 | |
| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Riverside-San Bernardino, California |
| Frequency | 1440kHz |
| Branding | Riverside's BIN 1440 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Black-oriented news |
| Affiliations | Black Information Network |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KGGI,KMYT,KPWK,KTMQ | |
| History | |
First air date | November 15, 1941; 83 years ago (1941-11-15) (as KPRO) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | Foo Fighters (warehoused fromKZTM) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 27390 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 1,000 watts unlimited |
Transmitter coordinates | 34°1′36.1″N117°21′30.2″W / 34.026694°N 117.358389°W /34.026694; -117.358389 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (viaiHeartRadio) |
| Website | riverside |
KFOO (1440AM) is acommercial radio station that is licensed toRiverside, California, and broadcasts to the Riverside—San Bernardino, California area.[2] The station is owned byiHeartMedia[3] and airs anall-news radio format as an affiliate ofBlack Information Network. The KFOO studios are located in Riverside and the transmitter tower is inColton along theSanta Ana River.
The station firstsigned on November 15, 1941,[4] owned by Broadcasting Corporation of America under thecall sign KPRO.[5] Operating at 1440 kHz,[6] it was headquartered at 3401 Russell Street inRiverside.[7]
In 1944 the station receivedBlue Network programming.[8] In 1945 KPRO's programs includedPhilco Hall of Fame,America's Town Meeting,Counterspy,Gangbusters,This Is Your F.B.I.,Walter Winchell,Drew Pearson,Tom Breneman,The Breakfast Club,Glamour Manor,Ladies Be Seated,John B. Kennedy,Baukhage Talking,Ethel and Albert,Guy Lombardo,The Metropolitan Opera,Cavalcade of Sports andThe Ford Sunday Evening Hour.[9]
KPRO was founded byWillard E. (Bill) Gleeson.[10] In 1950 Gleeson, the company president, was sued by theJefferson Standard Life Insurance Company of North Carolina, which claimed that payments on loans totaling $40,000 had not been made. The company said the firm, which also ownedKREO inIndio, California, was "heavily in debt" for unpaid taxes and other liabilities.[11] Gleeson sold all the stations he owned, except forKICO inCalexico, California.[12]Albie Pearson, the 1958American LeagueRookie of the Year, was a KPRO disc jockey in the winter of 1961–62.[13]
In December 1964, KPRO was purchased by radio and television personalityDick Clark. The station was held under the name Progress Broadcasting, a wholly owned subsidiary ofDick Clark Productions.[14] Clark bought KPRO from Foster Broadcasting for $435,000. Foster's principals were Tom S. Foster, Tolbert Foster, W.E. Dyche Jr., Edgar Younger and John Blake. Dave Taylor was to continue asgeneral manager. Clark also bought the land and buildings (built in 1941) for an additional $150,000; the deals were completed on June 1, 1965.[15][16] In March 1978, Progress sold KPRO to Inland Empire Broadcasters, majority-owned by station vice president Howard N. Fisher, for $780,000.[17]
The station was acquired by Shayle Ray and Milton Klein for about $2 million in March 1983.[18] In the early 1980s, KPRO aired anews/talk format with some sports programming.[19][20][21] Before that it had apop music format.[18]Steve Julian andLarry Mantle co-hosted a show on this station during this period.[22][23]
The 1,000-watt station in Riverside was losing some $40,000 a month in 1984, and by February 29 the 15-person staff had not been paid in two weeks. Milton Klein and Shayle Ray were trying to negotiate a sale of KPRO and its sisters,KPRD andKZNS ofBarstow, California.[18][21][24][25] KZNS and KPRD left the airwaves in early March after more than 30 years of broadcasting, but KPRO was saved at the last minute by an unidentified San Bernardino businessman who bought into the partnership with enough cash to pay the employees and stay on the air. KPRO'sArbitron ratings were about one percent of all listeners in its market.[18][24]
In May 1984, KPRO filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy.[19] Regular programming at the station went off the air on May 15, 1984;[18][26] it listed $2.5 million of debt.[27] KPRO continued to broadcastCalifornia Angels baseball andLos Angeles Lakers basketball games to fulfill contractual obligations, and it went back on the air with other programing in mid-June, then in February again went on a sports-only schedule,[18][28] with Pat Hasland hosting a call-in show, "Pro SportsTalk".[29] Because the station's programming dropped to under 12 hours daily, theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) considered KPRO to have gonesilent.[19]
In June 1986, Klein/Ray Broadcasting sold KPRO to Lincoln Dellar-owned Inland Wireless Co. for $710,000.[30] The new owner changed its call sign to KDIF on September 23;[31] the KPRO call sign was then picked up by a station at1570 AM.[20][32] KDIF changed hands only three years later on October 24, 1989, when Hispanic Radio Broadcasters, headed by Gilberto Esquivel, bought the station.[33]
KDIF, which was airing aregional Mexican format, was purchased byJacor Communications in May 1998 for $2.65 million. The station immediately addedLos Angeles Dodgers game broadcasts in English, though it otherwise retained its Spanish-language programming.[34][35] Jacor merged withClear Channel Communications later that year.[36]
On September 27, 2010, KDIF flipped from Spanisholdies to an all-comedy format branded "24/7 Comedy" and began using new call letters KFNY (meaning "funny").[37] On August 4, 2014, following the demise of the 24/7 Comedy radio network, the station flipped to news/talk as "NewsTalk AM 1440".[38] Clear Channel changed its name to iHeartMedia a month later.
On May 15, 2017, KFNY exchanged formats withKKDD in San Bernardino, flipping to Spanishadult hits and sending the news/talk format to 1290 AM. KFNY was rebranded as "La Preciosa 1440".[39] On November 14, the station swapped call signs withKFOO inTacoma, Washington, as part of an impending sale of the latter station.
On June 29, 2020, fifteen iHeartMedia stations in markets with large African American populations, including KFOO, beganstunting with speeches by prominent African Americans, interspersed with messages such as "our voices will be heard" and "our side of the story is about to be told", with a new format slated to launch the following day.[40][41] On June 30 at 9:00 a.m., KFOO began broadcasting as a charter affiliate ofBlack Information Network (BIN), anall-news radio format targeted to the African American community.[40]