KDLD is a commercial FM radio station in Santa Monica, California, broadcasting to the Greater Los Angeles area on 103.1 MHz. KDLE is a commercial FM radio station in Newport Beach, California, broadcasting to the Orange County area on 103.1 MHz.
KDLD and KDLE simulcast a Spanish Adult Contemporary music format branded as "Reyna 103.1FM" on their analog and main HD Radio signals. The two stations' studios are located in Burbank. The KDLD transmitter is located in Baldwin Hills, while KDLE's transmitter is based in Newport Coast, California.
History Prior to 1991, the 103.1 frequencies in Los Angeles and Orange County operated as two separate stations, KSRF in Santa Monica and KOCM in Newport Beach.
KSRF in Santa Monica KSRF began broadcasting on December 22, 1960, and was the area's first easy listening formatted FM station. The station was branded "K-Surf".McDougal, Dennis. "Radio in the Afternoon", Los Angeles Times. April 6, 1986. Retrieved May 18, 2019. It was located in the lobby of King Neptune's Kingdom at Pacific Ocean Park, and featured brightly hued plastic panels, illuminated by changing lights."POP Opens FM Radio Station", Billboard. December 26, 1960. p. 41. Retrieved May 18, 2019.History Cards for KDLD, fcc.gov. Retrieved May 18, 2019. It was almost entirely automated, utilizing advanced technology for the era. In addition to easy listening music, the station broadcast stock market and weather reports.
Originally owned by the Santa Monica Broadcasting Company, owned by J.D. and C.D. Funk, the station was sold in 1962 to Pacific Ocean Broadcasting, which was a subsidiary of Pacific Ocean Park, for $49,183."For the Record", Broadcasting. February 12, 1962. p. 78. Retrieved May 18, 2019. In 1965, the station was sold to the Santa Monica Broadcasting Company for $135,000, with controlling interest owned by George Baron, who had been general manager of KSRF since its founding."Ownership changes", Broadcasting. July 5, 1965. p. 69. Retrieved May 18, 2019. The station's studio was moved out of Pacific Ocean Park in 1969,Greg Hardison and in 1971 its transmitter was moved to the Lawrence Welk Plaza building in Santa Monica.Hall, Claude. "Vox Jox", Billboard. October 23, 1971. Retrieved May 19, 2019. In 1985, KSRF dropped its beautiful music format, and adopted a soft adult contemporary format.Bornstein, Rollye. Mediatrix Monthly Memo. Volume 1, Number 2. March 1986. p. 37. Retrieved May 18, 2019. Radio Broadcasters, Inc., acquired KSRF in 1986 for $5,250,000."Changing Hands", Broadcasting. October 13, 1986. p. 80. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
(The KSRF call letters are now assigned to a Contemporary Hawaiian and Reggae station in Poipu, Hawaii.)
KOCM in Newport Beach 103.1 MHz in Newport Beach was issued its construction permit in 1958, as KAJS, named for its owner, Arnold J. Stone.History Cards for KDLE, fcc.gov. Retrieved May 22, 2019. Stone sold the station to Western Enterprises Limited for $2,500 the following year."Ownership Changes", Broadcasting. November 2, 1959. p. 109. Retrieved May 22, 2019. In 1960, KAJS was sold to Newport-Costa Mesa Broadcasting for $3,000, and its call sign was changed to KNBB the following year."Ownership Changes", Broadcasting. September 26, 1960. p. 102. Retrieved May 23, 2019. The station began broadcasting on January 8, 1962.
