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Some KDAY-1580 Santa Monica-Los Angeles history

An interesting subject!

I have several related tid-bits I remember about KDAY from a couple of angles. I lived in Riverside, Calif from 1959-1965 during my teen years and was quite a radio junkie at the time. In Riverside, there was a station on 1570 (KACE AM-now KPRO) which prevented reception of KDAY at that location. KACE went on the air in 1957. KDAY and KACE were BOTH highly directional against each other to avoid interference, so I would say that KDAY was directional from at least 1957 onward. I also remember when in LA, listening to KDAY in the early 60's which had a Top 40-ish format at the time.

In 1970, I went to work for WGEE AM/FM in Indianapolis, mainly in a sales position, but also did some vacation-fill PT Announcing overnights on the FM. WGEE was a Rollins, Inc. station, too. Another company that Rollins owned was Orkin Exterminating. Shortly before I went to work at WGEE, they were R&B on AM and C&W on FM. It is true that many Rollins stations were R&B, but I am not sure if WCHS-580 in Charleston, WV ever was. Just as I was hired at WGEE, they changed format to "The Parade of Hits" which was a mix AC/Top40, a format which flopped within a couple of years.

I remember a "suit" from Atlanta, named Bob Wilson, who I think was a VP at Rollins, who would come to Indianapolis once a month, or so, to make sure we hadn't blown up the station. Bob was a very short man, probably about 5'4" or so. I would pick Bob up at the Airport when he came to town and we would talk "shop" on the ride to the station. I was always interested in the technical side of things and he seemed very well versed on all subjects. I remember him telling us about the many technical problems Rollins was having at KDAY at the time (1971-72). One problem revolved around a broken insulator on one of the six KDAY towers and the difficulty maintaining their pattern.

I know a lot of this is indirectly related to this post, but maybe some pieces will jog some memories.
 
More on KDAY History...

I just found in the 1958 Broadcasting Yearbook, which is probably information from 1957, the following info:

KDAY operated on 1580 with 10KW-Days with a CP for 50KW-DAD.
 
Jim and All,
KDAY began 24-hour operation in the summer of '68.
I can't give you the exact date, but bit was sometime between August 11 and the end of the month.
 
When KDAY went 24hrs, it was audible down here in San Dieg county at night.On wide band AM car radios(Bendix in a Barracuda)
their audio quality was as good or better(locally) than KRLA.. unfortunately for us in S.D. area, shortly thereafter,Phoenix 1580
went 24hrs. Between them and Hermosillo,night time KDAY was doomed here.
I have a KDAY "In" top 30 record survey sheet from Dec. 13, 1965.Pure 'Soul'... It reads=
"IN RADIO!"
"KDAY, 50,00 Watts Los Angeles"
"1580 On Your Dial-1549 North Vine St., Hollywood ,Ca"
"Play KDAY Smash Record Game"

DJ's- Scott Gorman, Clarence Welch, Ella Kay, Chuck James, Curtis Troupe
 
The line up with Alan Freed (afternoons) included Art Laboe and Sam Babcock, with Avery Berman doing news. I guess you could call it an R & B doo-wop format then, early '60's, and daytime only. I am sorry Freed ever got busted off WABC, but New York's loss was California's gain, I was a loyal listener every chance I got. I seem to recall a Mr. Keating owning it then. There was a Senator Keating from New York around then, I wonder if it was the same fellow, or the same family, maybe so since WINS seems to have been a co-holding, or was that a Westinghouse holding by then. Hmmm...
 
Bob Wilson was the pd at KDAY when it went 24hours. He had previously been with KBLA 1490/1500, went on to program KAFY 550 Bakersfield and after KDAY started Radio and Records magazine.
 
Jim Hilliker said:
I was trying to find an old email from a friend some years back who recalled when KDAY-1580 went 24 hours, but I can't locate it. I seem to recall that he believed it had been sometime in 1968 or '69, but I can't confirm that for sure.

Another friend sent me some FCC files he copied back in D.C. many years ago, with some data on KDAY-1580. The station goes way back to 1946. The first license was issued September 30, 1946 for a 5,000-watt daytimer in Santa Monica, with the assigned calls KXAR, but those calls were never used.

The call letters were changed to KOWL on November 1, 1946, with studios at the Santa Monica Ambassador Hotel. The call letters changed from KOWL to KDAY on May 1, 1956, possibly bcause the station was a daytime-only broadcaster, on the air only during the DAY! Get it? lol

Now for a few technical details. I said that 1580-AM licensed to Santa Monica began as a 5,000 watt daytimer in 1946. According to the FCC files on microfiche, on November 12, 1953, KOWL was granted a C.P. to increase power to 10,000 watts, still a daytimer. A license to cover the C.P. was granted on 3/1/1954.

