Some KDAY-1580 Santa Monica-Los Angeles history

[radiohistory]

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

 

[ronkaram]

What is thier format history? I moved here in late 1965 and it was an R & B station competing with KGFJ. I heard at one time Allen Freed had a program on the station. They switched to top 40 and I remember a guy who was really funny named Ed Heider on in the mornings. I know the format changed a few times, maybe oldies then back to top 40. Then it eventually became hip hop.

 

[LKellerIII]

What is thier format history? I moved here in late 1965 and it was an R & B station competing with KGFJ. I heard at one time Allen Freed had a program on the station. They switched to top 40 and I remember a guy who was really funny named Ed Heider on in the mornings. I know the format changed a few times, maybe oldies then back to top 40. Then it eventually became hip hop.

I don't know their format history prior to Top 40 in the late 60s, but I remember Ed Heider and Dex Allen on the top 40 format. About 1969 or 1970, K-Day morphed into a very decent album rock station. Album rock was starting to make big inroads on FM (KMET, KLOS), but many people didn't yet own AM/FM radios. AM only radios were still standard on most cars. So K-Day saw the opportunity and took it. The only DJ from this period I can remember was Sam Riddle, who came over from KHJ.

Wolfman Jack joined K-Day at nights at some point after his association with 1090 ended. A couple of years later (73 maybe?), they again became a soul station competing with KGFJ.

 

[calguy]

I would think they were doing a popular music format in 1960 as Alan Freed worked there at that time. This was post WABC when he'd been disgraced over the payola scandel. However since he had control over the music played on his show, it may have only been rock during his show. Don't know...

 

[radiohistory]

When Alan Freed was at KDAY, it was co-owned with WINS in New York City. Also at KDAY-1580 in early 1960 was George Carlin, as part of a two-man team, but he was there for only a few short months. KDAY was still a daytimer then in '60. Also at KDAY possibly around this time or a bit later were people like Tom Clay, Art Laboe and Sam Babcock.

Wolfman Jack started doing the 7 pm to midnight shift at KDAY in 1971, shortly after he was let go from 1090, 5 years after he had started there at XERB, which became XEPRS. He was on the air right after Sam Riddle.
In his 1995 book, co-written by Byron Laurson, on page 209, he mistakenly called KDAY "a 5,000 watt AM satation", instead of 50,000. lol But he goes into detail about their AOR format and the station's night-time signal pattern and how it could be heard on good nights in Hawaii and Australia. The book implies that he was at KDAY until sometime in 1973.

Jim

 

[ercjncpr]

I do know in the mid-60s they were MoR because I used to listen to them regularly at that time. One of the interesting things KDAY did in 1966 and '67 was their own version of Pearl Harbor Day (Dec 7th both years) with period music and news bulletins etc from sunrise to sunset. The broadcasts included the requisite disclaimers, in case any casual listeners would possibly think that Japan was attacking Hawaii again after 25 years! ;D As it was done live, no airchecks of the specials apparently exist. I seem to recall it was in '68 that the R&B format debuted.

 

[radiohistory]

Yes, they did have an MOR type format for a few years.

I was looking at comments to the KDAY airchecks that are posted at the www.reelradio.com site, and there are a few references to KDAY having an easy-listening/MOR format in the eraly to mid-'60s, with a slogan about "music for almost everyone." The comments on the airchecks, including one from Alan Freed in 1960, list quite a few KDAY DJs from the '60s and '70s.

Speaking of KDAY re-creating broadcasts from 12-7-1941, KABC-790 also did that on the 25th anniv. in 1966, usig the old KECA call letters all day and playing some old KECA programs and newscasts, commercials, etc. from that day. I was in 6th grade then and was fascinated with this bit of radio history.

jh

 

[observer8057]

SORRY, I POSTED THIS IN THE WRONG DISCUSSION:

Can't be sure of the exact date KDAY went full-time, but it was somewhere around 1971.

I was weekending while going to UCLA and working afternoons for an early programming consultant, Ted Randal. Art Astor had moved from sales manager at KHJ to the GM chair at daytimer KDAY. Bob Wilson (founder of R&R) had come down from the San Joaquin Valley. They were still running a quasi-Top 40 format.

The 50kw transmitter was near Santa Monica, but in the City of Los Angeles. Studios had moved to 1700 North Alvarado a bit before that, with the six towers already constructed, and a new 50kw xmtr was in place, waiting for the fulltime go-ahead from the Commission.

