KDIA
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| KDIA | |
| City of license | Vallejo, California |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | San Francisco Bay Area/Sacramento |
| Branding | 1640 KDIA |
| Slogan | The Light for San Francisco |
| Frequency | 1640 kHz |
| First air date | April 1998 |
| Format | Christian |
| ERP | 10,000 watts daytime 1,000 watts nighttime |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | named after former sister station WDIA in Memphis during its tenure as R&B/funk/soul station |
| Owner | |
| Website | www.kdia.com |
KDIA is a radio station in Vallejo, California broadcasting on 1640 AM. It is a separate entity from the station at 1310 AM that held the KDIA call letters for many years. The 1640 AM frequency was licensed as part of an extension of the AM band in 1998, and adopted the abandoned KDIA call letters then.
[edit] KDIA History
- See also: KMKY (AM)
The 1310 AM frequency began as KLS in 1921. In 1945, it changed its call letters to KWBR and changed its format to focus on an African-American audience. In 1959, it was bought by the owners of Memphis radio station WDIA, and the call letters were changed to KDIA. During the 1960s through the 1980s, the station was the premier soul and funk station in the San Francisco Bay Area. The station helped launch the careers of such musicians as Sly and the Family Stone.
In the early 1990s KDIA was co-owned by then mayor of Oakland, California, Elihu Harris with then California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. In 1992, the late Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey returned to the Bay Area to work as public affairs director and newscaster on KDIA. Bailey later became the editor of the Oakland Post who was murdered on the streets of downtown Oakland.[1]
KDIA 1640 was put on in the air in 1996 by Baybridge Communications and has been a Christian talk station since 2002. Its tag line is "The Light for San Francisco".
[edit] References
- ^ Josh Richman and Douglas Fischer (2007-08-03). Bailey's career in news spanned globe for decades. Oakland Tribune.
[edit] External links
- KDIA - official website.
- Bay Area Radio Museum, KDIA archives – audio archive of KDIA broadcasts.
- Query the FCC's AM station database for KDIA
- Radio Locator Information on KDIA
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