the history of 95.7

[only1deejayman]

way back in the days, KPIX 95.7 News
then....

z95.7 top 40, (SF's best overall IMHO.)
95.7 The Drive, 70's, 80's
95.7 THE BEAR country
95.7 MAX FM, 80's, 90's, today
to it's present format, 95.7 The Wolf, country (stupid name if you ask me)

although I think with the power of Entercom, it should do well, despite what Bonneville did when they owned the freq. good luck.

 

[LKellerIII]

For many years - before KPIX, 95.7 was KKHI - a very good classical music station that played more varied and eclectic music than the staid, conservative KDFC. To make an analogy - if you compared KDFC as a kind of "Classic Hits" Classical station to KFRC, KKHI would be compared to K-Fog, or even the old KKCY ("The City").

Unfortunately, KKHI was the kind of station that could never make it in the modern corporate radio world...or KKCY, for that matter.

 

[AMFMDJ]

Wasn't 95.7 a talk station? During the OJ thing?

 

[LKellerIII]

"Wasn't 95.7 a talk station? During the OJ thing?"

Westinghouse, which already owned KPIX-TV in San Francisco bought 95.7 to make it "The FM News Station." Despite the fact that Westinghouse had decades of experience running all news stations (KFWB in LA, 1010/WINS in New York), KPIX-FM was a mess from the beginning...it sounded like they spent no money on it, and most of the people on-air sounded like rank amateur interns, or worse. Finally, they resorted to running mostly traffic reports. It was pathetic.

Somebody finally decided to put the News format of it its misery, and KPIX became into the "FM Talk Station" running Imus, Leykis, and a couple of good local talk shows, hosted by Pat Thurston and Dr. Nancy Snyderman.

During the OJ trial, it ran gavel-to-gavel coverage every day, but I can't remember if that was during the news or talk format.

 

[1069_KIFR]

I remember when they ran the coverage of the OJ trial, 95.7 KPIX had their best ratings. When the trial was over so was 95.7 KPIX.

ALso when they first went on the air, I listened for about less than ten minutes. It seemed every 20 seconds they announced that they were 95.7 the Express! It drove me nuts! That was why I couldn't listen for more than ten minutes.

 

[DavidKaye]

z95.7 top 40, (SF's best overall IMHO.)
95.7 The Drive, 70's, 80's
95.7 THE BEAR country
95.7 MAX FM, 80's, 90's, today
to it's present format, 95.7 The Wolf, country (stupid name if you ask me)

Let's see....

KGSF, FM outlet for Oakland's KWBR 1310, in 1947
KXKX
KEAR-FM when paired with 1550 KEAR in the early 1950s
KOBY-FM, first rock station in the Bay Area circa 1956
KQBY-FM, "beautiful music" to compete against KABL, circa 1960
KKHI-FM, first a "hits" station, then a classical format in 1962 I believe
KPIX-FM in 1994 to Group W
KZQZ in 1997 to Bonneville
And the above changes to KZBR, etc.
Now as KBWF owned by Entercom in its second go-round as a station owner in SF

I thought 98.9 had had the largest number of callsign changes, but looking over this mess, apparently 95.7 gives it a run for the money.

 

[LKellerIII]

"I thought 98.9 had had the largest number of callsign changes, but looking over this mess, apparently 95.7 gives it a run for the money."

Hmm...98.9...let's see:

KCBS-FM (can't remember the format- was it Oldies?)
KMPX - big band music
KQAK - "The Quake" album rock. Alex Bennett had the morning show for awhile between his time at KMEL and KITS.
"Double 99" simulcast with 99.1 - can't remember the call letters. Soft hits, I think
"Star FM" - the first use of the "Star" branding in the Bay Area, and the first go-around for Viacom before they gobbled up CBS and Infinity. Can't remember the calls on this one either.
KSOL (Classic Soul)
KSOL Spanish, with "Sol" no longer meaning "Soul," but the Spanish word for sun.

And that's only the last 30 years or so...I wasn't around in the Bay Area prior to that. I'm sure I've missed more than a few.

 

[LKellerIII]

For 98.9, I forgot both KKCY (The City) and James Gabbert's KOFY. What was I thinking? I think the turnover on 98.9 still beats 95.7. - certainly for ownership, if not for different formats.