I was at work at Randal's when I got a call from Bob Wilson. The FCC had just authorized fulltime 50kw from the Alvardo site. Could I come in at 7 pm, to make the transition to night operation. (It happened around 8pm, so it had to be in the summer.) I was playing the soft rock, and at normal night sign-off, I said "KDAY now becomes K-Night."

The 50kw operation from Alvarado did not last long. Tremendous induction into the old PacBell Normandy exchange office. FCC got involved. KDAY then had to go back to the "Santa Monica" site for daytime 50kw operation, with nights coming from the Alvarado site at 10kw.

Ultimately, Rollins decided the two xmtr site operation was not financially viable, so the 50kw "Santa Monica" xmtr was shut down, and all transmission was moved to Alvarado at 10kw. For what seemed an eternity, with apparently Rollins footing the bill, shielding was accomplished by the phone company at their CO, and we were able to return to 50kw.

Art and Bob then introduced what would become a very formatted "AOR." which did very well for a while until fm--primarily KLOS at that point--began to gain an audience, and pushed KDA's numbers down, down, down.

With the new format and full power, Art and Bob convinced me to leave Randal's and take the morning drive run at KDAY.

Many tales about that version of KDAY. My first newsman in the morning was Steve Fredericks, who had done a lot of cartoon storylines for Playboy. When Steve left, he was followed by the brilliant Loui Irwin. Nathan Roberts did mid-days. He eventually landed at Channel 2, doing news -- eventually ending up in Washington DC. Sam Riddle did afternoons before segueing to television production ("Star Search," etc.) B. Bailey Brown was the night-time time jock. Several jocks held down the overnight, including the ubiquitous John Darin.

Eventually, Wolfman came on board. Until he got the gig in New York on NBC's midnight special, he did his 7pm-Midnight gig live from Alvarado. (Lots of tales to be told about that era, but I shall demur until i write my autobiography!) When he moved to the Big Apple, he did his show on tape for KDAY.

We did very well for a while, until the aforementioned discovery of fm by the audience led to a significant slip in Arbitron.

Meanwhile, Rollins was moving its properties into the "R&B" format. As the numbers slipped at KDAY, corporate in Atlanta decided it was time to change the format. The staff was called into the conference room where a suit from the home office explained the format change and reassured the troops that most of their jobs were secure.

(I was offered the PD's job at their Wilmington, Delaware property. No thanks! LA for me!

Leaving that meeting, the suit walked down the hall with me to my office. From his inner jacket pocket, he pulled out a folded piece of paper, handed it to me, and said "Fire these bast*rds." Less than five minutes after telling the staff most jobs were safe, he gave me a list of more than thirty people who were out of a job by the end of that day.

His explanation to me for the change: In his southern drawl, he said "We know how to make money with this nig*er format!"

Enough said.

 

[observer8057]

BTW, Jim, the 3rd Street location in Santa Monica was only the second-floor walkup studio site after they moved from Vine Street in Hollywood. It was never the xmtr site.

The then-owners must have made a mistake on their application. Third Street by then was all retail and commercial, and unless they could have figured out how to stick two towers (the array then at Palms Bvd) on top of a store, they would have been stuck at the Mar Vista (Los Angeles, adjacent to Santa Monica and near Santa Monica Airport) site. Mar Vista remained until all operations were eventually moved to Alvarado. (Since KDAY was an IBEW signatory, engineers were required at both sites.)

 

[radiohistory]

OK on the 3rd Street site...Had to have been a mistake, because my friend who copied the FCC files from microfiche in DC said it listed that address as one of the transmitter sites! So, likely a paperwork error.

Do you mean 1971 for when the 50 kw night power went on full-time? It was supposed to be 50 kw day and 10 kw night full-time in the late-'60s, around 1968 or so.

Thanks for your time, giving us your view as somebody who was there on the frontlines! Wow.

Take care.

Jim

 

[jonbruce]

I think KDAY went full time in 1969. Earl Trout, who I had worked with a few years before was hired as a jock there when they went full time and he invited me over to see the new studios on Alvarado one night. He mentioned the rf overloading the phone system in the area, primarily at a nearby catholic hospital (now closed). I recall hearing KDAY in 1958 and 59 with Art Laboe and Allan Freed. In 1960 then GM Mell Leeds modified the format slightly. While still Top 40 he added a lot of lengthy feature type things including one mid day remote program from a restaurant (forgot the name) where interviews with celebrities were conducted. He brought the same type of stuff over to 1490 KBLA when he was GM there later. I remember Tom Clay afternoons in 1962. I believe it was around 1963 or early 64 when Rollins took over and it went R & B. The next format was that "easy" one in 1966-67, and then a return to top 40 while still a daytimer with Nathan Roberts as a jock before the re-vampted top 40 when they went full time.

