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KBLA (1580 AM) is a broadcast
radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...
in the United States. Licensed to
Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
, KBLA serves the
Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. state of California, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the eas ...
area. The station is owned by Multicultural Broadcasting, through licensee Multicultural Radio Broadcasting Licensee, LLC, and operated by pending owner
Tavis Smiley Tavis Smiley (; born September 13, 1964) is an American talk show host and author. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana. After attending Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University, he worked durin ...
with an urban/progressive talk format. For much of its early history, the station had music formats and was aimed towards a black audience. The station was founded in 1947 as KOWL and played middle of the road music;
Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...
was an early investor in the station. From 1956 to 1991, the station had call sign KDAY and had top 40, rock, and R&B formats through the early 1980s. In 1983, KDAY became the first station in Los Angeles to play
hip hop music Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music Music genre, genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African Americans, African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide r ...
; as a result, KDAY became the most popular station among black listeners in the area. KDAY went through multiple ownership and format changes in the 1990s, beginning with a purchase by Fred Sands in 1990. A year later, KDAY changed its call sign to KBLA and its format to business news. The business format lasted just one year, as KBLA changed to a Korean format afterwards. Keymarket Communications purchased KBLA in 1993; subsequent mergers of its parent company landed KBLA under the ownership of River City Broadcasting in 1995 and
Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...
in 1996. KBLA was sold in 1998 to Radio Unica, which added KBLA to its national Spanish radio network. Multicultural Broadcasting bought KBLA in 2003 and converted KBLA to a Spanish Christian format.
Tavis Smiley Tavis Smiley (; born September 13, 1964) is an American talk show host and author. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana. After attending Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University, he worked durin ...
bought KBLA in 2020 and launched a progressive talk format on the station.


History

For information on KBLA, a Los Angeles area radio station that broadcast at 1500 kHz from 1952 to 1967, see article on KROQ (1500 AM).


As KOWL (1947–1956)

Originally, the station at 1580 kHz made its first broadcast July 30, 1947 as KOWL, a 5,000-
watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
, daytime-only station licensed to
Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
. It was owned and operated by Arthur H. Croghan, formerly commercial manager for WJBK in
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
. The opening day celebration for KOWL on August 10 included such notable figures as Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron, Santa Monica Mayor Mark T. Gates, country singer
Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...
, and actress
Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...
. However, KOWL broadcast for only six and a half hours that day due to technicians walking out of the job due to a dispute over
unionization Unionization is the creation and growth of modern trade unions. Trade unions were often seen as a Left-wing politics, left-wing, Socialism, socialist concept, whose popularity has increased during the 19th century when a rise in industrial capit ...
. KOWL's studios were located at the Ambassador Hotel in Santa Monica. It had a middle of the road music format. Croghan excluded what he called "commercial religion, disc jockeys, murder mysteries, double spotting, over-commercialism, and...talk exceeding five minutes except in rare instances." In 1948, Autry became a minority owner of KOWL, and the station began orienting its music and programming towards black listeners. Autry sold back his stake in KOWL to Croghan for $80,000 in October 1949.


As KDAY (1956–1991)


Early history (1956–1966)

On May 1, 1956, KOWL changed its
call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...
to KDAY, a nod to its daytime-only broadcast hours. KDAY changed its format to mainstream pop music, as shown by surveys from the time. In January 1957, Radio California purchased KDAY and Corona TV station KCOA for $650,000. KDAY's studios and business offices moved from Santa Monica to Hollywood in April 1957. KDAY began carrying newscasts from the '' Los Angeles Herald-Express'' newsroom in July 1957. From 1958 to 1961, Earl McDaniel was a DJ at KDAY. where he was soon joined by Art Laboe.
Alan Freed Albert James "Alan" Freed (December 15, 1921 – January 20, 1965) was an American disc jockey. He also produced and promoted large traveling concerts with various acts, helping to spread the importance of rock and roll music throughout Nor ...
worked for KDAY for about a year beginning in 1960 after losing his job at WABC in New York City over the
payola Payola, in the music industry, is the name given to the illegal practice of paying a commercial radio station to play a song without the station disclosing the payment. Under U.S. law, a radio station must disclose songs they were paid to pla ...
scandal. In April 1962, Rollins Broadcasting (later Continental Broadcasting of California) purchased KDAY for $850,000 in addition to a $150,000
non-compete clause In contract law, a non-compete clause (often NCC), restrictive covenant, or covenant not to compete (CNC), is a clause under which one party (usually an employee) agrees not to enter into or start a similar profession or trade in competition again ...
. Rollins changed the music format to R&B.


