KVTO

Last updated
KVTO
Broadcast area San Francisco Bay Area
Frequency 1400 kHz
Programming
Language(s) Chinese
Affiliations Sing Tao Chinese Radio
Bay Area Metro Radio
Bay Area Chinese Radio
Global Chinese Radio
Sound of Hope
Ownership
Owner
  • Phuong Pham
  • (Pham Radio Communication LLC)
KLIV, KVVN
History
First air date
1922 (as KRE)
Former call signs
KRE (1922–1963)
KPAT (1963–1972)
KRE (1972–1986)
KBLX (1986–1989)
KBFN (1989–1990)
KBLX (1990–1994)
Call sign meaning
"Voice of the Orient"
Technical information [1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID 28681
Class C
Power 1,000 watts unlimited
Transmitter coordinates
37°50′58″N122°17′44″W / 37.84944°N 122.29556°W / 37.84944; -122.29556
Translator(s) 93.7 K229DD (San Francisco)
Links
Public license information
Webcast Listen live
Website kvto.net

KVTO (1400 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Chinese format. Licensed to Berkeley, California, United States, the station serves the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is currently owned by Phuong Pham, through licensee Pham Radio Communication LLC. [2] Its tower is located in Berkeley, California, and is shared with KEAR. [3]

Contents

It is an affiliate of Cantonese-language Sing Tao Chinese Radio, and leases additional programming from other groups.[ citation needed ]

History

The station began in Berkeley in 1922 as KRE, the former callsign of a marine radio station aboard a World War I merchant marine steamship, Florence H., [4] destroyed in an April 17, 1918, explosion at Quiberon Bay, France. [5] The Maxwell Electric Company put KRE on the air on March 11, 1922, with studios and transmitter at the Claremont Resort Hotel. In May of that year, KRE was sold to the Berkeley Daily Gazette; the station was sold again in January 1927, this time to the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, which moved the studios and built a new transmitter. In January 1930, the Chapel of the Chimes (an Oakland funeral home) bought KRE; ownership passed in December 1936 to Central California Broadcasters, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chapel of the Chimes. New studios and transmitter were built at 601 Ashby Avenue from 1937 to 1938.

KRE-FM went on the air on February 14, 1949, with a transmitter on Round Hill Mountain, which was moved to the Ashby Avenue near Berkeley's Aquatic Park site in 1950. In March 1963, KRE was taken over by the Wright Broadcasting Company of Paterson, New Jersey. [6] Later programming was simulcast on KRE-FM and there were occasional AM/FM stereo broadcasts, including some classical music programming. KRE's call letters changed to KPAT in 1963, then back to KRE in 1972. The call letters KBLX were adopted in 1986, then changed to KBFN in 1989 and back to KBLX in 1990. The current call letters, KVTO, were adopted in 1994; [7] the 1400 AM frequency was a simulcast of KBLX-FM 102.9, which was a sister station of KVTO until May 1, 2012, when Entercom Communications officially took over KBLX.[ citation needed ]

In the summer of 1972, George Lucas filmed radio legend Wolfman Jack at the KRE studios for the film, American Graffiti . (Some artistic license was employed for the movie: the Wolfman is shown doing his program live from California, although the Brinkley Act made such broadcasting illegal.)

Related Research Articles

KBLX-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Berkeley, California, and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by Salt Lake City–based Bonneville International. The radio studios and offices are along Junipero Serra Boulevard in Daly City. The transmitter is atop the San Bruno Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KISQ</span> Radio station in San Francisco

KISQ is a commercial radio station licensed to San Francisco. It broadcasts a soft adult contemporary radio format, known as "The Breeze," and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The radio studios and offices are in the SoMa district of San Francisco.

KEST is a brokered-time radio station in San Francisco, California. Most of the station's programming is in Asian languages, including Mandarin and Cantonese. It also airs some South Asian, Greek, and German programs as well as New Age shows in English. KEST, then called KSOL, was one of the first full-time "rhythm and blues" radio stations in the U.S. That station employed disc jockey Sylvester Stewart, later known as Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone recording fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KIQI</span> Radio station in San Francisco, California

KIQI is a commercial radio station in San Francisco, California. It is owned by Multicultural Broadcasting and airs a Spanish-language talk radio format. KIQI 1010 AM is simulcast on KATD 990 AM in the Sacramento Valley. Most shows are paid brokered programming where the hosts purchase time on the station and may advertise their companies and services. KIQI and KATD carry Oakland Athletics baseball games in Spanish. The station's studios and offices are located near the Civic Center in San Francisco.

KEAR (610 kHz), is a non-commercial Christian AM radio station in San Francisco, California and is the flagship station of the Family Radio network.

WRCG is a classic rock-formatted radio station in Columbus, Georgia. Studios are co-located with four sister stations on Wynnton Road in Columbus east of downtown, and the transmitter is located in Phenix City, Alabama. WRCG is an affiliate of the Atlanta Braves radio network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KKDV</span> Country music radio station in Walnut Creek, California

KKDV is a commercial radio station licensed to Walnut Creek, California, and serving central Contra Costa County. It is owned by Alpha Media and it simulcasts the country music radio format of sister station 94.5 KBAY. KKDV targets listeners in the Diablo Valley who cannot get good reception from KBAY's transmitter in the South Bay. KBAY and KKDV carry The Bobby Bones Show in morning drive time, syndicated from Nashville.

