename its TV station in L.A. as KNBC until 1962. It had been KNBH and then KRCA--for NBC parent company RCA--until then. KNBC (680) became KNBR.

And CBS only renamed its L.A. TV station in 1984, after an FCC ruling allowing call letters to be re-used on different broadcast bands (AM/FM/TV) in other markets with permission. If that rule hadn't come down, who knows whether CBS would have made that move?

Worth noting that even though they renamed KNX-FM (93.1) KCBS-FM in 1991, they've never even floated the idea of changing calls of the San Francisco and L.A. AMs....likely because of the enormous brand equity both have enjoyed for decades.
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True and also WABC calls were originally with CBS Radio in New York. The WABC Calls when CBS Radio had them stood for Atlantic Broadcasting Company the original owners prior to CBS taking over WABC and later renaming them as WCBS.



Directional Antennas

Voice of America - Dixon California
www.theradiohistorian.org


Likewise KNBC call letters had their origins as a shortwave station from Dixon, CA as part NBC Radio's shortwave network in the 1940's before those calls moved to San Francisco on what is now known as KNBR and for NBC's flagship TV station in Los Angeles.


In 1943, both NBC and CBS agreed to build new shortwave plants in California for the O.W.I. The facilities would be built by the networks under contract to the O.W.I., financed by a government loan, and leased to the O.W.I., who would provide all program services. CBS chose a location at Delano and put stations KCBA, KCBF and KCBR on the air in November, 1944. NBC selected a 160 acre site on what is now called Radio Station Road in Dixon.

NBC engineer Carl Deitsch supervised the design and construction of the million dollar project. Deitsch was NBC’s shortwave broadcast expert, having done the same job previously for its shortwave stations in Bound Brook, New Jersey. He was assisted by others from the crack NBC engineering team, including key men from the NBC broadcast stations KPO and KGO in San Francisco. Construction began in 1943 with the installation of two 50 kW Federal Telegraph Co. transmitters. Rhombic antennas targeted Japan, Australia and the Philippines. Broadcasting commenced on December 27, 1944, with the call signs KNBA and KNBC. The next year, two more RCA transmitters were added, using the call signs KNBI and KNBX.
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