• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

KOGO - San Diego

R

Radioisbest

I go back a long way, with LA radio. I remember KFI doing the frost warnings during the winter at 8PM; Ben Hunter late at night; or Steve Allen doing a live show at midnight on KNX.

Radio in this area is now awful. Most of the time, there is nothing worth hearing.

Fortunately, I can receive a lot of radio from other areas, on my regular radio. I have discovered KOGO (600), out of San Diego.

LaDona Harvey is fabulous! She is on during the week, from noon to 3PM.

If you’ve had enough of KFI, you might try KOGO.

No, I don’t know anyone who works there!
 
KOGO carries the syndicated programs of Rush Limbaugh, George Noory, Art Bell and Leo LaPorte (all heard on KFI as well), plus "The Jesus Christ Show" (with KFI's Neil Saavedra taking on the role of Jesus and answering callers' theological and personal issues). On weekends, KOGO's newscasts are provided by the KFI news team. In other words, if you've "had enough of KFI," you'll find that KOGO isn't much different.

By the way, KOGO began in 1925 as KFVW and a year later became KFSD, for "First in San Diego"; it was the city's first commercially licensed radio station. It's been KOGO since 1961.
 
K.M. Richards sent me a correction about the KOGO call letters and I hereby post them for everyone's amazement and amusement. Thank you, K.M.! Now you can see why my screen name isn't "SanDiegoRadioRewind":

"From December 15, 1984 until March 12, 1987, it was KLZZ (simulcasting the "California Classics" format with 106.5, now Spanish-language KLNV) and after that KKLQ (simulcasting Q106). It retook the KOGO calls January 17, 1994, the same day as the Northridge earthquake. The KOGO calls resided on 1590 in Ventura from February 1, 1985 until September 17, 1993."
 
I have a 1927 Radio Doings magazine that listed a program schedule for KFSD, which was owned then by the Airfan Radio Corporation. The station was then on 245.8 meters or 1220 kilocycles, with 1,000 watts of power. The studios were in the U.S.
Grant Hotel. I have a postcards showing the hotel and the KFSD transmitting antenna on the roof. In this issue of January 29, 1927, it shows that this slogan was created, using the KFSD call letters: "Kiss From San Diego."

Jim Hilliker
Monterey
 
Jim, you and I both wrote for the now-defunct LARadio.com and I've never seen this question brought up. Until just now, it never occurred to me to bring it up: How many 1920s radio stations were located inside a hotel...and why? Were their studios in view of the public? Were the studios attached to ballrooms or auditoriums from which live music could be broadcast? Did any hotel owners also own a radio station? Did I just assign you an essay? And are we getting off-topic again?
 
Jim could no doubt write a book on the topic (hi, Jim), but here's a thumbnail answer:

Locating early radio stations in hotels was indeed very common, for many of the reasons you hypothesize. It was common to trade studio space for on-air mentions, and early stations wanted free rent just as much as they do now. In an era before recorded music was easily played on the radio, having a house orchestra available to fill airtime was a huge thing. And one other thing, too: back then, good engineering practice said you wanted your AM antenna mounted on a rooftop on as high a point in town as you could get it. Often as not, the big hotel was one of the tallest buildings in town...which also made for dynamite PR when you could put a big illuminated set of call letters up there, too.

It was even fairly common to find a situation in which the hotel owned the station. Two New York City stations, WMCA and WPCH, got their calls that way (McAlpin Hotel and Park Central Hotel). North of the border, the early national radio networks in Canada were developed by the national railroads...and those national railroads tended to own the luxury hotels in each city where they stopped. The Canadian National Railway's CNRO Ottawa became the CBC's CBO Ottawa, and until just a few years back it continued to maintain its studios on the top floor of the city's luxury railroad hotel, the Chateau Laurier.
 
Thanks, Scott! I never knew the origin of the WMCA call letters. By the way, you know me (under a different name) from DecalcoMania. I live in "Boss Angeles." Yeah---Steve, who still misses KHJ.

I know a lot of radio stations were located in newspaper buildings---the aforementioned KHJ, for instance, which broadcast from atop the Los Angeles Times building. Now I'm wondering if the majority of the 1920s stations installed studios in an existing building, such as a hotel or department store, or if they custom-built their own studios. We know a lot about the history of the early stations but very little about their broadcast facilities.
 
Scott explained it quite well, and knows more about the situation with the hotels better than I do. Funny, but I can't think of any in Los Angeles that had their radio stations located inside a hotel, except for KGFH-Glendale in the Hotel Glendale from 1928-1929 when they went dark; and later KIEV in the same Glendale Hotel starting in 1933, until I belive sometime in the 1990s. Lots of the stations had remote broadcasts of hotel bands and orchestras though, such as the Ambassador on KFI and KNX, and KFWO on Catalina had a remote line from Major Mott's house to the St.Catherine Hotel for lunch and dinner time music; KPSN in Pasadena had a remote line to a local hotel orchestra from November 1925 until it went dark in 1931.

