KSFB

KSFB
City San Francisco, California
Broadcast area San Francisco Bay Area
Branding Immaculate Heart Radio
Slogan Sharing the Heart of the Christian Faith
Frequency 1260 kHz
First air date December 18, 1926 (1926-12-18)[1]
Format Catholic radio
Power 5,000 watts (day)
1,000 watts (night)
Class B
Facility ID 6369
Transmitter coordinates 37°42′59″N 122°23′38″W / 37.71639°N 122.39389°W / 37.71639; -122.39389
37°42′58″N 122°23′38″W / 37.71611°N 122.39389°W / 37.71611; -122.39389 auxiliary (backup)
Callsign meaning San Francisco Bay
Former callsigns KOIT (AM) (1983–1985, 1986–2007)[2]
KXLR (July 1985–January 1986)[1][2]
KYA (AM) (1926–1983)[1]
Former frequencies 1230 kHz (1928–1941 NARBA)
850 kHz (November 1927–November 1928)
970 kHz (December 1926–November 1927)[1]
Affiliations Immaculate Heart Radio, EWTN
Owner IHR Educational Broadcasting
Webcast Listen
Website San Francisco, CA - 1260 AM

KSFB is an AM broadcasting station licensed on 1260 kHz at San Francisco, California. It broadcasts Immaculate Heart Radio, a Roman Catholic radio format, to the San Francisco Bay Area of the United States. It was previously known as KYA (AM) until 1983, and KOIT (AM) and KXLR after that.

The AM station was a simulcast of the former sister station KOIT-FM, and unlike that station, continued to be owned by Bonneville International until February 1, 2008, when it was officially sold to IHR Educational Broadcasting.

KYA

The station originated as KYA in 1926, and has had 14 owners and 4 different callsigns in 85 years. KYA was owned by everyone from Hearst Corporation to Avco Broadcasting of California, a subsidiary of the jet and aerospace contractor.[1]

KYA timeline chart
Date Call kHz watts Owner Network Studios Transmitter Ref.
December 18, 1926 KYA 970 500 Pacific Bc. Corp. (Kraft & Clift) Clift Hotel Clift Hotel [1]
November 1927 850 1000
January 1928 Warfield Theatre (988 Market St.)
November 11, 1928 1230
late November 1928 CBS
by May 1929 680 Geary St. (at Taylor St.)
August 28, 1929 F.O. Dahlquist, receiver
late 1929 Pacific Bc. Corp. (new)
June 25, 1930 Whitcomb Hotel (1231 Market St.)
late 1931 NBC (via PBC) NBC Pacific Coast (Orange)
1934 San Francisco Examiner (via PBC, renamed Hearst Radio Inc.) Examiner Building (3rd & Market Sts.) (aux. studio at Hotel Oakland, 1937–1938)
December 29, 1936 California Radio Sys.
May 15, 1937 (day) 5000
(night) 1000		 Bayview Park
1939
March 19, 1941 1260
June 24, 1942 Palo Alto Radio Station, Inc.
October 10, 1945 Dorothy Schiff Thackrey (via PARS)
July 1949 Fairmont Hotel
April 13, 1950 J. Elroy McCaw & John D. Keating (via PARS, renamed several times)
1950 Liberty Bc. Sys.
May 16, 1952
May 1, 1958 Golden State Broadcasters, Inc. (Gerald A. Bartell & family)
Summer 1958 One Nob Hill Circle
August 7, 1962 Churchill Bc. Corp. (Clinton D. Churchill)
August 24, 1966 Avco Bc.
October 20, 1977 King Radio Bc. Co.
Fall 1979 300 Broadway
October 19, 1983 Bonneville International
December 13, 1983 KOIT 77 Maiden Ln.
July 15, 1985 KXLR Mutual, BBC World Svc.
January 1986 KOIT
1992 400 2nd St. Ste. 300
1998 455 Market St. Ste. 2300
December 10, 2007 KSFB IHR 3256 Penryn Road, Suite 100
Loomis, Calif.		 [3]
February 1, 2008 IHR Ed. Bc. [4]
Total 5 (4) 4 (day) 3
(night) 2 		14 ~6 10 3

KYA went on the air on December 18, 1926, with 500 watts on 970 kc. from the Clift Hotel in San Francisco. The owners were Vincent I. Kraft of Seattle, who had started KJR (AM) there; and Frederick C. Clift of San Francisco. It got a license for 1,000 watts on 850 kc. in November 1927. Its studios moved to the Warfield Theatre Building at 988 Market Street, but the transmitter stayed at the Clift Hotel.[1]

In November 1928 moved to 1230 kc. as part of a nationwide frequency reshuffling, and joined the Columbia Broadcasting System. By May 1929 its transmitter was reported to be at 680 Geary Street at Taylor Street. The station licensee went bankrupt in August, and KYA was transferred to a new corporation by the end of 1929. The transmitter facility was moved again, on 25 June 1930, to the Whitcomb Hotel.[1] Having moved to various locations around the radio dial during the chaotic early days of broadcasting, KYA was assigned permanently to 1260 kc. as a result of NARBA in 1941.[1]

