Story of KABC-790-AM license a complicated one/call lettere history

[radiohistory]

Changing call letters is nothing new. There were still plenty of call letter changes in Los Angeles
in the 1920s and '30s.

I hope I'm not going to confuse everybody reading this. But, the license for KABC-790 is a complicated story, and dates back to February 1925 as KFVF, and another radio station license that started in 1925, KFXB in Big Bear Lake.

KFVF changed to KNRC in September of 1925; It changed ownership and call letters again in November of 1928 to KTM; then to KEHE in 1935 under Hearst Radio's Los Angeles Evening Express.

KFXB moved from Big Bear to Los Angeles in 1927 and changed calls to KPLA. KFI owner Earle C. Anthony bought KPLA in November of 1929 and changed the calls to KECA for his own initials.

While KFI went from 5 kw to 50,000 watts in 1931 was at 640-AM, KECA was only 1,000 watts at 1430-AM.

KTM was at 780 on the dial and shared time with KELW-780 in Burbank. Both had license troubles in the early-'30s. Anthony had hoped for years of moving KECA to 780 for better signal coverage and higher power.

In 1937, KEHE-780/ Hearst Radio bought out KELW so they could be full time on 780. KEHE-780 had their new 5 kw transmitter site built where today's KABC-790 tower site is.

By 1939, Hearst was selling off their stations, so some of them. Earle C. Anthony paid $400,000 for KEHE and took it off the air. He moved KECA from 1430 to 780. The license for KECA-1430 was deleted. (In 1942, new station KWKW-Pasadena went on the air on 1430)

KFI and KECA-780 moved inbto the former KEHE studiuos at 141 North Vermont in December of 1939. In March of 1941, KECA moved from 780 to 790-AM. And yes, in 1943, due to duoply rules at the time, the
FCC allowed a station owner to have only one radio station per market. So, Anthony had to sell his beloved KECA-790 to the Blue Network (formerly the NBC Blue Network), which became ABC.

And in 1954, KECA-790 became KABC for American Broadcasting Company

I hope that is clear. For a recap, here's a bit from my own AM call frequency history charts.

Jim Hilliker
Monterey

AM 790 (November 15, 1929)

KABC is actually the result of the merger of two stations. KABC began in August of 1925 as KFXB in Big Bear Lake and moved to Los Angeles in 1927 as KPLA. KFI owner Earle C. Anthony bought KPLA and changed it to KECA for his initials on November 15, 1929.

KECA was on 1430 AM. Anthony decided to buy out KEHE 780 and move KECA to that dial position. KECA 1430 license was cancelled by the FCC on 7/31/39 and KEHE became KECA 780 on 8/8/39. KECA moved from 780 to 790 AM on 3/29/41.

KABC has been talk radio since August 1,1960.

KFVF February 16, 1925
KNRC September 22, 1925 Kierulff ‘N’ Ravenscroft Company
(Charles R. Kierrulff, the owner, also was the first owner of KHJ in 1922 when he ran it for the Los Angeles Times for 7 months.)
KTM November 1928 Tom Morgan
KEHE May 6, 1935 Evening Herald Express
KECA August 8, 1939 Earle C. Anthony
KABC February 1, 1954 (or 2/10/54) American Broadcasting Company

 

[chime]

Thanks Jim for a wonderful rundown. You mention 1430
as KWKW? So when did 1430 become KALI? When I got here
in 1978 both KALI-and-KWKW on 1300 were both Spanish.
Its also curious that ABC seemed to be going in
2directions in 1960. What, KABC-and-KGO left
rock-and-roll for talk, while WABC, WLS, and WXYZ went
rock. WABC would have been just 4months away from
switching. Thanks in advance. And lastly, an unrelated
curiousity, supposedly KLAC was rock around
1959, maybe same time as KHJ had those CRC Jingles.
Are their any KLAC 1959 airchex around? Supposedly it
was called "future phonic" maybe a play on the
jingle company "Future Sonic"

 

[fybush]

Your history is excellent as always, Jim. The only addendum I'd make is that the new KWKW 1430 that signed on from Pasadena in 1943 wasn't really on the same channel that KECA had been on. That, of course, is because of the NARBA frequency shift of 1941. Had KECA still been on 1430 at that point, it would have been moved up the dial to 1460 - and so it's really the Inglewood station that's now KTYM that inherited the former KECA spot on the dial.