A few of the early ones in 1922-1924 were in department stores such ad KNN in Bullocks, KYJ in Hamburger's at 8th and Broadway, which soon after became The May Company; and Barker Brother's Dept. Store had KJC inside their store too, usually promoting their radio equipment for sale. All had their flattop wire antennas on the roof the the buildings, including KNX atop the California Theater at 801 South Main Street from 1922-1924. Most at the time did use existing buildings to house their broadcast equipment. Would take a while for me to think of an early example of a brand new radio station building for a studio.

Steve, hope you saw my post on the Ray Briem page about DJs on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood.

Jim
 
Jim Hilliker said:
Funny, but I can't think of any in Los Angeles that had their radio stations located inside a hotel, except for ...
Click to expand...
Jim....In addition to the examples you cited, there is the more recent instance of this where you (and I) grew up - Orange County. KEZY 1190 launched inside the Disneyland Hotel and spent its first decade there before relocating to its own nearby facility at 1190 Ball Road.
P.S....Jim, if you ever do make it back here to your old OC stomping grounds it would be great to meet you. I'm sure my friend, SRF, would concur.
 
Mister 1954---and please say hello to your father, Mister 1953---I made a few trips to the KRLA studios in the late 1960s. There was a big glass window so fans could see the DJ (with his back to the window, though). One time I got to meet their engineer, known only as "Chester," and he let me dig through Dave Hull's box of noisemakers. (No, I didn't try any of them!) The studio was in a former carriage house at the Huntington Sheraton Hotel, 1401 South Oak Knoll in Pasadena. Railroad tycoon Henry Huntington was the hotel's second owner---it was originally the Wentworth Hotel. Today it's the Langham Huntington Hotel.
 
It was decidedly unusual for stations to build standalone studio buildings prior to World War II. One of the few examples that comes to mind is the Earle C. Anthony KFI/KECA building on South Vermont, which dated to the mid-1930s. It was much more common before that for stations to locate in office buildings, or in the offices of whatever their parent companies might be (car dealers, newspapers, churches, yes, hotels, etc.)

The coming of suburbia in the 1950s changed that, of course, and it became much more common to find radio stations in standalone suburban buildings and sometimes right out at their transmitter sites. Before that, studios were rarely found at transmitter sites (unless the transmitter was on the roof of the office building housing the studio!) KWG in Stockton is a distinct exception; it's still in the building that went up in 1930 as (I think) both studio and transmitter.

A particular historical interest of mine lately is tracking the few remaining purpose-built TV station buildings from the dawn of the TV era in the late 1940s. There are not many left. WTMJ radio/TV in Milwaukee dates to the early 1940s (though it's been heavily renovated and altered), and WROC-TV here in Rochester still occupies the "Rochester Radio City" building built for WHAM radio/TV in 1948. I just had the distinct pleasure last week of getting to visit KXAS-TV in Fort Worth, which will soon vacate the building it's occupied since 1948, when it was built for WBAP-TV/radio.

Returning to the title of this thread, when did KFSD radio/TV move into the now-KGTV building along the 94 freeway? 1960-ish? That would almost surely make it the oldest studio facility still in use in San Diego, with KFMB probably second now.

Who's in the oldest studios now in LA? For TV, either KNBC (but not for long) or KTTV; for radio, I'm thinking KABC/KLOS is now the longest at the same address, though the original KABC building on La Cienega was replaced 20 or so years back by the newer building behind it. After that, possibly KKGO?
 
Yes, KEZY-1190 began in 1959 at the Disneyland Hotel, at least where the retail shops were located. But we were actually discussing radio stations of the 1920s that had studios inside a hotel and their transmitting antennas on the roof of those hotels.
I see KYA in S.F. was at the Cleft Hotel in San Francisco in 1927.

Jim
 
Scott, KABC-Channel 7 occupied the studio at 4151 Prospect from 1949 to 1999, when they moved to Disney-owned property in Glendale, but I believe several ABC series are still taped at the Prospect Street studio. The facility was originally used by Vitagraph Pictures and then by Warner Bros.

KTLA-Channel 5 went on the air in 1947 but was doing experimental broadcasts as early as 1942 and was located at Paramount Studios. I know Gene Autry owned KTLA (and KMPC radio) in the 1960s-70s.

Several years ago I bought a locally published book titled Airwaves. It was a history of San Diego's top-40 stations and it would probably say when KFSD moved. Danged if I can find where I put the fershlugginer book! I'll keep looking. Maybe Jim has a copy?
 
