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KRTH (101.1FM, "K-Earth 101") is a commercialradio station that is licensed toLos Angeles, California, United States and serves theGreater Los Angeles area. The station is owned byAudacy, Inc. and broadcasts aclassic hitsformat. KRTH's studios are located onWilshire Boulevard in theMiracle Mile district of Los Angeles. The station's signal covers an extremely large area ofSouthern California due in part to itsantenna location onMt. Wilson. It can be heard as far south asSan Diego, as far east asPalm Springs, as far west asSanta Barbara, and as far north asBarstow.^[2] KRTH is theflagship station for the nationally syndicated programRewind with Gary Bryan.

KRTH broadcasts in theHD Radio (hybrid) format.^[3]

In May 1940, theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) authorized anFM band effective January 1, 1941, operating on 40 channels spanning 42–50 MHz.^[5] (This was later changed to 88–106 MHz, and still later to 88–108 MHz, which increased the number of channels to 100.) On October 31, 1940, thefirst fifteen construction permits for commercial FM stations were issued, including one toDon Lee Broadcasting System for a station in Los Angeles at 44.5 MHz,^[6] which was issued thecall sign K45LA.^[7]K45LA signed on August 11, 1941, as the first FM station in Los Angeles, broadcasting from a tower atopMount Lee;^[8] it is the oldest continuously operating FM station in California. Effective November 1, 1943, the FCC modified its policy for commercial FM station call letters,^[9] and the call sign was changed to KHJ-FM, after its sister AM stationKHJ. In 1946, as part of a transfer of stations to the new FM band, KHJ-FM was assigned to 99.7 MHz. In 1947, KHJ-FM was reassigned to its current broadcast frequency of 101.1 FM,^[10] eventuallyrelocating its transmitter toMount Wilson.^[11]

In 1965, when KHJ adopted its "Boss Radio" top-40 format, that station wassimulcast on KHJ-FM.^[12] From 1968 to 1970, KHJ-FM airedDrake-Chenault's "Hit Parade" format, an automated mix of older songs and current hits. In 1971, the station carried another Drake-Chenault top 40 format, "Solid Gold Rock And Roll".^[13]

On October 16, 1972,^[14] KHJ-FM switched to what was then called a "gold" format, featuring older hit songs from the past. At the time, this "oldies" format featuring songs from 1953 to 1963 was a novel idea since most stations played current music with only a few older songs mixed in.^[13] The only local competition in this format wasKWOW (1600 AM), a mostly automated station in nearbyPomona. With the switch in format came a new moniker: "K-Earth", named afterEarth Day which had debuted to much fanfare two years before. New matching call letters KRTH accompanied the change.^[15] The "K-Earth 101"jingle was also introduced at this time; it directly echoed the sound and notes of the jingle from KHJ, the station where many of these "gold" songs had originally been played. (KHJ was still on the air at this point, but was playing current top 40 songs.)

In the late 1970s, under program director Bob Hamilton, KRTH added current hits to its oldies playlist—essentially anadult contemporary format. Though current music was played to varying degrees through the early 1980s, K-Earth's format remained focused on the past.^[16][17]

In 1985, KRTH solidified its oldies format, adopting the motto "Classic Rock and Roll". K-Earth began promoting its "Good Time Oldies" image with frequent TV ads featuringBeach Boys music, classic cars, palm trees, and the ever-present K-Earth jingle. The songs featured were from 1955 to 1978, with the focus largely on the 1960s.^[18]Doo-wop, early rock,Motown, girl groups,Elvis Presley, andthe Beatles were the mainstays of the station's music mix. Throughout the 1980s, K-Earth would feature huge weekend specialties, including #1 music over the Labor Day weekend. Every L.A. #1 song would be played in chronological order (utilizing the older KHJ Boss 30,KFWB Fab Forty, and other local charts) from 1955 through 1985. The weekend before would feature the "Runners Up of Classic Rock and Roll Weekend", consisting of #2 songs. The "Firecracker 300" was played over the Fourth of July weekend. Other specials included a Memorial Day weekend "A to Z", the "Super Sixties Weekend", and the "Souvenirs of the Seventies Weekend". In February 1986, KHJ adopted the KRTH call letters; this necessitated the FM station adjusting its call sign to KRTH-FM.^[19] In 1988,RKO General soldKRTH-AM-FM toBeasley Broadcasting due to the scandals involving KHJ-TV which forced the former company out of broadcasting.^[20]

