KSJX

Last updated
KSJX
Broadcast area San Francisco Bay Area
Frequency 1500 kHz
Programming
Language(s) Vietnamese
Ownership
Owner
KEST, KIQI
History
First air date
June 24, 1948;75 years ago (1948-06-24)
Former call signs
KXRX (1948–1982)
KHTT (1982–1989)
Technical information
Facility ID 4118
Class B
Power 10,000 watts day
5,000 watts night
Transmitter coordinates
 37°21′28″N121°52′17″W / 37.35778°N 121.87139°W / 37.35778; -121.87139
Links
Webcast Listen live
Website ksjx1500.com

KSJX (1500 AM) is a broadcast radio station licensed to San Jose, California, United States. Owned by Multicultural Broadcasting, the station broadcasts programming in Vietnamese.

Contents

Founded in 1948 with the call signs KXRX, the station had various music formats in its early decades. The station was locally owned for most of its first 50 years of operation except 1978 to 1991. In the 1970s, KXRX expanded its programming to include news. From 1972 to 1980 and 1987 to 1991, the station was the radio home for San Jose State University sports. After an ownership change, KXRX became KHTT in 1982 and changed its music playlist from middle of the road to current hits. In 1986, KHTT switched to oldies.

KSJX has had its current call sign since 1989, when it launched a business news format. In 1992, KSJX began broadcasting in Vietnamese. Multicultural Broadcasting bought KSJX in 1998.

History

As KXRX (1948–1982)

AM 1500 signed on the air June 24, 1948 with the call letters KXRX and 1,000 watts of power, founded by the San Jose Broadcasting Company. [1] [2] In 1949, KXRX was part of the San Francisco 49ers radio network. [3] KXRX played exclusively pop LPs by late 1957. [4] From 1956 to 1958, KXRX had daytime power of 10,000 watts before reverting to 1,000; the daytime power again was upgraded in 1960, this time to 5,000 watts. [5] In 1964, KXRX boosted its power to 10,000 watts in daytime and 5,000 watts at night, where it remains today. [5]

KXRX broadcast programming related to San Jose State College (later University) throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In 1960, KXRX debuted Spartan Salute, a nightly, hour-long program featuring news reports, interviews, and music targeted towards San Jose State students. [6] [7] Beginning in the fall of 1966, KXRX broadcast Spartan Spectrum, a nightly news summary produced by the San Jose State radio/television news department that aired 10 minutes before 8 p.m. [8] In 1972, KXRX began broadcasting San Jose State Spartans football games. [9]

As of 1973, KXRX had a news format. By 1974, KXRX broadcast live, locally produced news in mornings from 5:30 to 9:15 a.m. and afternoons from 4 to 6:15 p.m., with oldies the rest of the day. [10] [11] By the late 1970s, KXRX broadcast The Wall Street Journal Business Report , a syndicated business news show. [12]

San Jose Broadcasting sold KXRX in 1978 to the Seattle-based Sterling Recreation Organization, a company with holdings in movie theaters and bowling alleys in addition to radio stations. [13] [5] With new ownership came programming changes. Following the 1979 season, KXRX lost San Jose State football broadcasting rights to San Francisco's KCBS. Although KXRX offered $1,000 more for the 1980 season, KCBS out-bid KXRX with a contract that rose by $2,000 per year. San Jose State men's athletic director Dave Adams also cited KCBS having a far stronger signal and ratings. [14] In 1981, KXRX switched to a middle of the road music format. [15]

As KHTT (1982–1989)

On September 7, 1982, KXRX changed its call sign to KHTT. [16] With a new "K-Hit" brand, the format switched to current hits. [17]

Sterling Recreation sold KHTT on July 10, 1985 to Narragansett Broadcasting Company based in Providence, Rhode Island. [18] [5] Citing low ratings and competition from FM stations, Narragansett switched KHTT's format in October 1985 from current hits to 1960s oldies. [19]

KHTT began carrying Santa Clara University and San Jose State University men's basketball games in the 1985–86 season. [20] [18] However, lack of advertising caused an initial broadcast rights deal with Southern California company ROWW Enterprises to be cancelled, so only by December 1985 could KHTT secure a deal with San Jose State to broadcast basketball games; it was the first time since 1983 that San Jose State basketball was broadcast on commercial radio. [18] Ken Korach, who would later become the Oakland A's radio play-by-play announcer, was San Jose State's announcer at the time. [18] In November 1986, local printing business owner and San Jose State alum Jerry Erich financed a new contract for both San Jose State and Santa Clara basketball for KHTT as negotiations were breaking down. [21]