One other amusing note: the old KABC/KLOS studio on La Cienega was built by accretion over the years around the original KEHE 780 transmitter site from 1937. When that studio/office building was demolished in the late '80s (early '90s?) to be replaced by the current facility behind it, the workers finally chipped away enough at the newer additions to get to the doorway that led into the KABC transmitter room, and when they did, they found the Hearst eagle mascot carved into a nice stone lintel that had been hiding above the doorway all those years. The stonework was saved, and at last account was in storage somewhere in a crawl space above the current La Cienega engineering offices.

 

[Thomps2525]

Jim, many times you've explained that the call letters of the the earliest radio stations were assigned sequentially and were not deliberately chosen to stand for something. You've dispelled oft-repeated stories that "KFI" meant "farm information" and "KHJ" meant "kindness happiness & joy" and KGFJ meant "keeping good folks joyful." Slogans were made from already-assigned call letters but the call letters themselves were assigned sequentially by the FRC or FCC unless someone such as the aforementioned Earle C. Anthony requested specific calls letters. Therefore may I assume that KFVF was sequential and the call letters had no special meaning? There are quite a few stations beginning with "KFV-" on this 1925 radio station list:

http://jeff560.tripod.com/1925am.html

 

[radiohistory]

Scott, you are correct, I forgot about that! And KWKW was a 1 kw daytimer on 1430, when it signed on the air on Sept. 12, 1942. See Broadcastiung magazine story from 9-21-1942:

http://www.americanradiohistory.com...1942-09-21-BC-OCR-Page-0064.pdf#search="kwkw"

Someone asked about KALI-1430. What happened was that KAGH-1300 went on the air in Pasadena in 1948, for owner Andrew G. Haley, who had been an FCC attorney. On 2-16-1950, there was a frequency swap, in which KWKW moved from 1430 to 1300-AM, and KAGH moved from 1300 to 1430, became KALI and the city of license changed to San Gabriel. (Then later of course, KWKW moved from 1300 to 1330 on 1-17-89 at midnight, when KFAC-1330 AM went off the air that night, as KWKW had purchased their station license. And 1300 changed to KAZN for K-Asian)
Interesting to me that it seemed to be history repeating itself, as KFAC started in 1931 on 1300-AM and moved to 1330 in 1941.

Steve, the 3-letter calls were not issued in any alphabetical order or sequential order, but the 4-letter calls were. One of the first to get a requested call was KPPC in Pasadena in December 1924 for Pasadena Presbyterian Church. Also, earlier than that Aimee Semple McPherson requested KFSG for Kall Four Square Gospel, as she did not like the assigned calls the Department of Commerce gave her in January 1924. And summer of 1925, KJS became KTBI for The Bible Institute (of Los Angeles), which became KFAC in 1931. Yes, ECA requested KECA in 1929 from KPLA. And in 1925, KFVF was assigend. But they alao came up with a contrived slogan in 1925, Keen For the Very Finest, as KFVF was at a radio store in West Hollywood at the time. And the calls requested in Sept. 1925 became KNRC for the radio/electronics store Kierulff And Ravenscroft.
More about KFVF's founder later.

Jim

 

[Lopaka]

Very interesting, thank you!

I wonder if there are any records or if anybody is still around who remembers what KTM or KELW or any of the other historic players might have broadcast.

 

[michael hagerty]

Very interesting, thank you!

I wonder if there are any records or if anybody is still around who remembers what KTM or KELW or any of the other historic players might have broadcast.

Well, Art Laboe and Chuck Cecil were on.....


Just kidding.

 

[radiohistory]

Probably nobody around today who can actually recall what was on KTM or KELW. But there are plenty of radio logs from the old newspapers and radio magazines of those years that can give you an idea what was broadcast on those two stations. Plus, on David's American Radio History website, there are several articles in Broadcasting about some of the programming on KTM and KELW in the early and mid-1930s, and their battle with the FRC/FCC to keep their station licenses.

Also, on David's site, I found a 1946 article in Broadcasting magazine on the death of Clarence B. Juneau at age 42. He was the man who got KFVF on the air in 1925 and was chief engineer of its successors KNRC and KTM, and later became station manager of KEHE for Hearst Radio and KYA in San Francisco. Juneau left radio in 1938 or so to start his own advertising agency in Los Angeles. He was still running his ad agency at the time of his death in '46.

The obit said he had a son, Clarence B. Juneau, Jr. A friend did some detective work and found out that his son lives in the Bay Area community of Brentwood. I mailed a letter to him and he emailed me a reply. Bud Juneau was born in 1939. He told me he had a few photos his dad left behind of the KTM-780 antenna/transmitter site in Santa Monica from 1928; a photo of his dad outside his Hollywood home with a 250-watt transmitter he built for KFVF/KNRC in mid-1925; and some of his business cards for KNRC, KTM and KEHE; plus some photos of the KEHE studios on Vermont from 1936 or so. He has since emailed me scans of those items for my radio history project on L.A. radio. So, thanks to the American Radio History site that David has put together, I solved a longtime mystery about what happened to early L.A. radio pioneer C.B. Juneau.