"The Boss of the Bay" - KYA as a Top 40 Rock Station

In the mid-1950s, KYA made its mark as a rock and roll station. KYA was for many years the leading Top 40 music radio station in the Bay Area, until the stronger-signalled KFRC switched to the format in 1966. From time to time, up through 1970, KYA would again beat KFRC in the Arbitron ratings, but KYA's dominance was truly over after the mid-60s. Former KYA morning man and legendary radio programmer Bill Drake went on to consult KFRC to its ratings success; it was at KYA that Drake first made his mark as program director. KYA was also instrumental in the careers of future sportscaster Johnny Holliday, audio and electronics store pitchman Tom Campbell, Hall of Fame disc jockey and underground radio pioneer Tom Donahue (a/k/a "Big Daddy"), and Tommy Saunders, who retired from KYA's successor, KOIT, in 2006.

Other notable disc jockeys who plied their trade on KYA's airwaves in the 1960s included Les Crane, (air name Johnny Raven), Casey Kasem, Jim Stagg, Bobby Mitchell, Norman Davis, "Emperor" Gene Nelson, Peter Tripp, Tony Bigg, Russ "The Moose" Syracuse, Chris Edwards, Ed Hider, Johnny Holliday, Bill Holley (a cousin of Buddy Holly), Bwana Johnny, and Gary Shaffer. The 1970s saw a staff that included Christopher Cain, Roger W. Morgan, Jay Stone, Scott Thomas, Steve Jordan, Jimmy "Jet" Powers, Jeff Serr, Gary Mora, and Michael Rivers.[5]

In the mid-1960s, a group of KYA DJs, led by Holliday, formed a basketball team known as the KYA Oneders (pronounced "Wonders"). The team played many Bay Area high school faculties, helping the schools raise funds for a variety of programs. Perhaps the most famous of the Oneders was Rick Barry, who played for the team during the 1967-68 campaign before jumping from the NBA's San Francisco Warriors to the ABA's Oakland Oaks.

During the 1960s, the radio station issued weekly tabloid newsletters and hit sheets, The KYA Swingin' Sixty and later the KYA Beat (also known as The Official Top 30). These popular flyers were available at Bay Area record stores and other sponsor locations. The station's under-promoted news team included Mark Adams(Don Allen), Terry Sullivan, Larry Buller, (air name of Larry Brownell), Tony Tremayne (air name of Mel Fritze) and Brad Messer, who would later be inducted in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.

Easy Rock 93 and Oldies

In December 1979, KYA AM & FM flipped to a light album rock format under the title "Easy Rock 93." Within months the AM station would flip again, this time to an oldies format while the FM station would continue the light album rock format as KLHT (K-LITE). Morgan, Mora, Serr and Syracuse would be brought back to revive the station from its heyday. This format would hold until the station was sold in 1983.

KYA's dominance was basically over by the late 1960s when FM stations began playing rock 'n' Roll and gained large chunks of the audiences. King Broadcasting took over on November 1, 1977.

KOIT and KXLR

KYA, which became KOIT in 1983 under the ownership of Bonneville International Corp., still transmits from the station's classic Julia Morgan-designed transmitter building on Candlestick Point, with studios at 2nd and Howard in San Francisco. Morgan was on retainer for Hearst, and the building has the trademark Hearst eagle above the front door.

A KYA jingle can be heard at the beginning of the movie Zodiac. A commercial for a now defunct local San Francisco Bay Area retailer, Gensler-Lee Diamonds, can be heard preceding the jingle. "Gensler-Lee Diamond; Gensler-Lee Diamonds; the place to buy diamonds if you're really smart; Gensler-Lee Diamonds... the store... with a heart!"

In mid-2007, Bonneville reached an agreement to sell the 1260 AM frequency to IHR Educational Broadcasting. IHR took over the station's operations in December of that year under a time-brokerage agreement, and officially closed on the station on February 1, 2008.

In 2007, KOIT the former 1260/KYA, became KSFB, a Catholic-oriented station owned by Immaculate Heart Radio. Ironically, KYA's chief Top 40 rival in the 1960s and 1970s, KFRC (610 AM), is now the Christian-oriented KEAR (the KFRC call letters would return in January 2009, this time at 1550 AM replacing KYCY and the station is owned by CBS Radio).

Catholic Radio

On December 10, 2007, a religious format came to 1260 AM; the call sign was changed to KSFB. KSFB is part of one of the largest Catholic radio network in America, and its daily broadcasts include daily mass and rosary. Many other programs such as Life is Worth Living with Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, Fr. John Corapi, and Mother Angelica are also on the air.

Additional frequencies

In addition to the main station, KSFB is relayed by these stations and translators to widen its broadcast area.

Call sign Frequency
(MHz) 		City of license ERP
W 		Class FCC info
K269FB 101.7 San Francisco, California 75 D FCC

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Timeline - KYA - KOIT". Bay Area Radio Museum. Pleasanton, California: Bay Area Radio Museum, Inc. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
  2. 1 2 FCCInfo.com
  3. ↑ Query the FCC's AM station database for KSFB. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
  4. ↑ Chuh, Patricia M. (2008-02-05). "Consummation Notice (BAL-20070518ABD)". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
  5. ↑ About KYA Radio
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