KYA went on the air on December 18, 1926, with 500 watts on 970 kHz. from the Clift Hotel in San Francisco. The owners were Vincent I. Kraft of Seattle, who had started KJR (AM) there, and Frederick C. Clift of San Francisco. It got a license for 1,000 watts on 850 kHz. in November 1927. Its studios moved to the Warfield Theatre building at 988 Market Street, but the transmitter stayed at the Clift Hotel.[2]
In November 1928, Johnny Patrick and Helen Troy, developed a musical comedy routine of “Cecil and Sally”, first broadcast in 1928 on KYA, and debuted The Funniest Things on a West Coast connection of a short-lived ABC network, later, after the ABC network went bankrupt, in 1929, it moved to KPO and the NBC Pacific Coast Network. In 1930, Patrick and Troy syndicated their programs to other radio stations by electrical transcription records, made at the MacGregor[3] and Sollie recording studio in San Francisco, with the program heard on over 53 radio stations, including 27 states, 5 Canadian provinces, the Hawaiian Islands, Australia and New Zealand,[4] between 1930 and 1933.[5]
In November 1928, KYA moved to 1230 kHz. as part of a nationwide frequency reshuffling, and joined the Columbia Broadcasting System. By May 1929 its transmitter was reported to be at 680 Geary Street at Taylor Street. The station licensee went bankrupt in August, and KYA was transferred to a new corporation by the end of 1929. The transmitter facility was moved again, on 25 June 1930, to the Whitcomb Hotel.[2]
Having moved to various locations around the radio dial during the chaotic early days of broadcasting, KYA was assigned permanently to 1260 kHz. as a result of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) in 1941.[2]
"The Boss of the Bay" - KYA as a Top 40 Rock Station
In the mid-1950s, KYA made its mark as a rock and roll station. KYA was for many years the leading Top 40 music radio station in the Bay Area, until the stronger-signalled KFRC switched to the format in 1966. From time to time, up through 1970, KYA would again beat KFRC in the Arbitron ratings, but KYA's dominance was truly over after the mid-1960s.[citation needed] Former KYA morning man and legendary radio programmer Bill Drake went on to consult KFRC to its ratings success; it was at KYA that Drake first made his mark as program director. KYA was also instrumental in the careers of future sportscaster Johnny Holliday, audio and electronics store pitchman Tom Campbell,[6] Hall of Fame disc jockey and underground radio pioneer Tom Donahue (a.k.a. "Big Daddy"), and Tommy Saunders, who retired from KYA's successor, KOIT, in 2006.
In the mid-1960s, a group of KYA DJs, led by Holliday, formed a basketball team known as the KYA Oneders (pronounced "Wonders"). The team played many Bay Area high school faculties, helping the schools raise funds for a variety of programs. Perhaps the most famous of the Oneders was Rick Barry, who played for the team during the 1967-68 campaign before jumping from the NBA's San Francisco Warriors to the ABA's Oakland Oaks.
During the 1960s, the radio station issued weekly tabloid newsletters and hit sheets, The KYA Swingin' Sixty and later the KYA Beat (also known as The Official Top 30). These popular flyers were available at Bay Area record stores and other sponsor locations. The station's under-promoted news team included Mark Adams(Don Allen), Terry Sullivan, Larry Buller, (air name of Larry Brownell), Tony Tremayne (air name of Mel Fritze) and Brad Messer, who would later be inducted in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.
Easy Rock 93 and Oldies
In September 1979, KYA AM & FM flipped to a light album rock format under the title "Easy Rock 93." Within months the AM station would flip again, this time to an oldies format while the FM station would continue the light album rock format as KLHT (K-LITE). Morgan, Mora, Serr and Syracuse would be brought back to revive the station from its heyday. This format would hold until the station was sold in 1983.
KYA's dominance was basically over by the late 1960s when FM stations began playing rock & roll and gained large chunks of the audiences. King Broadcasting took over on November 1, 1977.
KOIT and KXLR
KYA, which became KOIT in 1983 under the ownership of Bonneville International Corp., still transmits from the station's classic Julia Morgan-designed transmitter building on Candlestick Point, with studios at 2nd and Howard in San Francisco. Morgan was on retainer for Hearst, and the building has the trademark Hearst eagle above the front door.
A KYA jingle can be heard at the beginning of the movie Zodiac. A commercial for a now-defunct local San Francisco Bay Area retailer, Gensler-Lee Diamonds, can be heard preceding the jingle. "Gensler-Lee Diamond; Gensler-Lee Diamonds; the place to buy diamonds if you're really smart; Gensler-Lee Diamonds... the store... with a heart!"
In mid-2007, Bonneville reached an agreement to sell the 1260 AM frequency to IHR Educational Broadcasting. IHR took over the station's operations in December of that year under a time-brokerage agreement, and officially closed on the station on February 1, 2008.
In 2007, KOIT (the former 1260/KYA) became KSFB, a Catholic-oriented station owned by Immaculate Heart Radio. Ironically, KYA's chief Top 40 rival in the 1960s and 1970s, KFRC (610 AM), is now the Christian-oriented KEAR (the KFRC call letters would return in January 2009, this time at 1550 AM replacing KYCY and the station is owned by CBS Radio).
Catholic Radio
On December 10, 2007, a religious format came to 1260 AM; the call sign was changed to KSFB. KSFB is part of one of the largest Catholic radio networks in America, and its daily broadcasts include daily Mass and rosary. Many other programs, such as Life Is Worth Living with Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, Fr. John Corapi, and Mother Angelica, were also on the air.[citation needed]
KSFB flipped to the Relevant Radio branding when IHR Educational Broadcasting and Starboard Media Foundation consummated their merger on July 3, 2017.[8]
Translators
In addition to the main station, KSFB is relayed by these translators.
93.3 KRZZ, which began as co-owned KYA-FM and simulcast AM 1260 during several periods
96.5 KOIT-FM, which was co-owned from 1983, was the source of AM 1260's KOIT call sign, and simulcast AM 1260 for a time
KYA "The Boss of the Bay" which was a streaming web broadcast brought to you by Gary Mora and Super Harlow accessible via web radio that operated from 2008 until July, 2020
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