In 1987, KHTT won the rights to live San Jose State football broadcasts after the contract of San Francisco station KCBS expired; for the 1986 season, KCBS carried most games on tape delay due to conflicts with Stanford games. [22] After delays due to a possible sale of the station, KHTT signed a new contract with San Jose State to broadcast all football and basketball games in June 1988. [23]

As KSJX (1989–present)

On March 1, 1989, the station picked up its current call letters KSJX and a business news format. [24] That format lasted only around one year before KSJX became a simulcast of FM sister station KSJO, an album-oriented rock station, in 1990. [25]

In March 1991, KSJX dropped the simulcast of KSJO for its own modern rock format branded "X-Rock 1500". [25] The following month, KSJX lost the San Jose State sports broadcast rights to rival station KLIV, due to KSJX carrying only 20 of the previous season's 27 basketball games. [26] KSJX returned to local ownership for the first time since the late 1970s in November 1991, when Narragansett Broadcasting sold the station to Baycom San Jose. [5]

KSJX began its current Vietnamese format in 1992. [27] Douglas Broadcasting, based in nearby Palo Alto, bought KSJX for $2.1 million in February 1995. [28] In January 1998, Douglas Broadcasting sold KSJX and San Francisco-based KEST to New York City-based Multicultural Broadcasting. [29]

In March 1999, KSJX began carrying a Sunday night LGBT talk show Sống Thật hosted by Vuong Nguyen. [30] A 2003 San Jose Mercury News profile described the show as "intentionally aimed at educating the older and more conservative generation of immigrants who are probably the most averse to hearing the show." [31] Nguyen and her radio program have won local awards. [32]

On October 9, 2010, a grass fire burned KSJX's offices and transmitter; Spanish-language KZSF also shared the transmitter that burned. [33] [34] [35] Prior to the fire, KSJX operated from offices on Wooster Avenue near an Eggo factory and U.S. Route 101 in central San Jose; [34] [36] the station moved to Murphy Avenue in North San Jose as of 2012. [37] Until the transmitter was rebuilt, KSJX broadcast under a special temporary authority from October 18, 2010, to November 22, 2013. [38]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KSJS</span> Radio station at San Jose State University

KSJS (90.5 MHz) is a college radio station that broadcasts 24 hours a day from the campus of San Jose State University in San Jose, California, United States. The brainchild of Professor Clarence Flick, it went on the air on February 11, 1963, with only 85 watts of power. The studio is located in Hugh Gillis Hall, easily accessible to RTVF majors. Originally, its transmitting antenna was installed atop the Walquist Library Building on campus, but broadcasting range was adversely affected due to the nearby Bank of America Building's superior height. Today, however, its transmitter atop Coyote Peak broadcasts 1,500 watts, allowing the station to be heard by the entire Santa Clara Valley and much of the San Francisco Peninsula. Currently, the station features five musical formats: urban, electronic, alternative rock, rock en Español, and jazz. In addition, KSJS has student-produced broadcasts of San Jose State Spartans sports teams, including football, basketball, and baseball.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KGO (AM)</span> Clear-channel sports betting radio station in San Francisco

KGO is a commercial AM radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, and owned by Cumulus Media. Due to its extensive groundwave signal and the effects of the surrounding terrain, its coverage is greater than any Bay Area FM station, and it registers with Arbitron as a station listened to in surrounding metropolitan regions. Cumulus's local offices are based on Battery Street in the SoMa portion of San Francisco's Financial District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KCBS (AM)</span> Radio station in San Francisco, California

KCBS is an all-news AM radio station located in San Francisco, California. It is owned by Audacy, Inc., which took over after its merger with CBS Radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KGB (AM)</span> Radio station in San Diego, California

KGB is a commercial AM radio station licensed to San Diego, California. It is owned by iHeartMedia and airs a sports radio format. KGB has local sports talk shows along with play-by-play coverage of San Diego State University football and basketball, Los Angeles Lakers basketball, San Diego Gulls hockey, and national programming from Fox Sports Radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KDOW</span> American radio station in Palo Alto, California

KDOW is a commercial radio station broadcasting a financial news/talk format. Licensed to Palo Alto, California, United States, the station serves the greater San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by the Salem Media Group.

KSFO is a commercial radio station in San Francisco, California. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a talk radio format. The station's studios and offices are on Battery Street in San Francisco, along with five other Bay Area Cumulus stations.

