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KSOL (98.9 FM "Que Buena 98.9 y 99.1") is a
Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...
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
San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
.
KSQL KSQL (99.1 MHz, "Qué Buena 98.9 y 99.1") is a Spanish language radio station in Santa Cruz, California. The station simulcasts the signal of KSOL (98.9 MHz) in San Francisco. KSOL and KSQL program a format consisting of regional Mex ...
(99.1 FM)
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) ...
s the station in Santa Cruz. KSOL and KSQL program a format consisting of regional
Mexican music The music of Mexico is highly diverse, featuring a wide range of musical genres and performance styles. It has been influenced by a variety of cultures, primarily deriving from Europeans, Indigenous, and Africans. Music became an expression of M ...
and
talk show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...
s. Both stations are owned by TelevisaUnivision USA. Its studios are located at 1940 Zanker Road in San Jose, and the KSOL transmitter is on
Mount Sutro Mount Sutro is a hill in central San Francisco, California. It was originally named Mount Parnassus. Geography The low mountain is in elevation. Mount Sutro is one of the List of San Francisco, California Hills, many named hills within San Fran ...
. The 98.9 frequency is the third station in the San Francisco market to use the callsign KSOL. The first was the AM
rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...
station at 1450 AM (the current
KEST KEST (1450 AM) is a brokered-time radio station in San Francisco, California. Most of the station's programming is in Asian languages, including Mandarin and Cantonese. It also airs some South Asian, Greek, and German programs as well as New ...
). Sly Stone was influential in guiding KSOL into soul music and started calling the station K-SOUL. The second was a popular
soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...
station (sans the K-SOUL moniker), at 107.7 FM (now known as KSAN). The current KSOL is unrelated to the previous two stations.


History

The station at 98.9 was established in February 1948 as KJBS-FM, the FM
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) ...
component of KJBS 1100 (now
KFAX KFAX (1100 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, and heard around the Bay Area. Since 1984, the station has been owned by Salem Media Group and programs a Christian radio teaching and talk format. The studio ...
) by Julius Brunton & Sons, transmitting from the (still-existing) tower atop Clay Jones Apartments at 1250 Jones Street. As KJBS it had been a full-service station with news, weather, and sports programming, and served as a relay, interrupting programming overnight, to alert police and fire personnel to incidents, prior to the departments' own radio dispatch systems. The FM station was financially unsuccessful, and in 1953 it was sold to CBS. KCBS-FM had been operating with substantially lower power on 103.7 when it made the move to acquire this station. Under CBS it rebroadcast KCBS until 1968 when it began to use the syndicated CBS automated programming, "The Young Sound". Later, it produced its own locally originated rock programming. In September 1978, owner
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
wanted a still more powerful FM assignment, so they arranged a three-station swap that enabled them to be heard on a much stronger signal. KCBS-FM, their format and intellectual property moved to KEAR's 97.3 FM frequency,
KMPX KFAA-TV (channel 29) is an independent television station licensed to Decatur, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside ABC affiliate WFAA (channel 8). The two stations are based at ...
moved their
big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
and
swing music Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement ...
format and callsign from 106.9 FM to 98.9 FM, and KEAR moved their Christian-based format from 97.3 FM to 106.9 FM. *''See also
KEAR (AM) KEAR (610  kHz), is a non-commercial Christian AM radio station in San Francisco, California and is the flagship station of the Family Radio network. KEAR's transmitter facilities are diplexed at the KVTO tower located in Berkeley, Cal ...
, KZDG,
KFRC-FM KFRC-FM (106.9 MHz) is a commercial radio station in San Francisco, California, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It currently simulcasts sister station KCBS, which carries an all-news format. The station transmits its signal from Mount Beac ...
,
KLLC KLLC (97.3 FM, Alice @ 97.3) is a commercial radio station located in San Francisco, California, and broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area, owned by Audacy, Inc. The station's studios and offices are co-located with formerly co-owned KP ...
, and KMPX (FM)''