Oldies were a ratings success for KRTH-FM and similar stations across the United States and Canada. In March 1989, another Los Angeles FM oldies station emerged at 93.1 FM under the call sign KODJ, laterKCBS-FM, as a direct competitor to KRTH-FM. KODJ/KCBS-FM played oldies from 1955 to 1972 with a heavy focus on pre-1964 oldies.KRTH-FM, which reverted to the KRTH call sign in May 1990,^[21] continued acknowledging the mid- and late 1970s and continued playing moderate amounts of pre-1964 material until 1991, when management eliminated the 1980s music and most post-1972 songs. The two stations went head-to-head for a few years, with K-Earth consistently getting higher ratings and emerging as the winner. In an attempt to distinguish itself from K-Earth and regain the oldies audience, KODJ changed its call letters toKCBS-FM^[22] and, in early 1993, began playing mostly pre-1965 oldies. KCBS-FM successfully switched to aclassic rock format in late 1993 called "Arrow 93", but later flipped toadult hits as "Jack FM". KRTH, by then, focused on the 1964–1969 period with moderate amounts of pre-1964 and 1970s songs each hour. The station remained a competitor with Pasadena's AM oldies stationKRLA until 1998, when that station switched formats. KRTH was sold toInfinity Radio in 1994.

From 1992 to 1997, K-Earth was the home ofThe Real Don Steele andRobert W. Morgan, who were co-workers at KHJ during the 1960s Boss Radio era. In April 1997, Steele announced in a very emotional on-air statement that he had lung cancer, which subsequently led to both his retirement as well as his death by the summer of 1997.^[23] Six weeks later, in May 1997, Morgan would grip audiences with his own heartfelt announcement that he had the same disease. His death several months later severed KRTH's last link to Boss Radio.^[24]"Shotgun" Tom Kelly succeeded Don Steele in afternoon drive that September.^[25]

KRTH changed hands in 1996 when Infinity was purchased byWestinghouse Broadcasting, which at the time ownedCBS, making KRTH and KCBS-FM sister stations.^[26] K-Earth continued with its oldies format, adjusting it toward the end of the decade. Older songs from before theBritish Invasion of 1964 were increasingly dropped from the playlist, and the station began to emphasize music of the late 1960s, especially that of Motown. The playlist itself began to shrink, with only the biggest, most-requested hits from this period played in heavy repetition. In 2002, the station would be reunited under common ownership with the former KHJ-TV when CBS boughtKCAL-TV; KRTH wound up moving into KCAL's old facility at 5515 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood (on theParamount Pictures studio lot) as a result of KCAL's operations being merged into KCBS-TV'sColumbia Square facility, which KRTH had been operating out of. (They would again be split after the sale of the radio stations toEntercom in 2017.)

With its target demographics aging and ratings sagging, KRTH, along with most oldies outlets across the country, began adding1970s songs to the playlist in the early 2000s, particularlydisco. Artists such asStevie Wonder,Elton John,ABBA, theBee Gees,Earth, Wind & Fire, andPeter Frampton were combined with 1960s artists such asThe Supremes and the Beatles. Though still repetitive, the playlist was also rotated more frequently, with a few rediscovered oldies brought "out of the vault" on occasion, while other songs were "rested" from the rotation. This process was taken a step further in 2007 with a few early1980s songs added to the mix by artists such asHall & Oates,Phil Collins, andMichael Jackson. By the end of 2007, K-Earth had improved its ratings substantially and was once again ranked among the top 10 stations in the Los Angeles market. More importantly from an advertising standpoint, the station was attracting a younger demographic. In November 2009, KRTH reached its first milestone by reaching their first #1 overall in theArbitron 12+ Ratings; the station had never reached a #1 overall in its 37 years broadcasting as K-Earth. In 2010, K-Earth began adding songs from the mid- to late 1980s into its mix from artists such asJanet Jackson,The Bangles,Deniece Williams, andThe Police. KRTH still played an occasional pre-1964 song such as "Shout", "Jailhouse Rock", or "Tequila" (about one every other hour).

Another change that was made in the 2000s was the addition of adult contemporaryChristmas music during the holiday season from performers such asMannheim Steamroller,Air Supply, andBarry Manilow. Airing three times an hour, this holiday fare was designed to entice listeners away from AC competitorKOST, which annually shoots to #1 in the ratings with its all-Christmas format. (In years past, K-Earth played a similar amount of Christmas music, but only from oldies artists such as the Beach Boys orAlvin and the Chipmunks.) For several years, KRTH switched to all-Christmas music from 12:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve to 12:00 p.m. on Christmas Day.

