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The KYA call letters were originally assigned on
December 17, 1926. The following day, December 18th, the station went
on the air - owned by the Pacific Broadcasting Co. Transmitter power
was 500 watts on 970 kc. Studios were located on the fifth floor of
San Francisco's Cliff Hotel. Over the next couple of years
transmitter power increased to 1,000 watts and the station changed
frequencies twice... first to 850 kc and then 830 kc.
December 23, 1927: KYA moves to new studios at Loew's
Warfield Theater, a vaudeville emporium. The station is now owned by
the American Broadcasting Co.
November 1928: The Federal Radio Commission moves
KYA's operating frequency to 1230 kc.
American Broadcasting disintegrated following the
stock market crash in 1929. KYA ended up in the hands of a fellow
named F.C. Dahlquist, who successfully guided the station through the
first years of the Great Depression. KYA eventually became owned by NBC.
1934: NBC sells the station to Hearst Publishing,
owners of the San Francisco Examiner. KYA moves into new studios in
the Hearst Building.
June 1, 1937: A new 5,000 watt transmitter and self-supporting
450 ft. tower facility goes into service on the hill behind what is
now Candlestick Park, overlooking Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard. The
station's transmitter and tower still operates on that site.
March 1941: The FRC again orders a massive shuffling
of radio frequencies in the United States. KYA moves 30 more clicks
up the dial, to 1260 kc.
Beginning in 1948 KYA began a series of ownership
changes that would boggle the mind of a rational/sane individual. But
remember - this is the radio business!
1948: Sold to Palo Alto Radio Station Inc. (a
consortium of Stanford University personnel), who subsequently sold
the station to New York Post bigwig Dorothy Schiff. Schiff sold KYA
to two gentlemen, John Keating and Elroy McCaw (KYA, Inc.) in the mid 1950's.
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1958: The Bartell Family Group takes control of KYA.
Rock 'n' Roll is heard on the station for the first time, but is only
played at certain hours of the day. The format eventually takes over
the full schedule, but the presentation is inferior to the product
soon to be introduced by KYA's competition - KEWB in Oakland. Bartell
then sells KYA to Golden State Broadcasters who operated the station
till 1963.
June 29, 1960: For whatever reason, KYA's call letters
were "lost" for two weeks in 1960 (6/29/1960-7/13/1960).
1961: KYA hires Bill Drake as Program Director. Drake
sets about changing the "sound" of KYA's format to more
closely resemble the Top-40 format invented by Chuck Blore at KFWB
Los Angeles, and then grabbing the Bay Area's teenagers and young
adults on Oakland's KEWB. Drake was quite successful, and became a
millionaire when he started "syndicating" his product to
other Top-40 radio stations around the country.
1963: Golden State Broadcasters sells KYA to Churchill
Broadcasting Corp.
June 1966: Churchill Broadcasting Corp. sells KYA to
Avco Broadcasting of California. The station eventually winds up in
Seattle's KING Broadcasting stable of properties.
December 13, 1983: Bonneville Broadcasting Co.
purchases KYA from KING Broadcasting, changing the call letters to
KOIT. The KYA call letters remained in service at KYA-FM (93.3). As
of late 2004 KOIT's format is Lite Rock., and the station is still
owned by Bonneville International.. The frequencies for KOIT are
still 1260 on the AM side and 96.5 on the FM side.
On March 27, 1994 the historic KYA call letters
disappeared forever, as the 93.3 FM call letters were changed to KYCY-FM.
As of late 2004 the San Francisco 93.3 frequency carried the call
letters KBAY, with an Adult Contemporary/Soft Rock format targeted at
adults and women 25-54 years of age. KBAY is owned by Infinity Broadcasting.
Jan 1, 2005 V.J. "Chris Edwards" White
Restarts KYA with the MOST POWERFUL signal ever the internet. Not
just reaching the entire Bay Area KYA now is World Wide on the
internet. Now millions of people worldwide can hear KYA as it was in
the 60's but now in new high tech digital stereo!!! |