The Quake

In 1982, KMPX was sold to a
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
investor group, administered by general manager Les Elias and station manager Bob Heymann, and flipped to a
mainstream rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent a cross between classic rock, active rock and alternativ ...
format as KQAK, "The Quake FM99", on August 23 of that year. Hosting the morning show was the popular Alex Bennett, who had left
KMEL KMEL (106.1 FM) is an urban contemporary radio station that is licensed to San Francisco, California, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by iHeartMedia. KMEL has studios located in the SoMa district, and broadcasts ...
in a disagreement over station direction a few months earlier. KQAK was a personality-oriented
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 ...
station for its first eight months of operation, and was partially influenced by the programming of WLUP in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, a station that Elias and Heymann had previously managed. A talented air staff was assembled for the station. In addition to Bennett was Joe Regelski as co-host, continuing their collaboration from
KMEL KMEL (106.1 FM) is an urban contemporary radio station that is licensed to San Francisco, California, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by iHeartMedia. KMEL has studios located in the SoMa district, and broadcasts ...
, an
Richard "Big Rick" Stuart
future KROQ jock Jed "
Jed the Fish Edwin Jed Fish Gould III (July 15, 1955 – April 14, 2025), known to radio listeners as Jed the Fish, was an American disc jockey who hosted afternoon drive on KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, from 1978 to 2012. He interviewed alternative acts such as ...
" Gould The 3rd, Mike Koste, Richard Gossett, Belle Nolan, Rob Francis, Oscar "Oz" Medina, Paul "Lobster" Wells, comedian Tim Bedore and others worked at The Quake at one time or another. A month after KQAK's debut, another Bay Area station, KFOG changed its format from beautiful music to rock. This change left the Bay Area with six very similar-sounding stations (
KMEL KMEL (106.1 FM) is an urban contemporary radio station that is licensed to San Francisco, California, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by iHeartMedia. KMEL has studios located in the SoMa district, and broadcasts ...
, KRQR, KQAK and KFOG, plus San Jose stations
KOME KOME was a commercial FM radio station in San Jose, California, broadcasting at 98.5 MHz. KOME was on the air from 1971 through 1998. Currently, the 98.5 FM frequency is home to KUFX "K-Fox", a classic rock station. An unrelated FM station ...
and KSJO). Until 2019, KFOG was the only one of those stations still carrying a rock format, when it switched to a simulcast of sports station KNBR. In April 1983, Elias and Heymann decided to reposition the station (under the programming guidance of
Rick Carroll Rickey Floyd "Rick" Carroll (September 15, 1946 – July 10, 1989) was an American program director (PD) for influential radio station KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, California, United States, where he introduced the "ROQ of the Eighties" format. The ...
from
KROQ-FM KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The sta ...
) as the "Rock of the '80s," emphasizing new wave,
punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
,
reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...
,
2 Tone Two-tone, two tone, or 2 tone, etc., may refer to: Audio and sound * Second-order intercept point#Two-tone analysis, Two-tone analysis, in nonlinear system measurement * Two-tone attention signal * Two-tone Warning chime, chime, such as the "ding ...
ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...
, first generation
Gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...
, tracks from the 1960s and 1970s by musicians whose work influenced later punk and new wave performers, and the occasional novelty track. The modern rock format of The Quake has become much more memorable than their AOR incarnation, and its later demise was an important catalyst for a shift to a similar but more polished presentation at ''"Live 105"'' (
KITS KITS (105.3 FM broadcasting, FM, "Live 105") is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock radio format known as "Live 105". The studios ...
) in 1986. Popular programs on The Quake, in addition to shows like, ''"The Alex Bennett's Morning Program"'', ''"The Quake's Early Tremors"'', ''"Midnight Dread"'' and a syndicated program called ''"The Rock Over London"''. The KQAK broadcast studios were located at 1311 Sutter Street in San Francisco. The final song broadcast before The Quake went off the air on June 18, 1985 was "Around The Dial" from
The Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...
; this featured a re-edited version of the 'radio tuning' intro for the song which made reference to the demise of the station. Later, another station,
progressive talk radio Progressive talk radio is a talk radio format devoted to expressing Left-wing politics, left-leaning viewpoints of news and issues as opposed to conservative talk radio. In the United States, the format has included radio syndication, syndicated ...
KQKE, went on to use the same "Quake" nickname. Paul "Lobster" Wells has worked for KQKE, which was otherwise not related to KQAK. Today, the station, AM 960, is KNEW. The
KQAK KQAK (105.7 FM) is a commercial classic hits music radio station in Bend, Oregon. History of the KQAK call sign KQAK was the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) call sign of a now defunct classic rock—and, more memorably, new wave/punk ...
call letters currently reside on a station in
Bend, Oregon Bend is a city in central Oregon and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is located to the east of the Cascade Range, on the Deschutes River. The site became known by pioneers as a ford (cros ...
.