The FCC file further indicates that after the call change in 1956 to KDAY, the station was granted a C.P. on
May 13, 1964 to increase power to 50 kw-DA, 10-kw DA-2. Somewhere along the line between '54 and '64, they had increased power from 10 kw to 50 kw, to become a 50 kw DA-D, daytimer only. (I'll have to ask my friend for the file again to see when they got 50 kw). There were modifications and extensions to the CP to go 24 hours a day with the 10,000 watts at night DA. Again, I heard that KDAY was 24 hours sometime in 1968 or '69; can anybody pinpoint the date more accurately?

On December 1, 1971, KDAY-1580 was granted a license to cover the C.P. as modified, for 50 kw, DA-2 unlimited. Anyone know when the 50 kw night power went into effect?

I haven't looked up where their transmitter sites had been prior to 1960, but the FCC files show this data:

As of January 8, 1960, they had permission to locate the xmtr at 11600 Palms Blvd. in Los Angeles.

A grant was given by the FCC on 4/25/1966 to have the transmitter at 1532 3rd Street in Santa Monica.

Finally, on March 6, 1968, the FCC was notified that the transmitter site had been moved to 1700 North Alvarado Street in Los Angeles, where the 1580-xmtr has been located since that time.

Jim Hilliker
Click to expand...

Jim, I was the announcer on the air when we said "K-DAY now becomes K-NIGHT!" (Clever, eh?) Unfortunately, memory is a bit foggy about the date. I was doing weekends when PD Bob Wilson called me and said the FCC had just granted 24-hour operation and would I please come in to do an evening shift

We went 24 hours with 50kw DA-2 from the Alvarado Street site. Pacific Telephone immediately complained about our day pattern because the CO for the then NOrmandy (now 66) exchange was in the major lobe and we were inducing our signal big time into their old step equipment.

Initially to solve the problem, we operated from two sites--the old "Santa Monica" 50kw site days, and, if I recall, 10kw at nite from the still-current to this day 1580 Edendale site. That ended quickly because KDAY engineers were members of IBEW and Rollins did not want to pay for two engineers during the overlaps. The Santa Monica (which was actually just over the line in Los Angeles) xmtr site was soon dismantled.

Soon we dropped the Santa Monica site (and the old but very functional RCA
Ampliphase) and went 10kw day and night from the Alvarado site as Rollins paid a fortune for shielding the PacTel NOrmandy Central Office. Don't recall specific amount of time, but it was quite a while before we could go back to 50kw day and nite. Rollins corporate and consulting engineers racked up a lot of airline, hotel and rental car bills during that period.

DA-D and DA-N patterns were always unstable and really crummy. Better night coverage in Hawaii than in a good chunk of the LA market, with the major null which went essentially east/northeast. You could see our tower lights from a distance at night in the null and not able to hear the station.
 
KR4BD said:
An interesting subject!

I have several related tid-bits I remember about KDAY from a couple of angles. I lived in Riverside, Calif from 1959-1965 during my teen years and was quite a radio junkie at the time. In Riverside, there was a station on 1570 (KACE AM-now KPRO) which prevented reception of KDAY at that location. KACE went on the air in 1957. KDAY and KACE were BOTH highly directional against each other to avoid interference, so I would say that KDAY was directional from at least 1957 onward. I also remember when in LA, listening to KDAY in the early 60's which had a Top 40-ish format at the time.

In 1970, I went to work for WGEE AM/FM in Indianapolis, mainly in a sales position, but also did some vacation-fill PT Announcing overnights on the FM. WGEE was a Rollins, Inc. station, too. Another company that Rollins owned was Orkin Exterminating. Shortly before I went to work at WGEE, they were R&B on AM and C&W on FM. It is true that many Rollins stations were R&B, but I am not sure if WCHS-580 in Charleston, WV ever was. Just as I was hired at WGEE, they changed format to "The Parade of Hits" which was a mix AC/Top40, a format which flopped within a couple of years.

I remember a "suit" from Atlanta, named Bob Wilson, who I think was a VP at Rollins, who would come to Indianapolis once a month, or so, to make sure we hadn't blown up the station. Bob was a very short man, probably about 5'4" or so. I would pick Bob up at the Airport when he came to town and we would talk "shop" on the ride to the station. I was always interested in the technical side of things and he seemed very well versed on all subjects. I remember him telling us about the many technical problems Rollins was having at KDAY at the time (1971-72). One problem revolved around a broken insulator on one of the six KDAY towers and the difficulty maintaining their pattern.

I know a lot of this is indirectly related to this post, but maybe some pieces will jog some memories.
Click to expand...

Actually, Bob Wilson was the PD of KDAY in Los Angeles. He left KDAY to create "Radio and Records," which became the bible of the radio and music industries. He eventually sold R&R to Harte-Hanks for a VERY pretty penny. He is still active, working now on a new TV project. Bob understood radio. The "suits" from Atlanta did not!!!!
 
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