KFI-FM was a short-lived FM broadcasting station, licensed to
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, ...
, California. It was the first station with a transmitter located on
Mount Wilson. The station began test programs in 1946 and only lasted until 1951, when the owner,
Earle C. Anthony, decided to shut down operations and return the license to 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). This was because relatively few persons had
FM receivers, and owners saw a limited future for FM operations.
History
Radio station
KFI (AM) officials broke ground on November 29, 1944, at the
Mount Wilson site, for construction of an FM and TV center. This ceremony was broadcast by KFI at AM 640 from noon to 12:15 p.m. KFI-FM was assigned to 105.9
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...
, and began testing in July 1946, although other histories state that the station began operations in 1947.
["The History of KFI-FM -- Mt. Wilson's First FM Station"]
by Jim Hilliker, December 2009 (earthsignals.com)
KFI-FM used a
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston.
Over the year ...
3 kW Phasotron transmitter with a 2-bay antenna, that provided an
effective radiated power
Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...
(ERP) of 10,000 watts.
["The Story of Mt. Wilson, California Part 3--Broadcasters Invade"]
by Marvin Collins (oldradio.com) The 1951
Broadcasting Yearbook
''Broadcasting & Cable'' (''B&C'', or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') was a telecommunications industry monthly trade magazine and, later, news website published by Future US. Founded in 1931 as ''Broadcasting'', subsequent mergers, acquisitions and in ...
listed KFI-FM's power as 16,500 watts.
["California: Los Angeles: KFI-FM"]
''Broadcasting Yearbook'' (1951 edition), page 85.
Through 1948 and 1949, KFI-FM featured music programs that were separate from the broadcasts by KFI. A December 1949 listing in the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' for KFI-FM's 3 to 9 p.m. schedule included titles such as Afternoon Melodies, Classics, Music For You, Symphony Moods and World of Music. By 1950, KFI-FM was
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...
ing KFI (AM). The ''Los Angeles Times'' reported that KFI-FM and five other local FM stations that simulcast AM station programs generally broadcast from 6 a.m. to midnight, the same as their originating AM stations, with at least three other FM stations carrying their own programs. A majority of the FM stations only broadcast from mid-afternoon to about 9 p.m.
[
In addition to the region's first FM station, KHJ-FM, which signed on in 1941, additional pioneer Los Angeles region FM stations debuting in 1946 included non-commercial stations ]KUSC
KUSC (91.5 FM broadcasting, FM; "Classical California™ KUSC") is a listener-supported european classical music, classical music radio station broadcasting from downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States. KUSC is owned and ope ...
at 91.5 and KCRW
KCRW (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming ...
at 89.9. KFI-FM and KMPC-FM began operations by 1947. 1948 and 1949 debuts included KNX-FM
KNX-FM (97.1 MHz, "KNX News 97.1 FM") is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California, United States. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs an all-news radio format in a full-time simulcast with KNX (1070 AM). The station has ...
at 93.1, KWIK-FM in Burbank at 94.3, KFMV in Hollywood at 94.7, KECA-FM at 95.5, KRKD-FM at 96.3, KVOE-FM in Santa Ana at 96.7, KKLA (owned by KFSG
KFSG (1690 Hertz, kHz) is an AM broadcasting, AM radio station broadcasting a Brokered programming format featuring Spanish Religious and Multilingual shows. KFSG is licensed to Roseville, California and serves the Sacramento metropolitan area ...
1150) at 97.1, KAGH-FM in Pasadena at 98.3, KMGM (owned by the movie studio) at 98.7, KMPC-FM at 100.3, KNOB in Long Beach at 103.1 (moved to 97.9 by 1958), KFAC-FM at 104.3 (moved to 92.3 by 1955), and KCLI, owned by the founders of KIEV
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
870 in Glendale, at 105.1.[
While FM audio quality was significantly better than AM stations, AM-FM combination radios were expensive and ]FM stereo
FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high-fidelity sound ...
wasn't introduced until 1961. By 1950, KCLI and KMPC-FM had been deleted. KFI-FM was included in the 1951 ''Broadcasting Yearbook'',[ but disappeared from newspaper radio logs by mid-1951,][ and was not included in the 1952 ''Broadcasting Yearbook''."California: Los Angeles]
''Broadcasting Yearbook'' (1952 edition), page 85.
KFI-FM only existed for approximately five years. The station's license was not transferred to a new owner, as Earle C. Anthony shut it down on April 5, 1951, and returned the license to the FCC for deletion.[ A new license for 105.9 MHz in Los Angeles was issued in 1956 for KBMS (Better Music Station), with an original community of license of Glendale. This new station had no link to the deleted KFI-FM, and is currently ]KPWR
KPWR (105.9 FM broadcasting, FM) – branded as ''Power 106'' – is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, broadcasting to the Greater Los Angeles area. KPWR is owned and operated by Alex Meruelo's Meruelo Group, t ...
.
See also
* KFI-TV
KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). The two stations share studios at the R ...
, which operated during 1948–1951, later became KHJ-TV, and has been KCAL-TV since 1989
References
{{Los Angeles Radio
Radio stations established in 1946
Radio stations disestablished in 1951
Defunct radio stations in the United States
1946 establishments in California
1951 disestablishments in California
FI-FM
FI-FM