More format and ownership changes

On June 22, 1985, following four days of stunting with all-
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music, the station became KKCY ("The City"), with an eclectic rock format, partly inspired by another midwestern station,
KTCZ KTCZ-FM (97.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota and serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul radio market and Western Wisconsin. KTCZ airs a hybrid modern adult contemporary radio format. The station is owned and ...
in
Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
. All of The Quake's on-air staffers left the station, except for Bennett and his morning sidekick, Joe Regelski. Bennett left a short time later when station management insisted he play more music on his show, and later brought his morning show (sans Regelski) to
KITS KITS (105.3 FM broadcasting, FM, "Live 105") is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock radio format known as "Live 105". The studios ...
. The 98.9 frequency then underwent years of turmoil. In late 1986, the station dropped the eclectic freeform rock in favor of
Big Band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
/
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 ...
(shades of the original KMPX); then, on February 1, 1988, they adopted a short-lived
CHR CHR or chr may refer to: Organisations * Canadians for Health Research, a national not-for-profit organisation * Centre for Human Rights, an organisation promoting human rights in Africa * Christ Church Secondary School, a government-aided school ...
format as KHIT. Both of these changes elicited a large outcry from the dedicated following KKCY's format had gathered. A group called "Coalition To Save The City" was formed and the group lobbied KHIT's owners to change the format back. The format lasted for 3 months and 5 days, as on May 6, 1988, after playing "
Shakedown Shakedown or Shake Down may refer to: * Shakedown (continuum mechanics), a type of plastic deformation * Shakedown (testing) or a shakedown cruise, a period of testing undergone by a ship, airplane or other craft before being declared operational ...
" by
Bob Seger Robert Clark Seger ( ; born May 6, 1945) is a retired American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded with the groups Bob Seger and the Last Heard and the Bob Seger System throu ...
, the station dropped its short-lived CHR format and immediately began simulcasting KOFY for 8 days. The station was eventually purchased by Bay Area media mogul
James Gabbert James Gabbert (born 1936 in Chico, California) is a radio and television engineer and entrepreneur, California Broadcasters Association 1994 Broadcaster of the Year, and past president of the National Radio Broadcasters Association. He has owned ...
, who changed the callsign to KOFY-FM on May 14, 1988, matching the calls of sister station
KOFY-TV KOFY-TV (channel 20) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area as an affiliate of Merit TV. It is owned by CNZ Communications, LLC, alongside Class A station KCNZ-CD (virt ...
(channel 20) and KOFY radio (1050 AM, now
KTCT KTCT (1050 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to San Mateo, California, and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a sports radio, sports radio format as KNBR 1050, a sister station to KNBR (AM), KNBR ...
). Gabbert returned the station to the previous
adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...
format, which lasted for two years amid much tweaking. The next owner of KOFY-FM,
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, later obtained their neighboring station on the dial, KLRS (99.1 FM) in Santa Cruz. The two stations tweaked KOFY's Triple A format to " Rock Adult Contemporary" and adopted the callsigns KDBK (98.9) and KDBQ (99.1) - "Double 99" on July 30, 1990. The two stations then shifted to a
Hot Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
format on March 13, 1993 as “Star 99”. The stations' callsigns were also changed to KSRY and KSRI.