Adult standards, top 40, and return to R&B (1966–1983)

Beginning July 22, 1966, KDAY changed its format to
adult standards Adult standards (also sometimes known as the nostalgia or Big Band format) is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations. Adult standards started in the 1950s and is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly tho ...
where DJs played songs by telephone requests; Mexican station XERB in
Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...
picked up KDAY's old R&B format around a week later. In the late 1960s, KDAY received approval from the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC) to operate at night. The studio and transmitter site were moved to a new facility on North Alvarado Street north of downtown Los Angeles. In early 1969, KDAY changed to
top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
and became a member of the ABC Radio Network, then to
album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. US rad ...
(AOR) in 1971. During the Top 40 and AOR eras, the station was programmed by Bob Wilson, who would later launch the media magazine ''
Radio & Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...
''. KDAY reverted to soul/R&B in January 1974. In 1978, KDAY had the highest ratings among the four black radio stations in Los Angeles, ahead of KACE, KJLH, and KKTT. For a ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' profile that year, KDAY program director J.J. Johnson said the station had an "uptempo approach" to music; the station's slogan at the time was "We got the funk!"


Addition of hip hop (1983–1991)

Facing tougher competition from FM stations like KJLH, KDAY became the first Los Angeles radio station to play
hip hop music Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music Music genre, genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African Americans, African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide r ...
in 1983. Under new program director and
disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...
Gregory "Greg The Mack Attack" MacMillan, hired from KMJQ in Houston, added hip hop to the station's playlist to appeal to mostly young
Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
and Latino listeners. DJ Dr. Dre and DJ Yella Boy became the first mixer DJs at the station. By September 1983, KDAY upgraded its sound to
AM stereo AM stereo is a term given to a series of mutually incompatible techniques for radio broadcasting stereo audio in the AM band in a manner that is compatible with standard AM receivers. There are two main classes of systems: independent sideban ...
. Dan Charnas described that move as "laughable" and "sounding like ''two'' tiny AM radios playing side by side." Some of Def Jam most iconic and legendary acts such as Run-D.M.C.,
Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...
, Whodini,
The Fat Boys The Fat Boys were an American hip-hop trio from Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, who emerged in the early 1980s. The group was briefly known originally as the Disco 3, originally composed of Mark "Prince Markie Dee" Morales, Damon Wimbley, ...
, E.P.M.D., 3rd Bass, and
Public Enemy Public Enemy is an American Hip-hop, hip hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as Racism in the United States, American r ...
have dominated the hip hop scene, KDAY brought their music to a new audience on the West Coast. In 1987, Compton-based gangsta rap group
N.W.A N.W.A (an abbreviation for Niggaz Wit Attitudes) was an American hip-hop group formed in Compton, California in 1987. Among the earliest and most significant figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, the group is widely considered one of the great ...
made its radio debut on KDAY. In the first ratings period under MacMillan's leadership, KDAY's ratings beat another Los Angeles black AM station, KGFJ, and "began to enjoy a second life as the only rap-friendly station in town and, frankly, in the entire country." KDAY raised awareness about the growing problem of gang violence in Los Angeles. Lee Marshall, known on-air as "King News", gave news and commentaries relevant to the African-American and Hispanic communities, often warning about the troubles caused by gangs. After violence in the stands forced the cancellation of a Run-DMC concert at the
Long Beach Arena The Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center is a convention center located in Long Beach, California. Built on the former site of the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, the venue is composed of the Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach A ...
for the group's '' Raising Hell'' tour, KDAY organized a "Day of Peace" on October 9, 1986. In a two-hour special, KDAY featured Run-DMC, singer Barry White, and boxer Paul Gonzales appealing to rival gangs to stop feuding and opened phone lines for callers to describe gangs' impact in their communities. There were no murders or incidents of gang violence that day. Within two weeks, the
Bloods The Bloods are a primarily African Americans, African American street gang which was founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for Crips–Bloods gang war, its rivalry with the Crips. It is identified by the red color worn ...
and
Crips The Crips are a primarily African-American alliance of street gangs that are based in the coastal regions of Southern California. Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969, mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips ...
, the two largest gangs in Los Angeles, signed a peace treaty. In 1990, MacMillan left KDAY to work for FM rival KJLH. That same year, realtor Fred Sands, who also owned iconic heavy metal station KNAC, bought KDAY for $7.2 million. On March 28, 1991, at 1 p.m., after playing “ Turn Off the Lights” by Teddy Pendergrass, KDAY ended its music format, and went silent for nearly three weeks. As a tribute to the original AM station, Redondo Beach FM station KZAB changed its call sign to
KDAY KDAY (93.5 FM, "93.5 KDAY") is a radio station that is licensed to Redondo Beach, California and serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Meruelo Media and airs a classic hip hop format. The station's studios are locate ...
and format to classic hip hop in September 2004 in a simulcast with KDAI in Riverside.


