KALI (AM)
| Broadcast area | Greater Los Angeles |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 900kHz |
| Branding | KALI 900 AM |
| Programming | |
| Format | Mandarin Chinese |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | September 25, 1963[1] |
Former call signs |
|
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 56779 |
| Class | D |
| Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 34°1′48″N117°43′39″W/ 34.03000°N 117.72750°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | Multicultural Broadcasting |
KALI(900kHz) is acommercialAMradio stationlicensedtoWest Covina, California,and serving the eastern suburbs ofLos Angeles.The station is owned byMulticultural Broadcastingand broadcastsMandarin Chineseand other ethnic programming.
By day, KALI broadcasts at 5,000watts.As900 AMis a Mexicanclear channel frequencyreserved forXEW-AMinMexico City,KALI reduces power to 150 watts at sunset. It uses adirectional antennawith a three-tower array.Thetransmitteris on East Olive Avenue inChino.[3]
History
[edit]KGRB
[edit]The station was put on the air by formerKTLAcontract engineer[4]Robert Burdette and his wife Gloria on September 25, 1963 (with call letters standing for Gloria and Robert Burdette). The station was adaytimer,broadcasting with 250 watts, and required tosign offat sunset.
It gained an FMsister stationwhen Burdette acquired KSGV from the San Gabriel Valley Broadcasting Company and rechristened itKBOBon January 1, 1967. The stations promoted themselves as "KGRB, KBOB, The Twin Voices of The (San Gabriel) Valley".
Burdette, who had once been an engineer forTommy Dorseyand other big band artists, programmed abig bandandadult standardsformat for KGRB.[5]The station featured a library including original78 rpmrecordings.[4]KGRB was authorized to increase its daytime power to 500 watts in 1975, though the higher power level did not take effect until 1977. KGRB and KBOB became only partial simulcast partners in 1977 when, to satisfy FCC regulations, KBOB programs began to originate for five hours a day from theUniversity of La Vernecampus.[6]
In 1994, after Burdette suffered a stroke, KGRB was put into a conservatorship. Steve Ray (who had worked atKCLU,KLIT,KMPC,andKRCI) was brought in to manage the stations. He made KGRB anNBCRadionetwork affiliate,renaming it "AM 90 NBC". Ray was in the process of acquiring the KNBC (AM) call letters, but the format ended on December 28, 1995, when a court-appointed conservator took over.[7]
KRRA
[edit]The conservator leased KGRB and KBOB to El Dorado Broadcasting, and KGRB reemerged at the start of 1996 with aRegional Mexicanformat as "El Ranchito".[8]A new KRRA call sign debuted on May 6.
Later in 1996, El Dorado bought the combination outright, but it did not hold on to the cluster for long, selling KRTO (the renamed KBOB) toCox Radioand then selling KRRA to Multicultural Broadcasting. On June 28, 1999, KRRA became KALI, call letters formerly associated with the 1430 AM frequency (which becameKMRB).
KALI
[edit]In 2008, Multicultural was forced to place KALI in a trust, known as Transition Radio, when Multicultural's owner, Arthur Liu, acquiredKHIZtelevision.[9]TheFCCdoes not permit one owner to hold too many media outlets in the same market.
When Multicultural soldKYPA1230 AM, it was able to reclaim KALI from the trust. It changed the programming of the station toMandarin Chineseand other ethnic shows.
References
[edit]- ^Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1993,Broadcasting & Cable,1993. p. B-54. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^"Facility Technical Data for KALI".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
- ^Radio-Locator.com/KALI-AM
- ^abBrown, James (April 24, 1977)."Burdette: He Strikes Up the Bands".Los Angeles Times.RetrievedApril 28,2019.
- ^Champlin, Charles (April 3, 1975)."Captured by KGRB".Los Angeles Times.RetrievedApril 28,2019.
- ^McPhillips, William (July 27, 1978)."Big-Band Swing Gets a Push".Los Angeles Times.p. 6.RetrievedApril 28,2019.
- ^"Station Silenced".Los Angeles Times.December 29, 1995. p. F2.RetrievedApril 28,2019.
- ^Lopetegui, Enrique (August 16, 1996)."Radio Ritmo Has Rock--but Not Salsa".Los Angeles Times.RetrievedApril 28,2019.
- ^"Spanish-Language KALI Returns to Liu's World-Class Co".InsideRadio.June 2, 2016.RetrievedApril 28,2019.
External links
[edit]- Facility details for Facility ID 56779 (KALI)in theFCCLicensing and Management System
- KALIinNielsen Audio's AM station database