San Francisco/San Jose Arbitron Ratings: Holiday 2012

[LKellerIII]

The presumption there is that CC has owned the "Kiss FM" brand since it bought KIIS-FM in the 90s and trademarket it. But I don't know if anybody has ever posted that they know all this for certain - so it's speculation.

"Kiss" was a CA service market for a while, and then at some point it was also registered as a national brand, grandfathering those few "Kiss" operations that predated the registration. "Kiss" has been licensed to non-CC stations in places like Albuquerque.

Similarly, there are cases where CC has licensed the use of another of its brands, The Beat, in places like San Antonio.

An early example of creating and licensing a national brand in radio is Mike Joseph's "Hot Hits" which was both a consulting product and a phrase stations could license and use locally without the consulting services.

I assume that CC could only "own" the brand in the United States, correct? I posted this before, but nobody responded. There is a "Kiss-FM" in France, and the announcers say it in English, though they otherwise speak French. All the other stations I heard there had (not surprisingly) French names, like "Nostalgie" (Oldies).

 

[MarioMania]

Why does KKSF have to switch to 5kw at night, Are they protecting someother station?

 

[davideduardo]

Why does KKSF have to switch to 5kw at night, Are they protecting someother station?

Yes.

Start with the 910 in Denver, and then add in Phoenix and Kamloops and you have the three major nulls to the N, East and SE.

IIRC, they were one of the original regional stations, with 5 kw day, 1 kw night. To go to 5 kw night, they had to go directional. When they increased the day power, it was probably not worth the effort to design a very tight night pattern with more power.

 

[davideduardo]

I assume that CC could only "own" the brand in the United States, correct? I posted this before, but nobody responded. There is a "Kiss-FM" in France, and the announcers say it in English, though they otherwise speak French. All the other stations I heard there had (not surprisingly) French names, like "Nostalgie" (Oldies).

Clear could have registered the name in each country of the world if they thought there was value to be derived. Obviously, they didn't. There are Kiss stations in Venezuela, various parts of the Caribbean, etc.

 

[skippertthomas]

Thosze szilly Fur-Wrenchh! KISS-Oui-Oui?????????? :-X

 

[1069_KIFR]

Every KISS begins with Kay

 

[geek-orama]

Interesting trivia about the KIIS call letters. They were used because the original AM frequency was 1150. K115 or KIIS

 

[stewie]

Interesting trivia about the KIIS call letters. They were used because the original AM frequency was 1150. K115 or KIIS

Very interesting.

So how did the KISS call letters end up at 99.5 in San Antonio. Anyone know the history? I assume the use of the calls was grandfathered (as previously mentioned).

 

[1069_KIFR]

One stations call letters are kIIs, while the other station has kISs.

 

[LKellerIII]

Interesting trivia about the KIIS call letters. They were used because the original AM frequency was 1150. K115 or KIIS

Very interesting.

So how did the KISS call letters end up at 99.5 in San Antonio. Anyone know the history? I assume the use of the calls was grandfathered (as previously mentioned).

Probably. There are few others. If you Google "Kiss-FM," a lot of hits will come back, and not all of them are Clear Channel stations.

When you think of it - since half the call signs in the US start with "K" - "Kiss" is pretty obvious. There was "990 Kiss" (KKIS) out of Concord in the 80s. I seem to remember a "Kissed" (KIST) in Santa Barbara when I was a kid, and of course, the famous "Kissin" (KISN) out of Portland. So hardly a new idea, though Clear Channel was certainly in the right place at the right time.

I also well recall the original 1150-KIIS in LA in the early 70s. The station replaced KRKD - a beautiful music station with a soft-rock format. They put hundreds of billboards all over Southern California - a close up of a man and woman's lips, with the caption "KIIS...and Listen."

KIIS-FM began (early 80s?) when the owners of the AM bought Top 40 102.7/KKDJ. There's a famous recording floating around on the internet of the "marriage" between KIIS and KKDJ, which was played on-air at the time.

 

[1069_KIFR]

Like the 'Marriage' of Lucky and Albertsons?

 

[RadioStarOne]

Hey Guys 990 KKIS was on the air in the 60's. KKIS! "The inland Empire's Finest!"

 

[LKellerIII]

Hey Guys 990 KKIS was on the air in the 60's. KKIS! "The inland Empire's Finest!"

Huh? I thought the "Inland Empire" was San Bernardino and Riverside Counties in Southern California.

 

[jonbruce]

I recall listening to KKIS 990 in the 60's a few times while traveling thru and remember they called the area they were in the IE.

 

[RadioStarOne]

I was there it was the station I listened to until they switched to beautiful music. I guess KFRC 610 kissed their A$$es! lol...lol

 

[LKellerIII]

I recall that I stumbled on to 990 "Kiss" in the late 70s after I bought a very used 1969 Mercury Cougar (huge V8 engine - about 11 mpg, by the way). It had one of those old-fashioned Philco AM radios that was able to pull in low power and distant stations. I was listening from Marin and San Francisco. I though KKIS was a very decent station, with kind of a "chicken rock" format. As far as being competition for high-powered KFRC, or even KYA - no - but that's no surprise.

 

[jonbruce]

In the mid1960's I had sent an air check to KKIS. Got a call from the PD while I was on the air doing a midnight top 40 shift in San Bernardino. He wanted to hire me but the format had just gone from t-40 to Beautiful Music so I declined the offer.