KDIS (AM)

KDIS
City of license Pasadena, California
Broadcast area Greater Los Angeles Area
Branding Radio Disney Los Angeles
Slogan Your Music Your Way
Frequency 1110 kHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date 1942
Format Contemporary hit radio
Power 50,000 watts day
20,000 watts night
Class B
Facility ID 25076
Transmitter coordinates 34°6′50″N 117°59′51″W / 34.11389°N 117.99750°WCoordinates: 34°6′50″N 117°59′51″W / 34.11389°N 117.99750°W
Callsign meaning Kids DISney
Former callsigns KPAS (1942-1945)
KXLA (1945-1959)
KRLA (1959-2000)
KSPN (2000-2003)
Affiliations Radio Disney
Owner ABC, Inc. (Disney)
(ABC Radio Los Angeles Assets, LLC)
Sister stations KABC-TV, KSPN
Webcast Listen Live
Website www.radiodisney.com

KDIS (1110 AM) is a Children's Contemporary hit radio formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving the Greater Los Angeles Area. The station is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company. The KDIS broadcast license is held by ABC Radio Los Angeles Assets, LLC.[1]

KDIS broadcasts in the HD (hybrid) format.[2]

History

Radio Disney AM 1110 logos used from 2008-2010 (up) and 2010-2013 (down).

The station initially signed on as KPAS in 1942,[3] a station featuring popular music. In 1945 they took the call sign KXLA, playing country music.[3] On-air personalities included Tennessee Ernie Ford and Stan Freberg.[4] The station originally broadcast from its El Monte transmitter site, near Santa Anita Ave and the Pomona, or "60" Freeway, in the vicinity of the Peck Road exit.

KRLA (1959-2000)

The station later became KRLA, "The Big 11-10", on September 1, 1959 and became one of the top radio stations in the Los Angeles area, competing with KFWB and later KHJ to be L.A.'s dominant top 40 station. The air personalities that made KRLA such a memorable station to Baby Boomers included Dave Hull (The Hullabalooer), Emperor Bob Hudson, Ted Quillin, Reb Foster, Jimmy Rabbitt,[5] Casey Kasem, Bob Eubanks, Dick Biondi, Sam Riddle, Dick Moreland, Jimmy O'Neill, Wink Martindale, Johnny Hayes, and others too numerous to mention. In 1968, news director Lew Irwin created The Credibility Gap which broadcast topical comedy along with the news.[6] In 1969, John Gilliland debuted the Pop Chronicles music documentary.[7] The 1969 film The Model Shop features a radio newscast by Ralph Thompson, KRLA. During the 1960s, the KRLA studio was just off the parking lot of the old Huntington Sheraton Hotel[4] on Oak Knoll in Pasadena, making it possible to drop by and watch the on-air DJ do his show.[8] When the station switched to oldies, KRLA was noted for its prominence in Southern California Chicano culture. One of the highlights of this station was the "Big 11 Countdown Show" hosted by Johnny Hayes, with stories and facts about the songs and the artists, as well as the historical events that were going on at that time. The show also included a trivia question that Hayes asked for people to call in with their answer in order to win a prize. The show counted down the top 11 songs on the Southern Californian charts as well as a few extras. Some of the shows were a tribute to a rock legend or a producer.

The station evolved to an Adult contemporary format by 1982 and focused on Oldies by 1983. They dropped current music in 1984, electing to play the oldies of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. By the late 1980s the station played many songs recorded prior to 1964 and by the early 1990s played many songs from the 1960s.

By 1994 KRLA leaned to an Urban Oldies format. KRLA abandoned music entirely in 1998, and went all talk.[4] As a Talk radio station, KRLA featured many cast-offs from KABC, such as Michael Jackson and Ken Minyard.[9]

KSPN (2000-2002)

However, the format was low-rated and the station was sold to The Walt Disney Company, which at first programmed the ESPN Radio format (as KSPN) on December 1, 2000.[10]

KDIS (2003-present)

The station moved to the Radio Disney format from AM 710 to 1110 on January 1, 2003 (a change made reportedly because the 1110 signal could not be heard in Orange County at night, when Anaheim Angels games are played).[11]

Sometime in May 2014, Mediabase has moved KDIS, along with other Radio Disney-affiliated stations to the Top 40/CHR panel. Although Radio Disney is still considered a Children's station.[12]

On August 13, 2014, it was revealed that all of Radio Disney's remaining stations, excluding KDIS, were to be sold in an effort to focus more on digital distribution of the Radio Disney network. KDIS will be retained to serve as the originator of Radio Disney's programming, and its operations will be assumed by the network's national staff.[13][14]

Transmitter

In 1987 KRLA moved its transmitter site from South El Monte to Irwindale, where a similar antenna array was installed.[15] During the 1990s, KRLA was authorized to increase nighttime power from 10,000 to 20,000 watts. When the power increase went into effect, KRLA started broadcasting from a new transmitter site in Irwindale, California. This is a few miles north of the old El Monte site.[15]

The El Monte transmitter building still stands as a shell. The entire inside is burned out, however there are still clues to its historic past, namely the first incarnation of its directional antenna arrays (four in-line 135 degree towers, one days, four nights), the second incarnation (four 135 degree towers in a parallelogram, days and a 90-, two 135-, and a 180-degree towers, nights), and the last incarnation, with seven total towers, four days and four nights, with one tower in common, days and nights). There are numerous ducts to keep the equipment cool and an underground channel to divert the cooling water for the transmitters. A well nearby supplied the water. Still visible is the wooden archway where the transmission cables gently bent toward underground conduits running to the transmission towers in the nearby field. All that remains of these towers are the concrete pylons, all aligned as described.

The present Irwindale site includes five 135 degree towers, two days and four nights, with one in common. The significantly northern location, relative to the old El Monte site, allows the large "Inland Empire" to be served with 50,000 watts and only two towers. not four, days, and the greater Los Angeles metro to be served with 20,000 watts and four towers, nights.

References

  1. ↑ "KDIS Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  2. ↑ http://www.hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=36
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Oldies 1110 KRLA". Geocities.com. Archived from the original on 2005-07-17. Retrieved 2009-06-17.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Hochman, Steve (November 16, 1998). "KRLA's Switch to Talk Will End Rock Era on AM Dial in L.A.; Radio Some are nostalgic about a station that retained family appeal to the end. Others say change is overdue.". L.A. Times. p. F4.
  5. ↑ Jimmy Rabbitt biography
  6. ↑ Deming, Mark. "((( The Credibility Gap > Biography )))". allmusic. Retrieved 2009-06-17.
  7. ↑ "John Gilliland - Pop Chronicles: The Forties". Sfradiomuseum.com. Retrieved 2009-06-17.
  8. ↑ Eubanks, Bob; Hansen, Matthew Scott, eds. (2004). It's in the Book, Bob!. Benbella Books. pp. 36–38. ISBN 1-932100-28-8. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
  9. ↑ Best of www.laradio.com 1998, by Don Barrett. Valencia, CA: db Marketing, 1999.
  10. ↑ "KDIS Call Sign History". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  11. ↑ Angels Shift Radio Stations - Los Angeles Times
  12. ↑ Mediabase Announces Panel Changes (Published April 22, 2014, Retrieved August 8, 2014)
  13. ↑ Lafayette, Jon (August 13, 2014). "Exclusive: Radio Disney Moving Off Air to Digital". Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Radio Disney to Sell the Majority of Its Stations". Billboard. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Mishkind, Barry. "KRLA Broadcast History". oldradio.com. Retrieved 8 July 2010.

External links