 | |
| Broadcast area | Greater Los Angeles |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1580kHz |
| Branding | KBLA 1580 AM Talk Radio |
| Programming | |
| Format | Urban/progressive talk |
| Affiliations | Black Information Network Compass Media Networks |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| Operator | Tavis Smiley (Smiley Radio Properties, Inc.) |
| History | |
First air date | July 30, 1947; 78 years ago (1947-07-30) |
Former call signs | KOWL (1947–1956) KDAY (1956–1991) |
Call sign meaning | Business News L.A. (previous format) or Black |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 34385 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 50,000watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 34°5′9.65″N118°15′28.46″W / 34.0860139°N 118.2579056°W /34.0860139; -118.2579056 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | kbla1580 |
KBLA (1580AM) is a broadcastradio station in the United States.Licensed toSanta Monica, California, KBLA serves theGreater Los Angeles area. The station is owned byMulticultural Broadcasting, through licensee Multicultural Radio Broadcasting Licensee, LLC, and operated by pending ownerTavis Smiley with anurban/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 playedmiddle of the road music;Gene Autry 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 playhip hop music; 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 byFred 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 ofRiver City Broadcasting in 1995 andSinclair Broadcast Group 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 bought KBLA in 2020 and launched a progressive talk format on the station.
For information on KBLA, a Los Angeles area radio station that broadcast at 1500 kHz from 1952 to 1967, see article onKROQ (1500 AM).
Originally, the station at 1580 kHz made its first broadcast July 30, 1947 as KOWL, a 5,000-watt,daytime-only station licensed toSanta Monica. It was owned and operated by Arthur H. Croghan, formerly commercial manager forWJBK inDetroit.[2] The opening day celebration for KOWL on August 10 included such notable figures as Los Angeles MayorFletcher Bowron, Santa Monica Mayor Mark T. Gates, country singerGene Autry, and actressMarilyn Monroe.[3] However, KOWL broadcast for only six and a half hours that day due to technicianswalking out of the job due to a dispute overunionization.[4]
KOWL's studios were located at the Ambassador Hotel in Santa Monica.[2] It had amiddle of the road music format.[3] Croghan excluded what he called "commercial religion, disc jockeys, murder mysteries, double spotting, over-commercialism, and...talk exceeding five minutes except in rare instances."[2] In 1948, Autry became a minority owner of KOWL, and the station began orienting its music and programming towards black listeners.[5] Autry sold back his stake in KOWL to Croghan for $80,000 in October 1949.[6]
On May 1, 1956, KOWL changed itscall sign to KDAY, a nod to its daytime-only broadcast hours.[7][8][9] KDAY changed its format to mainstream pop music, as shown by surveys from the time.[10]
In January 1957, Radio California purchased KDAY andCorona TV stationKCOA for $650,000.[11] KDAY's studios and business offices moved from Santa Monica toHollywood in April 1957.[12] KDAY began carrying newscasts from theLos Angeles Herald-Express newsroom in July 1957.[13]
From 1958 to 1961,Earl McDaniel was a DJ at KDAY.[14] where he was soon joined byArt Laboe.Alan Freed worked for KDAY for about a year beginning in 1960 after losing his job atWABC in New York City over thepayola scandal.[15][16]
In April 1962, Rollins Broadcasting (later Continental Broadcasting of California) purchased KDAY for $850,000 in addition to a $150,000non-compete clause.[17][18] Rollins changed the music format to R&B.[10]
Beginning July 22, 1966, KDAY changed its format toadult standards where DJs played songs by telephone requests; Mexican stationXERB inTijuana picked up KDAY's old R&B format around a week later.[19][20]
In the late 1960s, KDAY received approval from theFederal Communications Commission (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 totop 40 and became a member of theABC Radio Network,[17] then toalbum-oriented rock (AOR) in 1971. During the Top 40 and AOR eras, the station was programmed by Bob Wilson, who would later launch the media magazineRadio & Records. 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 ofKACE,KJLH, andKKTT. For aBillboard 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!"[21]
Facing tougher competition fromFM stations likeKJLH, KDAY became the first Los Angeles radio station to playhip hop music in 1983. Under new program director anddisc jockey Gregory "Greg The Mack Attack" MacMillan, hired fromKMJQ in Houston, added hip hop to the station's playlist to appeal to mostly youngBlack andLatino listeners.DJ Dr. Dre andDJ Yella Boy became the first mixer DJs at the station.[22] By September 1983, KDAY upgraded its sound toAM stereo.[23]Dan Charnas described that move as "laughable" and "sounding liketwo tiny AM radios playing side by side."[24]