KTCT is a commercial radio station licensed to San Mateo, California, and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a sports radio format as KNBR 1050, a sister station to KNBR and KNBR-FM. In contrast to KNBR-AM-FM having local sports talk and play-by-play most of the day, KTCT emphasizes nationally syndicated programming from ESPN Radio. KTCT is also the radio home for San Jose Earthquakes soccer, Stanford University football, and University of San Francisco men's basketball.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KMRB</span> Radio station in Pasadena, California

KMRB is a broadcast radio station in the United States. Licensed to San Gabriel, California, KMRB serves the Greater Los Angeles area with a Cantonese language format. It is owned and operated by Multicultural Broadcasting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KXYZ</span> Radio station in Houston, Texas

KXYZ is a commercial radio station in Houston, Texas. It is owned by iHeartMedia, and features an all-news radio format aimed at the African American community, as an affiliate of the co-owned Black Information Network. In addition to carrying the national network, there are cut-ins for Houston-area news, traffic and weather.

KLIV is a broadcast radio station in the United States. Licensed to San Jose, California, KLIV serves San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley with a Vietnamese format simulcasting KVVN. It is one of the last independently owned stations in the Bay Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KTRB</span> Talk radio station in San Francisco

KTRB is a commercial radio station in San Francisco, California. The station has a talk radio format, airing programming from the Salem Radio Network, using the slogan "860 AM The Answer." KTRB is owned by Salem Media Group, through licensee New Inspiration Broadcasting Company, Inc.; Salem uses "The Answer" as a brand for most of its talk stations.

KJLV is a radio station in Los Gatos, California, United States, serving the San Jose and Santa Clara Valley area. It is owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF) and part of its K-Love network. The primary transmitter is on Blackberry Hill Road in Los Gatos. KJLV also has two booster stations on 95.3 MHz: KJLV-FM1 serving Scotts Valley and KJLV-FM2 at New Almaden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KGMZ-FM</span> Sports radio station in San Francisco

KGMZ-FM is a sports radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc., and broadcasts from studios on Battery Street in the North Beach section of San Francisco. KGMZ-FM serves as the flagship station for the Golden State Warriors basketball team. The station also broadcasts games of the Bay Area Panthers indoor football team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WWCK (AM)</span> Radio station in Flint, Michigan

WWCK is a commercial AM radio station in Flint, Michigan. It is owned by Cumulus Media and it broadcasts a classic hits radio format. Its studios are south of the Flint city limits and the AM transmitter is east of downtown Flint near the intersection of Dort Highway and I-69. WWCK carries Michigan State Spartans college football and men's basketball.

KAZA is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Gilroy, California, and serving the Santa Clara Valley. It airs a radio format of Vietnamese language music and talk, and is branded Viên Thao Radio. The station is owned by Tron Dinh Do, through licensee Intelli, LLC.

KZSF is a broadcast radio station in the United States. Licensed to San Jose, California, KZSF serves the San Francisco Bay Area and has a regional Mexican music format branded "La Kaliente 1370 AM." The station has been owned by Carlos A. Duharte since 2001.

KZSJ is a commercial radio station licensed to San Martin, California. It has a radio format of music and talk in Vietnamese and Korean, serving San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley. The station is currently owned by Bustos Media. Programming is produced by Quê Hương Media, which used to air on a digital subchannel of KAXT-CD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KWSX</span> Radio station in Stockton, California

KWSX is a broadcast radio station in the United States. Licensed to Stockton, California, the station has a sports format and has been owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and its predecessors since 1996. KWSX broadcasts the national Fox Sports Radio network for most of the week in addition to play-by-play coverage of local college and professional sports teams, including University of the Pacific men's basketball and Stockton Ports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KFIV</span> Radio station in Modesto, California

KFIV is a broadcast radio station in the United States. Licensed to Modesto, California, it has a talk format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KION (AM)</span> Radio station in Salinas, California

KION is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Salinas, California, and serving the Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz region of the Central California Coast. It broadcasts a talk radio format and owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.