Re: KOGO - San Diego/old radio studio locations

Scott, the building that KFI and KECA (and for a time, KFI-FM and KFI-TV channel 9) occupied at 141 North Vermont Street was originally designed and built for Hearst Radio's KEHE-780 about 1936. The EHE stood for Los Angeles Evening Herald Express. KFI and KECA moved into the building from their original 1000 South Hope Street location in December of 1939, after Earle C. Anthony bought KEHE and took it off the air, so KECA could move from 1430 to 780 on the dial. The studios were built just for radio and they were more 'modern' and spacious than KFI and KECA had used at 10th and Hope up until that time.

Other examples of stations inside a newspaper were KFAC in Glendale 1922-1923 at the Glendale Daily Press Building (not related to the later KFAC on 1300 and 1330 AM from 1931 to 1989); and KPSN atop the Pasadena Star News from 1925-1931; there was even an early Hearst station, KWH, in the Los Angeles Examiner Building on South Broadway from 1922-1925. Even the Los Angeles City Dye Works and Laundry on Central Avenue had KUS on the air from there in 1922 and '23. Several were built inside a residential home, which I'm sure the FCC would not allow today. Some examples include KWTC in Santa Ana in late-1926 at 1101 S. Ross Street; KFQZ in Hollywood, which was known as The Palace Bungalow Station on Argyle Street in 1926; and KFWO in Avalon inside Lawrence Mott's house on Claressa Avenue on Catalina Island between 1925 and 1928.



Jim
 
Jim, I printed out your Los Angeles call letter history and most of your essays on LARadio.com. I've said many times you should write a book on California radio history. I still say that. Either that or I should try to memorize everything you've written. When 6ADZ, the station that became KNX, went on the air in 1920, wasn't it located in a private residence? I've heard that station founder Fred Christian, who played records over the air, is considered by some to be the first DJ, but I'm not sure if he really was. Hey, remember when this thread started and we were talking about KOGO?
 
Re: KOGO - San Diego/old studios, first DJ?

Ha ha, yes, my fault I suppose. I may start a new thread later on some or part of this. Yeah, Fred Christian was playing records over his ham station on Harold Way in Hollywood. That was September of 1920. Also, that was on his ham station, and all amateur radio operators at the time had to take turns on 200 meters, about 1500 kilocycles/khz. on the AM band at the time.

Was Fred Christian the first DJ, or person to play phonograph records over the air? No. First of all, in April of 1920, experimental radio station 6XD was licensed for the Western Radio Electric Company. Their station was broadcasting from 550 South Flower Street in Los Angeles and was on the air several months before 6XDZ. According to an issue of Pacific Radio News that year, 6XD was heard on 920 kilocycles and was broadcasting phonograph records from nearby Richardson's Music Shop, as they furnished the latest Victor Records to the little radio station that put out 2 and a half amps, or about 50 watts. Was there a person announcing the records on the air, or were they simply playing the records and giving station IDs? We don't know the answer and have no evidence to say if the station announced the songs after they were played.

But, we know that 6XD was likely the first experimental radio station on the air in Los Angeles, before ham station 6XDZ. Also,
in December of 1921 6XD became station KZC on 360 meters/833 khz. and in February 1922 changed calls to KOG, the first station call letter change in U.S. broadcasting history.

So, who was the first to play records on the radio? Other hams also played music and records on the air before 1920. But, Prof. Mike Adams of San Jose State University says 16 year old Ray Newby of Stockton, CA was the first to play records on the radio, as a student of Herrold College of Wireless in San Jose, California in 1909, under the supervision of Charles "Doc" Herrold. Newby appeared on the TV game show "I've Got a Secret" in 1965, as his secret was, "I was the world's first radio D.J."

As for modern disc jockeys, possibly Al Jarvis of KFWB with his Make Believe Ballroom in 1934 on KFWB, as he played records, but made it sound like they were played by live bands and orchestras. An announcer at KMPC in Beverly Hills, Martin block listened a lot to Jarvis and took the idea to New York, where he copied it and used in on his own show on WNEW with the same name, in 1935. But of course, the rise of the DJ came with post-war radio after television became big and radio survived with the DJ music programs and Top 40, etc.

Jim
 
KHCS Palm Desert's studio is inside of a residential home (in Palm Springs). KBUX Quartzite AZ had not only the studio but the transmitter at a home until it's recent sale. Also of note, KZOM Stamford Tx in the late 1980's and the 107.1 Grover City, Ca. in the mid 80's. KKAR 1220 Pomona was in a house at the transmitter site from 1959 to around 1980.
 
Re: KOGO - San Diego/studio/xmtr sites in homes

OK, thanks, I stand corrected. I did not know that was the case, these days. I didn't think with current zoning laws, RF from the transmitter, etc. that a studio and/or transmitter site could be in a residential area. Than again, here in the Monterey area, we have an FM tower for several stations such as KTOM 92.7, KOCN 105.1, etc. up in Hidden Hills next to many expensive hilltop homes.

Jim
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom