The station went on the air in 1991. Initially a Spanish-language station simulcasting KRCX under the call signs KMCE and KRDX, the talk format and KSTE call sign launched in 1992 after Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting, which had already programmed the station, bought full control. A series of ownership changes in 1996 and 1997 put KSTE under the ownership of first American Radio Systems and then Chancellor Media; additional mergers in the late 1990s led to Clear Channel Communications, the predecessor to iHeartMedia, taking over the station in 2000.
Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty joined KSTE in 1998 and now have one of the highest rated morning radio shows in Northern California. They can also be heard on radio stations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu and other cities in the West. Armstrong & Getty is the only locally based weekday talk show on KSTE.
News
For a number of years, KSTE aired hourly CNN Radio newscasts from Westwood One, and later Dial Global. On March 2, 2012, Dial Global announced it would discontinue distributing newscasts from CNN Radio and instead replace it with NBC News Radio. CNN Radio affiliates would be switched to NBC on April 1, 2012.[4] However, KSTE became an affiliate of the CBS Radio Network prior to the switchover. The station carried CBS News at the beginning of most hours.
In 2017, KSTE became an affiliate of a new version of NBC News Radio owned by iHeartMedia (unrelated to the Westwood One/Dial Global version); the station has since rejoined CBS News Radio. KSTE also airs some programming and news from ABC News Radio.
The station was sold to Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting in December 1992 for $1 million;[14] the deal was originally reached in 1991.[12] The acquisition required a waiver of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ownership rules because of the overlap of the signals of KMCE, KRCX, and KSRO in Santa Rosa, as well as plans to sell KRCX.[12] Ahead of the sale's completion, in November 1992, the call sign was changed to KSTE[15] and the format switched to news/talk, carrying ABC News Radio for hourly newscasts.[16]
In April 1996, Fuller-Jeffrey agreed to sell KSTE to American Radio Systems (ARS) for $7.25 million; ARS was also in the process of acquiring KCTC and KYMX at the time.[17] That June, ARS turned around and swapped KSTE, along with $33 million, to Chancellor Broadcasting—owner of KFBK, KGBY, and KHYL—in exchange for WEAT, WEAT-FM, and WOLL in West Palm Beach, Florida.[18] The sale was completed in October 1997,[19] by which time Chancellor Broadcasting had itself merged with Evergreen Media to form Chancellor Media.[20]
Chancellor Media and Capstar Broadcasting announced in August 1998 that they would merge (Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst was a major shareholder in both companies);[21] upon the merger's completion in July 1999, the combined company was named AMFM Inc.[22] AMFM was in turn acquired by Clear Channel Communications (forerunner to iHeartMedia) in a deal announced on October 4, 1999,[23] and completed in August 2000.[24] Through these ownership changes, KSTE's talk format remained in place, making it a rare radio station that, except for its first two years, has remained with the same format for its entire history.
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