Jim Hilliker
Monterey

 

[davideduardo]

So, thanks to the American Radio History site that David has put together, I solved a longtime mystery about what happened to early L.A. radio pioneer C.B. Juneau.

That's exactly what the site is for! I am glad that the data is useful.

I'm currently looking for Manuel Rosenberg's The Advertiser from that period; that should give some added dimension to the media side from the late 30's.

I also noticed that Radio Mirror from the mid 30's to about 1940 has quite a bit about KFI and later, KFI / KECA in articles about local and regional radio. I'm considering putting the first 20 volumes of that publication... even though it is a fanzine... on the site because of those little occasional gems about local radio.

 

[RadioFanBoy]

In 1931, the LA radio dial looked like this:

570 KMTR
640 KFI (NBC Red)
710 KMPC
780 KELW/KTM
900 KHJ (CBS)
950 KFWB
1000 KFVD
1050 KNX
1120 KMIC
1200 KGFJ
1380 KGER
1430 KECA (NBC Blue)

Most of these stations filled their day reading from The LA Times or other papers, playing 78's, or having live musical acts come in for 15 minutes to a half hour. "Amos N Andy" was heard nightly on KECA. KHJ started out with CBS Radio before the network jumped ship to KNX. KFWB had a nightly syndicated soap opera, "Cecil and Sally", parts of which survive today.

 

[radiohistory]

Let's see. Looks like you left off KFSG sharing time with the Inglewood station on 1120, KMIC, which may have been KMCS by that time, and became KRKD in January of 1932 (today's KTLK-1150);

You also left off KFAC on 1300 kilocycles, sharing time with KGEF, which was taken off the air by the FRC later that year;

Also, you don't show part-time church station KPPC-1210; KFOX-1250 in Long Beach; also KGER was on 1360, not 1380. In OC,. you had 1200 watt KREG on 1500.

Jim

 

[radiohistory]

Re: Story of KABC-790-AM license a complicated one/call letter history

I forgot to mention that KFAC started in April of 1931, after owner E.L. Cord paid $37,000 to buy KTBI-1300 from The Bible Institue of Los Angeles.

David, that would be nice to see the Radio-Mirror items about KFI and KECA. By the way, have you ever seen or heard of a 1930s newspaper-type publication called The California Broadcaster? Mr. Juneau also sent me a 1936 article from that paper, which included pretty much the entire history of his dad's time in Los Angeles radio, and the evolution of his stations, from KFVF, to KNRC, to KTM, to KEHE. I have another article from that paper from 1937 or so about KFOX in Long Beach, but I forgot how that was sent to me. It was another scan somebody had emailed to me a number of years ago.

I have not heard of The Advertiser, but sounds interesting.
Jim

 

[davideduardo]

Re: Story of KABC-790-AM license a complicated one/call letter history

David, that would be nice to see the Radio-Mirror items about KFI and KECA.

I am going to start processing them, and I'll make them text-search enabled. There are about 20,000 pages in the first 20 volumes, so it will take a while but it looks like it will be worth it..

By the way, have you ever seen or heard of a 1930s newspaper-type publication called The California Broadcaster?

No, and I can't find it in any of the library databases I search. I'll ask a friend who is a librarian to check, as he seems to have internal search tools I can't access or don't know how to use. ;D

I have not heard of The Advertiser, but sounds interesting.

Check out this annual book from the publisher: http://www.americanradiohistory.com...rs-Sketchbook/Advertisers-Sketchbook-1938.pdf

 

[MC]

Bob Crane. (aka Col Hogan) what station was he on when he was a big wig in SOCAL radio, and what power did that station have. ??

 

[michael hagerty]

Bob Crane. (aka Col Hogan) what station was he on when he was a big wig in SOCAL radio, and what power did that station have. ??

Crane did mornings on KNX from 1956-1965, quitting when he got the lead role in Hogan's Heroes. KNX is 50,000 watts at 1070.

After Hogan's Heroes ended, he was the designated fill-in for Dick Whittinghill on KMPC (50,000 watts at 710) in 1972 and 1973.

 

[radiohistory]

David,

I will send you an email at the address on your site and send you an example or two of that paper.