 

[ronkaram]

When did Rollins sell the station and to who? What format did it have when they sold it? I think Rollins was in other businesses beside broadcasting unless there is another company with that name.

 

[radiohistory]

Lots of good info. there Jon....Thanks!....

By the way, Earl Trout, was that the same DJ who used the name Earl Trout the Third (or III) on KWIZ-1480 in Santa Ana, or am I having false memories of something that never took place? Or maybe I just have the name wrong, and it was him on KWIZ I used to hear between 1965-1968 or so.

Jim

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Earl Trout, aka Earl L. Trout III, prior to his late '60s
action in Cali, was on KFIF 1550 Tucson (50 kw-D,
top 40) in 1966.

Other KFIF jocks included Tom Wright (prior to KTKT),
Jimmy Love (aka Bill Jones?), Ken White (Weiss?),
T. Michael Jordan (prior to KMEN et al), Mark Parr,
Tom Lane (Lynch, pre-KACY), Jack Mitchell (longtime
in Toledo now retired), Casey Jones (Chuck Marsh?),
Russ O'Hara (KMEN/KGFJ/KKDJ/KRLA/KDES), and
Gary Palant.

 

[Ultimajock]

I remember Tom Clay afternoons in 1962.

...are you positive about that time frame? I thought Clay was still in Detroit/Windsor, bouncing between WJBK and CKLW, until late '64, when he got in a jam over a local Beatles Fan Club he was running. Then he came out to L.A. and did the evenings at KBLA when Humble Harve was doing the mornings (and programming) and Bob Dayton, freshly bounced from WABC (the infamous Hiroshima "Happy Birthday" gag), took the afternoon drive shift...

 

[radiohistory]

I'm no expert on this and I was in grade school in the early-60s and didn't move to the LA area until 1965, but Don Barrett's LARADIO.com lists Tom Clay at KDAY between 1960-1962 and again from 1966-'67.

Didn't know 1550 in Tucson had been Top 40...How and why did that station get taken over by the University of Arizona as a public non-commerical station?

jh

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Didn't know 1550 in Tucson had been Top 40...How and why did that station
get taken over by the University of Arizona as a public non-commerical station?

KFIF owner John Walton wanted a full-time stick (actually he got three sticks,
but I'm getting ahead of myself here).

As part of the deal to purchase of KTAN 580 Tucson (5 kw-D, 500 w-N, DA-N),
Walton donated the KFIF 1550 license (50 kw-D) to the U of A.

KFIF 1550 became KUAT (now KUAZ) and KTAN 580 became KIKX.

KIKX jocks during its first top 40 era (1967-1969) included Russ O'Hara,
Jefferson K (Shadoe Stevens) and John Mack Flanagan (pre-KTKT).

KIKX 580 eventually had its ticket yanked due to a kidnapping stunt in the
mid-1970s. 580 was dark for a few years and was later revived under different
ownership as KJMM, but it failed financially. Returned one more time as KSAZ
with a COL (and XMTR site) change to Marana. KSAZ 580 is still current with
5 kw-D, 390 w-N, DA-N--on Labor Day it flipped from Tiresome Classics to
Real Country. And with the flip, it appears that Dancin' Danny Babich and
his Dead-Air Disco Show is history.

 

[jonbruce]

Earl Trout now does sales at KLAA 830. We still keep in touch. He previously did sales for Salem and Crawford in Los Angeles. Yes, he is the same Earl Trout that was PD and a jock on KWIZ. I think that was around 1972 or 73.

 

[ronkaram]

I think Tom Clay was on KDAY and even filled in for someone on KGBS a few times. It was around the time he made a narrated song to the background of What The World Needs Now is Love. Also on KGBS I think Don Imas filled in for someone one while they were on vacation.

 

[SuperRadioFan]

I think Tom Clay was on KDAY and even filled in for someone on KGBS a few times. It was around the time he made a narrated song to the background of What The World Needs Now is Love. Also on KGBS I think Don Imas filled in for someone one while they were on vacation.

I remember Tom Clay being briefly on WCBS-FM NYC in 1969 before they were oldies. I think his record (which I have) came out around 1971... wonderful stuff