Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters, Inc., a subsidiary of Mt. Wilson Broadcasting Inc., is a

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, ...

-based

radio broadcasting Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio signal, 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 lan ...

company owned by Saul Levine. The company was founded in 1959, and Levine is the only independent operator of an FM

commercial radio Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship, for example. It was the United States' first model ...

station in Los Angeles, that being KKGO-FM, today.

Stations

Mount Wilson owns the following radio stations: ;

* KKGO-FM — 105.1 FM —

Country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

* KKGO (AM) — 1260 AM — Classic country Coordinates: 34.249167°N -118.453889°W

History

Levine established KKGO-FM in 1959 (originally KBCA) on limited funds, helped greatly by the fact that he was able to buy a used FM

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 ...

for $1,500 from a Michigan station which had gone off the air. The station's original antenna was built in a garage for $300.LARadio.com
/ref> Initially, KKGO was a classical station and the first broadcast was a selection from

Franz Lehár Franz Lehár ( ; ; 30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas, of which the most successful and best known is '' The Merry Widow'' (''Die lustige Witwe''). Life and career L ...

's '' Land of Smiles''. But the station was unable to compete for advertising. As a result, it changed to an all-

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

format and remained jazz until 1989 when it switched back to classical as a result of KFAC changing its format. KBCA was one of Los Angeles' main jazz stations, with shows hosted by

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 ...

Rick Holmes Richard "Rick" Holmes (born March 16, 1963, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American actor. He received his BA from Gettysburg College and an MFA in acting from New York University. He has played numerous stage roles, including roles in such ...

(also a Grammy nominated spoken word recording artist), Jim Gosa, Chuck Niles, Jai Rich, Dennis Smith and Richard Leos, who handled a pioneering Latin jazz show in the evenings. In 1969, KBCA tested jazz performers as hosts, including weekly shows for

Gerald Wilson Gerald Stanley Wilson (September 4, 1918 – September 8, 2014) was an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. Born in Mississippi, he was based in Los Angeles from the early 1940s. He arranged music for D ...

and Calvin Jackson. In 1969, KBCA hosted a "jazzmobile" series of free concerts around the city, with a flatbed truck setting up in shopping centers and city parks, to expose listeners in the

Central Los Angeles Central Los Angeles is the historical urban region of the city of Los Angeles, containing downtown Los Angeles, and several nearby regions in southwest Los Angeles County, California. Geographic designation by The City of Los Angeles The Los Ang ...

area and around colleges to jazz.

Jimmy Witherspoon James Witherspoon (August 8, 1920 – September 18, 1997) was an American jump blues and jazz singer. Early life, family and education Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. His father was a railroad worker who sang in local choirs, an ...

appeared on the first jazzmobile free concert. In 2007, KKGO adopted a country music format due to declining revenues.

References

External links

* {{coord, 34.229167, -118.068667, display=title Radio broadcasting companies of the United States Companies based in Los Angeles