KHJ (AM)

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KHJ
Broadcast area	Los Angeles, California
Branding	La Ranchera
First air date	1922
Frequency	930 (kHz)
Format	Spanish
ERP	5,000 watts
Class	B
Callsign meaning	"Kindness, Happiness, and Joy"
Owner	Liberman Broadcasting
Website	www.laranchera.com

KHJ Radio in Los Angeles, California broadcasting Spanish-language entertainment programming as La Ranchera. It was also one of America's most formidable Top 40 radio stations in the 1960s and 1970s as 93 KHJ.

Contents 1 History 1.1 "Boss Radio" 1.2 The End of English-language Broadcasting 1.3 Switch to Spanish, and problems with new call letters 1.4 Other KHJs 2 External links

[edit] History

KHJ went on the air in 1922 with a frequency of 930 kHz. This was at a time when several stations shared one frequency for short periods of time each day.

Originally owned by the Los Angeles Times newspaper, it was purchased by Don Lee, a well-known local automobile dealer who also owned KFRC in San Francisco. The Don Lee stations eventually numbered 21. In 1949, the entire broadcasting company, including KHJ and other stations, was merged into RKO General. The call letters were said to stand for "Kindness, Happiness, and Joy". Famous entertainers of the period, such as George Burns and Gracie Allen, appeared on KHJ. At one point the station employed its own 50-piece orchestra to back up musical guests. In fact, in an historic 1931 broadcast (which partially survives today), KHJ introduced the world to an up-and-coming singer named Bing Crosby. Pat Weaver (the president of NBC, creator of The Today Show and The Tonight Show, and the father of actress Sigourney Weaver) worked there as an announcer.

[edit] "Boss Radio"

In April of 1965, programming consultant Bill Drake was brought in to craft its new top-40 format. He created a very tight sound built on a restrictive music playlist and tight restraints on on-air commentary by the announcers (although a few superstar announcers, such as Robert W. Morgan, Humble Harve, and The Real Don Steele were allowed to develop their own on-air personalities). Also part of the format, which came to be known as "Boss Radio", was a package of memorable jingles performed by the Johnny Mann Singers. "Boss Radio" subsequently spread throughout the nation and brought high ratings and acclaim to stations such as KFRC in San Francisco, CKLW in Windsor, Ontario, and WRKO in Boston. Bill Drake, teamed with Gene Chenault, brought up many of their "Boss" announcers through KYNO in Fresno, California, which they used as a proving ground for talent.

[edit] The End of English-language Broadcasting

The format brought high ratings to the station through the late 1970s until FM radio became the dominant way to broadcast popular music. In September of 1980 KHJ became a Country music station which lasted until 1983 when it switched to an oldies format using the slogan "The Boss is Back" and the original "Boss Radio" jingles. In 1984 KHJ tried a Top 40 format called "Car Radio," highlighted with traffic reports every ten minutes 24 hours per day.

KHJ, in its original English-language form, signed off on January 31, 1986. That evening regular "Car Radio" evening jock Dave Sebastian Williams was joined in studio by Robert W. Morgan, and many disc jockeys from throughout KHJ's heyday of Boss Radio phoned in (including M.G. Kelly, Bobby Ocean, and Boss Radio-era Program Director Ron Jacobs) for a farewell broadcast, playing the songs that had made KHJ a popular AM station in the 1960s and 1970s. At the stroke of midnight, the station changed its call letters to KRTH to match those of its FM sister station, KRTH-FM playing a format called "Smokin' Oldies" that featured hits of the first ten years of Rock and Roll. The station used "AM-930" as its on-air ID.

[edit] Switch to Spanish, and problems with new call letters

RKO General was under nearly continuous investigation by federal regulators due to unethical conduct at its television stations, including KRTH-AM-FM's television sister, KHJ-TV (channel 9, now KCAL-TV). It was eventually ruled unfit to be a broadcast licensee and forced by the FCC to sell off their broadcast properties. In the summer of 1989, KRTH AM-FM were sold to Beasley Broadcasting, who immediately turned around and sold KRTH-AM to Liberman Broadcasting. It became a full-time Spanish-language station, adopting the call letters KKHJ in honor of its historic calls.

As time went by, it was discovered that KKHJ could not use the Spanish pronunciation of its call letters on the air. This was because the pronunciation of the first two letters in Spanish (kah-kah) sounded similar to the Spanish slang for feces. As a result, whenever the call letters were used, they were pronounced in English. This proved somewhat awkward over a decade, so the station collected letters from listeners and community listeners and lobbied the FCC to allow the station to drop one of its "K's." With few exceptions, the FCC has only granted four-letter callsigns since the early 1930s. However, under the circumstances, the FCC allowed the station to return to its original three-letter calls, KHJ. The change became official on March 15, 2000.

[edit] Other KHJs

An unrelated low-powered FM station in Madras, Oregon, KHJA-LP 102.1 FM [1] is a tribute to the 1960s and 70s era KHJ, using the L.A. station's vintage logo, jingles, and "Boss Radio" slogans. Meanwhile, the former KKHJ callsign that was used during the 1990s by Liberman was assigned to an FM station in American Samoa [2]. They also use the legendary L.A. station's "93KHJ" on-air name.

"KHJ" is also used as the branding of a country music station in Canada, CKHJ.

WKHJ-FM in Mountain Lake Park, Maryland has always used the "KHJ" moniker. WKHJ, though, plays an Adult Contemporary format.

An aircheck sample of an old KHJ jingle can be heard at the beginning of the song "AM Radio" by the band Everclear.

[edit] External links

• La Ranchera official site
• Reel Radio KHJ 1931 Exhibit (one of the earliest known surviving sound checks of any radio station)
• Boss Radio Forever
• Inside Boss Radio (commercial)
• KHJA-LP in Madras, Oregon]
• 93KHJ in Pago Pago, American Samoa
• Query the FCC's AM station database for KHJ