References

  1. ↑ "KXRX San Jose On Air At 1500 kc, Fulltime" (PDF). Broadcasting . Vol. 35, no. 7. August 16, 1948. p. 62 – via American Radio History.
  2. ↑ 1966 Broadcasting Yearbook (PDF). Washington, DC: Broadcasting Publications Inc. p. B-21 – via American Radio History.
  3. ↑ "San Francisco 49ers Football On The Radio". Bay Area Radio Museum. 13 August 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  4. ↑ Bundy, June (April 7, 1958), "Vox Jox", Billboard, vol. 70, no. 14, p. 49 – via Google Books
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "FCCdata.org - powered by REC". fccdata.org.
  6. ↑ "Spartan Salute advertisement", The Spartan Daily, San Jose State College, vol. 48, no. 5, p. 3, October 4, 1960
  7. ↑ "Spartan Salute advertisement", The Spartan Daily, San Jose State College, vol. 48, no. 14, p. 2, October 17, 1960
  8. ↑ "Campus TV Program to Debut on KNTV". The Spartan Daily. San Jose State College. October 5, 1966. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  9. ↑ Goldberg, Jay (September 22, 1972). "Spartans invade Berkeley". The Spartan Daily. San Jose State College. p. 8.
  10. ↑ 1973 Broadcasting Yearbook (PDF). Washington, DC: Broadcasting Publications Inc. p. B-28 – via American Radio History.
  11. ↑ "Bay Area Radio". The Times. San Mateo, California. June 6, 1974. p. 22. Retrieved July 28, 2019– via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Wall Street Journal Business Report advertisement" (PDF). Broadcasting. July 24, 1978. p. 51 – via American Radio History.
  13. ↑ Grein, Paul (September 9, 1978), "American Song Festival Blooms And Garners Industry Approval", Billboard, vol. 90, no. 36, p. 16 – via Google Books
  14. ↑ Brewer, Boni (April 29, 1980), "Less means more in football radio contest", The Spartan Daily, San Jose State University, vol. 74, no. 57, retrieved July 28, 2019
  15. ↑ Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1982 (PDF), Washington, DC: Broadcasting Publications Inc., p. C-32, retrieved July 28, 2019– via American Radio History
  16. ↑ "Call sign history".
  17. ↑ "Chicago's WJKL Goes MOR", Billboard, vol. 94, no. 37, p. 18, September 18, 1982 – via Google Books
  18. 1 2 3 4 "San Jose State's remaining games to be on KHTT". San Jose Mercury News. December 10, 1985. p. 2D. Retrieved July 30, 2019– via NewsBank.
  19. ↑ Eickmann, Lori (October 20, 1985). "Action in the game zone". San Jose Mercury News. p. Arts 3. Retrieved July 30, 2019– via NewsBank.
  20. ↑ Fleser, Dan (October 23, 1985). "SCU basketball on the air". San Jose Mercury News. p. 11D. Retrieved July 30, 2019– via NewsBank.
  21. ↑ "KHTT will broadcast SJS, SCU basketball". San Jose Mercury News. November 15, 1986. p. 10E. Retrieved July 30, 2019– via NewsBank.
  22. ↑ Antonucci, Mike (March 18, 1987). "SJS, KHTT close to deal for live football coverage". San Jose Mercury News. p. 6E. Retrieved July 21, 2019– via NewsBank.
  23. ↑ "Spartans renew TV, radio contracts". San Jose Mercury News. June 15, 1988. p. 6C. Retrieved July 30, 2019– via NewsBank.
  24. ↑ Weimers, Leigh (February 17, 1989). "Technology's really foreign to some folks". San Jose Mercury News. p. 1C. Retrieved July 30, 2019– via NewsBank.
  25. 1 2 "KSJX Drops AOR Simulcast, Gets Hard" (PDF). R&R . March 29, 1991. p. 10. Retrieved December 31, 2023– via AmericanRadioHistory.com.
  26. ↑ "Good news, bad news in SJS radio switch". San Jose Mercury News. April 30, 1991. p. 2C. Retrieved July 30, 2019– via NewsBank.
  27. ↑ "Vien Thao New Media Kit" (PDF). Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  28. ↑ "Changing Hands" (PDF), Broadcasting & Cable, vol. 125, no. 7, p. 47, February 13, 1995, retrieved August 3, 2019– via AmericanRadioHistory.com
  29. ↑ Goldfisher, Alastair. "Douglas Broadcasting to sell eight properties on AM dial". The Business Journal. Archived from the original on May 3, 1999. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
  30. ↑ Mangaliman, Jessie (February 25, 2009). "For a decade, Song That Radio has waged war against homophobia". San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on May 9, 2017. Retrieved July 29, 2019. Vietnamese tonal marks are taken from the show's website.
  31. ↑ Kang, Cecilia (October 27, 2003). "Vietnamese radio show shines a light on gay issues". San Jose Mercury News. p. 1A. Archived from the original on December 25, 2003. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  32. ↑ Chung, L.A. (February 17, 2007). "A new year: Vietnamese and openly gay". San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on February 21, 2007. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  33. ↑ "Fire consumes San Jose radio station". San Francisco Peninsula Press Club. October 9, 2010. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  34. 1 2 Carey, Pete (October 10, 2010). "Vietnamese radio station tower burns". San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on September 21, 2015. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  35. ↑ Vega, Cecilia (October 10, 2010). "Fire knocks out two San Jose radio signals". ABC7News.com. KGO-TV. Archived from the original on October 23, 2010. Retrieved August 8, 2019. Video for this story is available here via the Internet Archive.
  36. ↑ "MRBI Radio Stations Distributions Map". Multicultural Broadcasting. Archived from the original on 2010-02-01. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
  37. ↑ "Ha van | Vietnamese Northern California 1500AM Radio | vnamradio.net". vnamradio.net. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  38. ↑ "KSJX". FCCdata.org. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.