 

[DavidKaye]

For 98.9, I forgot both KKCY (The City) and James Gabbert's KOFY. What was I thinking? I think the turnover on 98.9 still beats 95.7. - certainly for ownership, if not for different formats.

98.9 was originally KJBS-FM, the FM outlet for KJBS 1100, now KFAX. Their original tower is still on the apartment building at Clay and Jones in SF. And under Viacom's leadership, 98.9 was KDBK and KSRY (or was it KSRI?) In those days it was simulcast with adjacent 99.1 in Santa Cruz; a good idea considering the interference problems in the South Bay between them. Actually, as KSOL it is still simulcasting on 99.1.

 

[BnRinBayArea]

Hmm...98.9...let's see:

KCBS-FM (can't remember the format- was it Oldies?)
KMPX - big band music
KQAK- "The Quake" album rock. Alex Bennett had the morning show for awhile between his time at KMEL and KITS.
"K-HIT"-this may have been just prior to "Double". Lasted for maybe 2 books?
"Double 99" simulcast with 99.1 - can't remember the call letters. Soft hits, I think "KDBK-98.9/KDBQ-99.1"
"KOFY"-James Gabbert
"Star FM" - the first use of the "Star" branding in the Bay Area, and the first go-around for Viacom before they gobbled up CBS and Infinity. Can't remember the calls on this one either. "KSRY-98.9/KSRI-99.1"
KSOL (Classic Soul)
KSOL Spanish, with "Sol" no longer meaning "Soul," but the Spanish word for sun.




[/quote]

...added my 2 cents

 

[LKellerIII]

"Actually, as KSOL it is still simulcasting on 99.1."

Yes - as I remember, the company that owned Wild 107 (then KSOL) before Clear Channel bought 98.9 and 99.1, then flipped the KSOL call letters down to 98.9 for the Classic Soul format. They used the 99.1 frequency for a Wild 107 simulcast until Clear Channel hoovered up all those stations in 1997 or 98, including 107.7, then flipping Wild to 94.9, also buying 98.1 and 101.3, then selling off 107.7, 98.9 and 99.1.

It was a very confusing couple of weeks playing musical radio call signs. KSAN was legally KYLD and vice versa, "Kiss-FM" was legally KBGG, and so on...

 

[1069_KIFR]

It looks like the longest stretch for one format and call letter were KKHI as Classical!

 

[DavidKaye]

So, to recap:

95.7: KGSF, KXKX, KEAR, KOBY, KQBY, KKHI, KPIX, KZQZ, KKDV, KZBR, KMAX, KBWF. That's 12 callsigns, and maybe 13 if it was ever KSMO-FM before KOBY-FM.

98.9: KJBS, KCBS, KMPX, KKCY, KQAK, KDBK, KSRY, KHTT?, KSOL. That's 9. I guess 95.7 wins. What's funny is that most of the changes to 98.9 were 20-30 years ago, while changes to 95.7 were within the past 15 years.

 

[HenryOchs]

z95.7 top 40, (SF's best overall IMHO.)
95.7 The Drive, 70's, 80's
95.7 THE BEAR country
95.7 MAX FM, 80's, 90's, today
to it's present format, 95.7 The Wolf, country (stupid name if you ask me)

Let's see....

KGSF, FM outlet for Oakland's KWBR 1310, in 1947
KXKX
KEAR-FM when paired with 1550 KEAR in the early 1950s
KOBY-FM, first rock station in the Bay Area circa 1956
KQBY-FM, "beautiful music" to compete against KABL, circa 1960
KKHI-FM, first a "hits" station, then a classical format in 1962 I believe
KPIX-FM in 1994 to Group W
KZQZ in 1997 to Bonneville
And the above changes to KZBR, etc.
Now as KBWF owned by Entercom in its second go-round as a station owner in SF

I thought 98.9 had had the largest number of callsign changes, but looking over this mess, apparently 95.7 gives it a run for the money.

I also remember that after KPIX-FM was sold to Bonneville in 1997, they simulcast their Chicago sister station, WTMX. I enjoyed listening to that station. I wish they would of adopted the format similar to WTMX(The Mix) or kept the WTMX simulcast.

 

[BossRadioDJ]

So, to recap:

95.7: KGSF, KXKX, KEAR, KOBY, KQBY, KKHI, KPIX, KZQZ, KKDV, KZBR, KMAX, KBWF. That's 12 callsigns, and maybe 13 if it was ever KSMO-FM before KOBY-FM.