WGLB is a commercial radio station licensed to Elm Grove, Wisconsin, and serving the Milwaukee metropolitan area. It airs an urban contemporary gospel radio format. The license is held by JJK Media, LLC. It is co-owned by the children of former owner Joel Kinlow, making WGLB one of only a few radio stations that is owned by an African-American family. The studios are on West Burleigh Street in Milwaukee.

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.

KCLE is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Burleson, Texas, which serves the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by Tron Dinh Do, through licensee Intelli, LLC., and broadcasts Vietnamese language music and talk from a network based in California. First licensed in July 1922, it is one of Texas' oldest radio stations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WJLD</span> Radio station in Fairfield, Alabama

WJLD is a radio station licensed to Fairfield, Alabama, that serves most of the Birmingham metropolitan area. The station offers talk and music programming targeted towards African-American listeners, including a mixture of locally originated talk programming and urban oldies music. The station is owned by Richardson Broadcasting Corporation, a company based in Birmingham. Richardson Broadcasting Corporation also owns WAYE 1220 AM in Birmingham, Alabama and has construction permits for low power television stations in Dothan, Montgomery and Selma Alabama. The station's studios and transmitter are located separately in Southwest Birmingham.

WMAX is a radio station broadcasting a Catholic religious format. It is co-owned with WDEO 990 AM in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and features the same programming from the EWTN Global Catholic Radio network.

WJMX is an AM radio station broadcasting a news/talk format. Licensed to Darlington, South Carolina, United States, it serves the Florence area. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., through licensee iHM Licenses, LLC, and features programming from Premiere Networks, the Salem Radio Network, Townhall, and Westwood One. Its studios are located in Florence, and its transmitter is located in Darlington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WVBE-FM</span> Radio station in Lynchburg, Virginia

WVBE-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Lynchburg, Virginia, and serving Metro Lynchburg. It is owned and operated by Mel Wheeler, Inc., with studios and offices on Electric Road in Roanoke. WVBE-FM 100.1 and WVBB 97.7 in Elliston-Lafayette, Virginia, simulcast an urban adult contemporary radio format, with WVBB serving the Roanoke metropolitan area. Each weekday in AM drive time, The Vibe carries The Steve Harvey Morning Show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KSFB</span> Relevant Radio station in San Francisco

KSFB is a radio station licensed to San Francisco, California. It broadcasts Relevant Radio, a Roman Catholic radio format, to the San Francisco Bay Area of the United States. It was previously known as KYA (AM) until 1983, and KOIT (AM) and KXLR after that.

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

KZNB is a radio station that broadcasts in a Regional Mexican format. Licensed to Petaluma, California, it serves the Santa Rosa area. The station is owned by Abel De Luna, through licensee Luna Foods, Inc.

KJOJ-FM was a radio station licensed to Freeport, Texas, United States, operating as a rimshot into the Greater Houston area. It was last owned by Estrella Media and operated in tandem with KTJM in Port Arthur, with its transmitter to the east of the Houston area. The KJOJ-FM transmitter was located off Sgt. Joe Parks Memorial Highway in Sargent, Texas; the studios were in Bay City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WSKP (AM)</span> Radio station in Rhode Island, United States

WSKP is an AM radio station licensed to Hope Valley, Rhode Island. The station is owned by John Fuller's Red Wolf Broadcasting Corporation and airs an oldies radio format. WSKP operates as part of the "Kool Radio" simulcast, along with 990 WNTY in Southington, Connecticut, and formerly with 1270 WACM in Springfield, Massachusetts.

WNBP is a commercial radio station licensed to Newburyport, Massachusetts, United States, and serving the Greater Boston radio market. The station is owned by Bloomberg L.P. and serves as a simulcast of Bloomberg-programmed WBOS in Brookline, Massachusetts. WNBP and WBOS carry financial news from Bloomberg Radio.

KSFN is a commercial radio station broadcasting a Spanish Regional Mexican music radio format. Licensed to Piedmont, California, the station serves the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is currently owned by Alfredo Plascencia's Lazer Broadcasting, through licensee Lazer Licenses, LLC. KSFN's transmitter is in an industrial section of West Oakland, California.

References

  1. "Facility Technical Data for KVTO". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. "KVTO Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  3. "KVTO Transmitter Site". FCCInfo.com. Retrieved December 30, 2023.
  4. Fenwick, William (July 1928). "Broadcast Station Calls With a Past". Radio Broadcast page 150. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  5. Husband, Ensign Joseph. "World War 1 - Contemporary Accounts; The Story of the United States Naval Forces in French Waters". naval-history.net. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  6. Schneider, John F. "The History of KRE Berkeley, California". Bay Area Radio Museum. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  7. "The San Francisco Radio Dial on Various Dates 1922-1941". Bay Area Radio Museum. Retrieved December 4, 2021.