KBLA (1991–present)

KDAY became KBLA on April 5, 1991, with the station signing back on the air with a flip to a business news format branded "Business News L.A." on April 17. Among its new programming was ''Cynic's Choice'', a British comedy revue hosted by Brian Clewer that moved to KBLA in August 1991. The business format lasted just one year; KBLA changed to a Korean format branded "Radio Korea" in January 1992. KBLA also broadcast seven
Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...
games a year in Korean; when Chan Ho Park joined the team in 1994, KBLA began broadcasting games where he pitched. KBLA expanded its Dodgers coverage to 60 games in 1998. Nearly a year after the 1992 riots on May 1, 1993, KBLA and KJLH broadcast ''Bridging the Gap'', a special joint call-in program aiming to improve relations between the black and Korean communities. Also in 1993, Keymarket Communications purchased KBLA and KNAC from Sands for $12.1 million. By 1995, KBLA broadcast two hours of English talk and music programs nightly to appeal to Korean Americans who do not speak Korean. Also in 1995, River City Broadcasting purchased Keymarket Communications and its radio stations including KBLA for over $130 million total.
Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...
owned KBLA beginning in 1996 when River City merged with Sinclair. KBLA reporter Richard Choi was convicted of
slander Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making wikt:asserti ...
and fined US$1,800 by a South Korean court in February 1998 after reporting on alleged economic troubles of ''
The Korea Times ''The Korea Times'' () is a daily English-language newspaper in South Korea. It is a sister paper of the ''Hankook Ilbo'', a major Korean language, Korean-language daily. It is the oldest active daily English-language newspaper in South Korea. ...
'', which owned a competing Korean station in Los Angeles. In May 1998, Radio Unica purchased KBLA for $21 million and added the station to its national Spanish network of the same name. In 2003, Multicultural Broadcasting purchased KBLA and 14 other stations for a total $150 million. Among its new programs were ''Todo para la Mujer'', a Mexican radio program hosted by Maxine Woodside. On March 31, 2004, KBLA became the original West Coast affiliate of Air America Radio, airing talk shows hosted by
Al Franken Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American politician, comedian, and actor who served from 2009 to 2018 as a United States senator from Minnesota. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he worked as an ...
,
Randi Rhodes Randi Joyce Robertson (née Bueten; born January 28, 1958), better known by her Stage name#Reasons for use, air name Randi Rhodes, is an American progressivism, progressive political commentator, activist and talk radio host. ''The Randi Rhode ...
, and Janeane Garofalo among others. On April 14, the shows were no longer available due to a payment dispute between Air America and Multicultural Broadcasting. KTLK became the Air America affiliate for Los Angeles in 2005. Branded "Radio Zion" with offices in Downey, KBLA changed to a Spanish Christian format on September 16, 2004. Radio Zion moved to XESURF-AM in Tijuana in September 2009. The Spanish Christian format continued through 2020 under other brands, most recently "Radio Esperanza". In November 2020,
Tavis Smiley Tavis Smiley (; born September 13, 1964) is an American talk show host and author. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana. After attending Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University, he worked durin ...
, former talk show host on BET and PBS, purchased KBLA for $7.15 million. Although the license assignment was not yet complete, the station began broadcasting on June 19, 2021. A three-hour program introduced the talk show hosts and repeated until 6 AM June 21, 2021, at which time KBLA began live programming. Elston Howard Butler, former manager of
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
urban contemporary FM station KJLH, is KBLA's president and general manager.


Operations

KBLA broadcasts with a power of 50,000
watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
s day and night, using a complex
directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...
utilizing 6 towers. The
transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...
is off North Alvarado Street, near Glendale Boulevard, in Los Angeles.Radio-Locator.com/KBLA
/ref> Because 1580 AM is a Canadian clear channel frequency, KBLA's signal is directional at night.


References


Citations


Bibliography

*


External links


FCC History Cards for KBLA
* * {{Los Angeles Radio 1947 establishments in California Multicultural Broadcasting stations Radio stations established in 1947 BLA Talk radio stations in the United States Progressive talk radio