98.9: KJBS, KCBS, KMPX, KKCY, KQAK, KDBK, KSRY, KHTT?, KSOL. That's 9. I guess 95.7 wins. What's funny is that most of the changes to 98.9 were 20-30 years ago, while changes to 95.7 were within the past 15 years.

On the AM side, however, it's tough to top 1510 here in the Bay Area.

It began life as KTIM in San Rafael back in 1946, and had those call letters for a very respectable 1946 to 1988. But after that, it was...

* KCAF (July 1988)
* KTID (May 1989)
* KAPX (November 1990)
* KTID (again, November 1992)
* KKHI (October 1994, after Westinghouse bought 1550)
* KNOB (April 1995)
* KKHI (again, February 1997)
* KJQI (December 1998)
* KMZT (February 2000)
* KJQI (again, March 2001)
* KJAZ (March 2002)
* KTIM (again, August 2002)
* KMZT (again, August 2003)
* KPIG (2005)

That's 14 call letter changes, with recycling of KKHI, KJAZ, KTID, KMZT and KJQI -- plus their own original KTIM.

D.J.

 

[Starbucks]

Was KOBY on FM as a simulcast in 1956. I thought it was just 1550 AM?

z95.7 top 40, (SF's best overall IMHO.)
95.7 The Drive, 70's, 80's
95.7 THE BEAR country
95.7 MAX FM, 80's, 90's, today
to it's present format, 95.7 The Wolf, country (stupid name if you ask me)

Let's see....

KGSF, FM outlet for Oakland's KWBR 1310, in 1947
KXKX
KEAR-FM when paired with 1550 KEAR in the early 1950s
KOBY-FM, first rock station in the Bay Area circa 1956
KQBY-FM, "beautiful music" to compete against KABL, circa 1960
KKHI-FM, first a "hits" station, then a classical format in 1962 I believe
KPIX-FM in 1994 to Group W
KZQZ in 1997 to Bonneville
And the above changes to KZBR, etc.
Now as KBWF owned by Entercom in its second go-round as a station owner in SF

I thought 98.9 had had the largest number of callsign changes, but looking over this mess, apparently 95.7 gives it a run for the money.

I also remember that after KPIX-FM was sold to Bonneville in 1997, they simulcast their Chicago sister station, WTMX. I enjoyed listening to that station. I wish they would of adopted the format similar to WTMX(The Mix) or kept the WTMX simulcast.

 

[ChuckinEugene]

I think there's some confusion about the history of 95.7 and 97.3. KGSF, KWBR-FM, KXKX, and KEAR were all on 97.3. According to the Bay Area Radio Museum and some other sources, KEAR operated on 1550 AM and KXKX-FM operated on 97.3 until 1956. At this time, the AM station was sold and became KOBY. The FM side became KEAR (still at 97.3). The two stations were no longer co-owned. It wasn't until 1959 that the owners of KOBY bought the new frequency of 95.7 and began simulcasting. In answer to Starbucks, KOBY would have been AM only in 1956. Again, no simulcast until 1959. Incidentally, I think this my tie 98.9 and 95.7 for the most changes.

 

[mofocat]

98.9 in the mid 80s, simulcast with 99.1, New Age music as "Colors 99". The Monterey 99.1, I believe was KLRS. Didn't 98.9 have calls that were similar? Some variation on "colors" ? I only heard the Monterey station, and don't recall the legal ID given other than it was a simulcast, and one of the calls was KLRS. This was just before "The City" as I recall.

 

[1069_KIFR]

Now the call letters KLRS is in Chico. Along with KRQR in Chico and KKCY in Yuba City. It is interesting how these letters end up in the north state. KLRS is now programmed as BOB FM, but was known as 'Colors'.

 

[DavidKaye]

It wasn't until 1959 that the owners of KOBY bought the new frequency of 95.7 and began simulcasting. In answer to Starbucks, KOBY would have been AM only in 1956. Again, no simulcast until 1959. Incidentally, I think this my tie 98.9 and 95.7 for the most changes.

AAAACCCKKK! You're absolutely right. 95.7 was a latecomer, coming on the air in 1959 as KOBY-FM. I don't know why I confused 95.7 with 97.3 since I know the history. Oh well. Thanks for the correction.