Following the departure of program director Jhani Kaye in 2013, a series of changes at KRTH accelerated the station's transition from oldies to aclassic hits format. After Labor Day 2013, under new PD Rick Thomas, the station began to remove a portion of 1960s music, as it had appealed to a much older audience than was measurable by the ratings system. In addition, most early 1970s hits, as well as soul hits from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s, were eliminated; the playlist now focused on music from 1973 to 1989 (with only a few pre-1973 songs per day). With these changes, ratings rose substantially. In June 2014, CBS transferred Thomas to New York, with Chris Ebbott replacing him as program director.^[27] Ebbott was previously PD atCKFM-FM in Toronto. Also in 2014,Johnny Mann, whose singers have been responsible for KRTH's jingles over the years, died. Additionally,Charlie Van Dyke, who was KRTH's voiceover artist in recent years but more recently has also been the imaging voice ofKABC-TV, was replaced as station voiceover withJoe Cipriano, the longtime voice of theFox Television Network. In August 2015, "Shotgun" Tom Kelly left his afternoon drive position but remained with KRTH in an "ambassador" role, making public appearances and otherwise representing the station off-air.^[28] By early 2016, KRTH began addingsongs from the 1990s into its playlist.^[29]

On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge withEntercom.^[30] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on November 17.^[31][32] As of 2018, KRTH no longer plays music from the 1960s through the mid-1970s, with its playlist shifting towards hits from the late 1970s through the early 2000s, with a heavy focus on the 1980s. However, the station's playlist is limited to avoid excessive overlap with sister stationKCBS-FM, which airs anadult hits format.

In addition toRewind with Gary Bryan, KRTH also broadcastsAmerica's Greatest Hits, hosted byScott Shannon, and the 1980s and 1990s editions ofBacktrax USA with Kid Kelly on the weekends. Bryan, Kelly, and Shannon are all former disc jockeys atWHTZ (Z100) in New York City. Around the 2020s, KRTH started playing more songs from the 1990s. In addition, 2000s and 2010s have been added to the playlist.^[33]

KRTH broadcasts inHD Radio with two subchannels:

• KRTH-HD1 is a digital simulcast of the analog signal; it was launched in 2007.
• KRTH-HD2 airs anLGBTQ-orientedtalk/EDM format asChannel Q.

KRTH-HD2 began broadcasting in 2010, originally featuring oldies from the 1955–1970 period, with an emphasis on the late 1960s and Motown which had been removed from the main channel's playlist. The HD2 station was originally branded "K-Earth Classics" and also streamed online. KRTH-HD2 was reported by social media sites and theTuneIn platform to be the highest listener rated station of CBS Radio's owned-and-operated oldies stations. On May 11, 2016, the channel began carryingRadio Disney under abrokered arrangement betweenThe Walt Disney Company and CBS Radio. This arrangement ended in June 2018, when the HD2 subchannel became a simulcast of all-newsKNX (1070 AM). As of November 2022, KRTH-HD2 airs an LGBTQ-oriented talk/EDM format, known asChannel Q.

Since 2011, KRTH has earned fiveMarconi Radio Award nominations, winning three awards.

• Brian Beirne, "Mr. Rock 'N Roll"
• Gary Bryan^[39]
• Roger Christian
• Rich Fields, former announcer onThe Price is Right
• Sean "Hollywood" Hamilton
• Dave Hull, "The Hullabalooer"
• Dan Ingram (June 1998; one week only)^[40]
• "Shotgun" Tom Kelly (1997–2015)^[28]
• Robert W. Morgan
• Bob Shannon
• The Real Don Steele
• Charlie Tuna
• Charlie Van Dyke
• Wolfman Jack

• Official website
• Facility details for Facility ID 28631 (KRTH) in theFCC Licensing and Management System
• KRTH inNielsen Audio's FM station database
• FCC History Cards for KRTH (covering K45LA / KHJ-FM / KRTH for 1940–1981)
• List of "grandfathered" FM radio stations in the U.S.

• HD Radio stations
• Radio stations in Los Angeles
• Classic hits radio stations in the United States
• RKO General
• Radio stations established in 1941
• 1941 establishments in California
• Audacy, Inc. radio stations

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