KSOL call letters arrive at 98.9 FM

In December 1993, Allen Shaw's Crescent Communications purchased 107.7 KSOL from United Broadcasting, and purchased KSRY and KSRI from
Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2005), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Pa ...
in 1994. Shaw changed 107.7 to KYLD in April 1994, calling it "Wild 107". The callsign KSOL was put on then-co-owned 98.9, with the format switching to
urban adult contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...
on April 18, 1994, where Bay Area Hall of Fame (BAHOF) inductee Don Sainte-Johnn served as morning host. The San Jose signal of 99.1 became a San Jose simulcast of "Wild 107" as KYLZ. KSOL, KYLD and KYLZ were sold by Crescent Communications to Tichner Media and Evergreen Media in August 1996. On August 15 of that year, KSOL then switched to a
Regional Mexican music Regional styles of Mexican music vary greatly from state to state. Norteño, banda, duranguense, Son mexicano and other Mexican country music genres are often known as regional Mexican music because each state produces different musical sounds ...
format, and 99.1 became KZOL, again a simulcast. KSOL Goes Spanish
/ref> In April 2002, KSOL swapped callsigns with KEMR Amor (105.7 FM) in San Jose, and shifted toward a Spanish-language
adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
direction, with 99.1 becoming KZMR. When 105.7 switched formats and changed callsign to KVVF, the callsign KSOL returned to 98.9, with 99.1 redubbed KZOL. The two stations have simulcasted since 1990, with 98.9 covering the North Bay, and 99.1 covering the far South Bay.


On Air Personalities

Qué Buena 98.9 Y 99.1 Broadcasts Regional Mexican programming with the following shows. •5AM-10AM: El Bueno, La Mala, Y El Feo •10AM-3PM: José Luis González "El Zorro" •3PM-7PM: El Free-Guey Show •7PM-9PM: Las Repegadas •9PM-12AM: Ely Venegas


Boosters

KSOL is rebroadcast on the following FM Boosters:


Callsign history for 98.9

*KJBS-FM: Sign-on February 1, 1948 until 1953, co-owned with KJBS 1100 *KCBS-FM: "CBS FM" 1953 until September 1978, co-owned with KCBS 740 *KMPX: "Multiplex" September 1978 *KQAK: "The Quake" August 1982 *KKCY: "The City" June 1985 *KHIT: "98.9 K-HIT" May 6, 1988, ends with
Shakedown Shakedown or Shake Down may refer to: * Shakedown (continuum mechanics), a type of plastic deformation * Shakedown (testing) or a shakedown cruise, a period of testing undergone by a ship, airplane or other craft before being declared operational ...
, & Judy Davis's announcement says "and this is the end of K-Hit, for all you who were out there" before launching a then-new format & K-O-F-Y coming in the '50s *KOFY-FM: "Hits 98.9 FM" May 14, 1988, co-owned with KOFY 1050 and KOFY-TV channel 20 *KDBK: "Double 99 FM" August 2, 1990, co-owned with KDBQ 99.1 Santa Cruz *KSRY: "Star 99 FM" April 16, 1993, co-owned with KSRI 99.1 Santa Cruz *KSOL: "KSOuL" April 18, 1994, co-owned with KYLZ 99.1 Santa Cruz *KSOL: "Estereo Sol" August 15, 1996 *KEMR: "Amor" April 10, 2002 *KSOL:"Estereo Sol" January 2, 2003, co-owned with KSQL 99.1 Santa Cruz *KSOL:"Que Buena" June 12, 2015, co-owned with KSQL 99.1 Santa Cruz It is believed that 98.9 has had more callsign changes than any other radio or TV station in California history.


References


External links


Radio Estereo Sol
*
"The First Day of "The Quake" (Bay Area Radio Museum)

"The end of K-Hit 98.9"FCC History Cards for KSOL
{{coord, 37.755, N, 122.453, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title SOL Regional Mexican radio stations in the United States Univision Radio Network stations Radio stations established in 1948 SOL 1948 establishments in California