If you grew up in or near the Southbay,
1590/KLIV was probably your station of choice for Top 40
music, great personalities — including John McLeod, Dave
Sholin, Bob Ray, Jack Hayes, Ross Macgowan, Ralph
Koal, Scott St. James, Ray Morgan, Mac McGregor and the
inimitable Captain Mikey (Mikel Hunter Herrington) — as well as for promoting
concerts at the San Jose Civic Auditorium and other local
venues.
KLIV
got its start in September 1946 as a 1000-watt daytime-only station
known as KSJO. It's sister station, KSJO-FM (92.3), made its debut in
December 1946 from shared facilities in the Austin Field-designed
studios at the corner of Story Road and Lucretia Avenue in rural San
Jose. In 1947, KSJO-AM added nighttime service at 500 watts.
The original owners of KSJO sold the AM to Cal-Radio,
Inc., owned by Riley R. Gibson, on June 1, 1960, at which time it became
KLIV. (The FM retained the KSJO call letters.) In 1961, KLIV's daytime
power was boosted to 5,000 watts; nighttime power was raised to the same
level in 1969.
On July 1, 1967, was sold for $974,000 by Cal-Radio to
Empire Broadcasting, owned by two former Rochester, N.Y., radio
executives, Robert S. (Bob) Kieve and James M. Trayhern, Jr.
KLIV was known for its contemporary music format for
many years, but switched to the syndicated "Music Of Your Life" Adult
Standards format in May 1981. Early in 1991, KLIV moved to an all-news
format, mixing local coverage with network audio from CNN Headline News.
At a time when KYA, KFRC and KEWB garnered
much attention in the Bay Area, KLIV meanwhile attracted its
fair share of dedicated listeners. Join us for a look (and listen)
back at the remarkable station on Story Road.
A rare and interesting clip from
the first Saturday in the life of KLIV, which
had only days earlier come under new ownership,
sold by Patrick Peabody's Santa Clara
Broadcasting Company to Riley R. Gibson's
Cal-Radio, Inc., and changed call letters from
its original KSJO. The transaction, valued at
$350,000, had been completed on June 1. The
character of "Mad Mel" is obviously a broad
parody of a prototypical Top 40 disc jockey ...
but who from KLIV's staff was playing Mel?
A twenty-year tradition of
playing rock'n'roll hits comes to an end as the
station reluctantly changes to Big Band music
and Adult Standards. Includes comments by John
McLeod and KLIV owner Bob Kieve.
— Exhibit includes text and
audio.
— Exhibit includes audio. —
Edited version.
DB
—
Courtesy of Dave Billeci.
GS
— Courtesy of Gary Seger.
JZ — Courtesy of
James Zahn.
KV — Courtesy of
Kim Vestal.
MS
— Courtesy of Mike Schweizer.
Special thanks to Steve Hilson
(The
Stereo Doctor) for his production assistance
on the audio exhibits included in these
exhibits.
Real Player (free
download) is required to play these exhibits.
THE BAY AREA RADIO MUSEUM IS A
CALIFORNIA NON-PROFIT CORPORATION
DEDICATED TO PRESERVING AND HONORING THE HISTORY OF
RADIO BROADCASTING IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
A MEMBER IN GOOD STANDING OF THE BROADCAST &
NEWSPAPER
MUSEUM OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CONSORTIUM,
THE CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF MUSEUMS,
THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR STATE AND LOCAL HISTORY,
AND THE ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTING HISTORICAL SOCIETIES
— Exhibit includes text and
audio.
JZ
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