MC, I was going to reply to the Bob Crane question, but Micahelk beat me to it. My mother liked to listen to him in the mornings on KNX, but I never heard him. My friend Bill Kingman, who grew up in Pasadena, was a regular listener to Bob Crane in his high school years, 1956-1959. There are some airchecks out there of some of his shows, and they show off his talent very well. He was very funny and a good interviewer.

Interesting that he filled in for Whittinghill in '72 and '73, because he was on against his KMPC show all those years on KNX from '56-'65.

 

[michael hagerty]

David,

I will send you an email at the address on your site and send you an example or two of that paper.

MC, I was going to reply to the Bob Crane question, but Micahelk beat me to it. My mother liked to listen to him in the mornings on KNX, but I never heard him. My friend Bill Kingman, who grew up in Pasadena, was a regular listener to Bob Crane in his high school years, 1956-1959. There are some airchecks out there of some of his shows, and they show off his talent very well. He was very funny and a good interviewer.

Interesting that he filled in for Whittinghill in '72 and '73, because he was on against his KMPC show all those years on KNX from '56-'65.

Jim: You're right. Crane was a rare talent, far better on radio than he was on TV. Very innovative. There's half an hour unscoped of him on KNX in 1962 that you can listen to on KNX. I highly recommend it.

As for Crane and KMPC:

Dick Whittinghill had been in mornings at KMPC since 1949. He was number one until Crane hit town in November, 1956 (replacing Ralph Story, who moved to TV).

Whittinghill (a grumpy, old-school guy to begin with) hated Crane, who beat him for 9 straight years.

By 1962, KMPC started hiring likely replacements for Whittinghill, who was turning 50 in 1963. They brought in Gary Owens, who'd been doing mornings at KFWB, and Bob Arbogast. But Whittinghill had loyal advertisers, so KMPC looked at it as a "when the time comes" situation.

In 1965, when Crane announced he was leaving radio, Whittinghill thought he'd get the ratings crown back. And that's when Robert W. Morgan and Boss Radio at KHJ arrived.

By 1968, Lohman and Barkley had made their way to KFI. Sweet Dick Whittington was making people notice KGIL. Whittinghill (really ticked at having competition with a name that close to his own) was 55 and unlikely to be number one again.

KMPC went back to hiring proven morning men for other shifts. Geoff Edwards from KFI, Jim Lange from KSFO. Wink Martindale (KFWB). Clark Race, from KDKA. But they, like Gary Owens, made themselves indispensable in their timeslots (apart from Race, who bombed) and Whit was still billing well.

Whit was aware of what KMPC was up to. With rare exceptions, he didn't allow fill-ins on his show. If he was going on vacation, he'd tape a week's worth of shows in advance. The only way anyone else did Whit's show is if Whit got sick the night before.

When Hogan's Heroes ended, KMPC approached Crane and offered him the chance to fill in for Whittinghill four weeks a year, during Whit's planned vacations. Crane said yes. Whittinghill blew a fuse, but had no recourse. There's one promotional photo of the two of them together, a subtle spoof of Hogan & Klink. I'm told the photo session took 5 minutes and Whittinghill came and left without saying a word to Crane.

Crane did the four weeks in '72 and '73 and on the last one (April 13, 1973...tape exists) told the audience it was the last of what he called "our specials".

KMPC decided it was now or never and offered Crane Whittinghill's job at $300,000 a year. But Crane really believed his future was TV and movies, which is why he didn't want to continue doing four weeks a year, much less fulltime in radio. He said no.

Word got back to Whittinghill, who now was 60, and he was ticked but determined to stay until he was ready to go.

In spring of 1975, KMPC hired Robert W. Morgan for weekends and fill-ins. Whit was, of course, livid, but kept pointing to the sold-out commercial log for his show.

But as the 70s wore on, KMPC, like all AM stations, suffered. And in 1979, they decided they had to make a big change. Whittinghill would "retire", doing only a Sunday morning show. They'd play it up as his choice, throw a big on-air 30th Anniversary/Farewell and after four years of weekends and fill-ins, Robert W. Morgan would be KMPC's new morning man.

Whit played along for the farewell, did exactly one Sunday show, told KMPC to shove it and was on a competing station a little over a year later.

 

[MC]

Thanks for the info on Crane in LA radio, I think Crane did a "Bob Crane show" about him being a dentist or something, that did not last, then he did those dinner shows pn the road. I went by the condo complex in Scottsdale AZ once (friends pointed it out) where he was killed, nothing special, but t is still there

 

[michael hagerty]

Inadvertent redundancy. The half-hour unscoped of Crane in 1962 on KNX is on Reelradio (I wrote KNX again).