Some of Def Jam most iconic and legendary acts such asRun-D.M.C.,Beastie Boys,Whodini,The Fat Boys,E.P.M.D.,3rd Bass, andPublic Enemy have dominated the hip hop scene, KDAY brought their music to a new audience on the West Coast. In 1987,Compton-based gangsta rap groupN.W.A 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."[25]
KDAY raised awareness about the growing problem ofgang 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.[26] After violence in the stands forced the cancellation of aRun-DMC concert at theLong Beach Arena for the group'sRaising Hell tour,[27] KDAY organized a "Day of Peace" on October 9, 1986.[28] In a two-hour special, KDAY featured Run-DMC, singerBarry White, and boxerPaul Gonzales appealing to rival gangs to stop feuding and opened phone lines for callers to describe gangs' impact in their communities.[29] There were no murders or incidents of gang violence that day. Within two weeks, theBloods andCrips, the two largest gangs in Los Angeles, signed a peace treaty.[28]
In 1990, MacMillan left KDAY to work for FM rival KJLH. That same year, realtorFred Sands, who also owned iconic heavy metal stationKNAC, bought KDAY for $7.2 million.[24][30][31] On March 28, 1991, at 1 p.m., after playing “Turn Off the Lights” byTeddy Pendergrass, KDAY ended its music format, and went silent for nearly three weeks.[32][26]
As a tribute to the original AM station,Redondo Beach FM station KZAB changed its call sign toKDAY and format toclassic hip hop in September 2004 in a simulcast withKDAI inRiverside.[33]
KDAY became KBLA on April 5, 1991, with the station signing back on the air with a flip to abusiness news format branded "Business News L.A." on April 17.[9][34][35] Among its new programming wasCynic's Choice, a British comedy revue hosted byBrian Clewer that moved to KBLA in August 1991.[36]
The business format lasted just one year; KBLA changed to a Korean format branded "Radio Korea" in January 1992.[37] KBLA also broadcast sevenLos Angeles Dodgers games a year in Korean; whenChan Ho Park joined the team in 1994, KBLA began broadcasting games where he pitched.[38] KBLA expanded its Dodgers coverage to 60 games in 1998.[39]
Nearly a year after the1992 riots on May 1, 1993, KBLA andKJLH broadcastBridging the Gap, a special joint call-in program aiming to improve relations between the black and Korean communities.[40]
Also in 1993, Keymarket Communications purchased KBLA andKNAC from Sands for $12.1 million.[41]
By 1995, KBLA broadcast two hours of English talk and music programs nightly to appeal to Korean Americans who do not speak Korean.[42] Also in 1995,River City Broadcasting purchased Keymarket Communications and its radio stations including KBLA for over $130 million total.[43]Sinclair Broadcast Group owned KBLA beginning in 1996 when River City merged with Sinclair.[44]
KBLA reporter Richard Choi was convicted ofslander and fined US$1,800 by a South Korean court in February 1998 after reporting on alleged economic troubles ofThe Korea Times, which owned a competing Korean station in Los Angeles.[45]
In May 1998, Radio Unica purchased KBLA for $21 million and added the station to its national Spanish network of the same name.[46]
In 2003,Multicultural Broadcasting purchased KBLA and 14 other stations for a total $150 million.[47] Among its new programs wereTodo para la Mujer, a Mexican radio program hosted byMaxine Woodside.[48]
On March 31, 2004, KBLA became the original West Coast affiliate ofAir America Radio, airing talk shows hosted byAl Franken,Randi Rhodes, andJaneane Garofalo among others. On April 14, the shows were no longer available due to a payment dispute between Air America and Multicultural Broadcasting.[49][48]KTLK became the Air America affiliate for Los Angeles in 2005.
Branded "Radio Zion" with offices inDowney, KBLA changed to a Spanish Christian format on September 16, 2004.[50] Radio Zion moved toXESURF-AM in Tijuana in September 2009.[51][52] The Spanish Christian format continued through 2020 under other brands, most recently "Radio Esperanza".[53]
In November 2020,Tavis Smiley, former talk show host onBET andPBS, purchased KBLA for $7.15 million.[54][55] 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.[56] Elston Howard Butler, former manager ofLos Angeles urban contemporary FM stationKJLH, is KBLA's president and general manager.[57]
KBLA broadcasts with a power of 50,000watts day and night, using a complexdirectional antenna utilizing 6 towers. Thetransmitter is off North Alvarado Street, nearGlendale Boulevard, in Los Angeles.[58] Because1580 AM is a Canadianclear channel frequency, KBLA's signal is directional at night.