Success Broadcasting acquired KNBB for $34,750 in 1964 and changed its call letters to KOCM (later said to stand for "Orange County Music") on January 28 of that year."Ownership Changes", Broadcasting. December 30, 1963. p. 61. Retrieved May 23, 2019. KOCM aired an easy listening format.Thayer, Brett. "OC Radio Are Alive and on the Air 24 Hours a Day", Orange Coast. October 1980. p. 67. Retrieved May 23, 2019. In 1979, Hutton Broadcasting purchased the station for $2 million."Inside Track", Billboard. December 9, 1978. p. 98. Retrieved May 23, 2019."Changing Hands", Broadcasting. February 12, 1979. Retrieved May 23, 2019. In 1981, the station was sold to Donrey Media Group for $2 million."Changing Hands", Broadcasting. March 16, 1981. p. 228. Retrieved May 23, 2019. In 1986, the station began to play more vocals and fewer instrumentals, and shifted to a soft AC format. When Donrey opted to focus on its newspapers and sell its six radio stations in 1986, the station was sold to Financial Capital Broadcasting Co. of Miami for $2.95 million.
(Since 2007, the KNBB calls have been assigned to a sports-formatted station in Dubach, Louisiana.)
Mars-FM In 1991, Ken Roberts, former owner of KROQ-FM, bought KSRF and KOCM for $17.8 million and immediately expressed his desire to convert the two stations, which interfered with each other, into a simulcast. Former KROQ engineer Frank Martin installed new transmitters and the TFT "Reciter" synchronization system to accomplish the simulcast. Stan Salek at Hammett and Edison of San Francisco published a paper at the 1992 National Association of Broadcasters convention on the case study for synchronization of KSRF and KOCM.
On May 24, 1991, the two stations began simulcasting a techno-rock format as "Mars-FM".Hochman, Steve. "MARS-FM Fires On-Air Staff, Drops Techno-Rock Format", Los Angeles Times. August 21, 1992. Retrieved May 19, 2019.Ross, Sean; Rosen, Craig; Stark, Phyllis. "Vox Jox", Billboard. May 25, 1991. p. 10. Retrieved May 19, 2019. Club DJ Swedish Egil left KROQ-FM to join the new Mars-FM as music director, along with fellow KROQ alum Freddy Snakeskin, who became Mars-FM's program director. On-air personalities at "Mars-FM" included "Big" Ron O'Brien, Raechel Donahue, Don Bolles, Rob Francis, Holly Adams, Tony Largo, Christian B, Mike Fright (Mike Ivankay) and Dave Alexander.Ross, Sean; Rosen, Craig; Stark, Phyllis. "Vox Jox", Billboard. May 25, 1991. p. 11. Retrieved May 19, 2019. On August 19, 1992, Mars-FM's format was changed and the entire air-staff was let go.
Jazz FM On September 7, 1992, the 103.1 simulcast became a jazz station as "Jazz FM 103.1" using the call letters KAJZ/KBJZ.Stark, Phyllis; Boehlert, Eric; Borzillo, Carrie. "Vox Jox", Billboard. September 19, 1992. p. 81. Retrieved May 19, 2019.Stewart, Dan. "'Smooth Jazz' Format Debuts on Local Radio", Los Angeles Times. September 16, 1992. Retrieved May 19, 2019. Air-staff included Dave Fennoy, Brooke Jones, and China Smith. In June 1994, the stations' call signs were changed to KACD/KBCD as a promotional tie-in to a service the station offered, where one could purchase a CD of music played on the station by dialing an 800 number."Elsewhere...", The M Street Journal. Vol. 11, No. 23. June 9, 1994. p. 6. Retrieved April 19, 2019. In October 1994, the station began airing Egil Aalvik Music Co.'s syndicated programs "Groove Radio International", "The House Groove", and "Planet Reggae", Friday and Saturday nights.Borzillo, Carrie. "Networks and Syndication", Billboard. October 22, 1994. p. 96. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
(KBJZ is now a low-power jazz and variety station in Juneau, Alaska.)
CD 103.1 On April 24, 1995, the station adopted a hot AC format, branded as "CD 103.1".Atwood, Brett. "For Two L.A. AC Stations, Decade Is 15 Minutes Long", Billboard. May 27, 1995. p. 106. Retrieved May 19, 2019.Ruggieri, Melissa. "That Old, Old '80s Music Is in for a Resurgence", Sun-Sentinel. May 18, 1995. Retrieved May 19, 2019. Music from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s was played in 15-minute blocks.
Groove Radio On June 21, 1996, at 6 p.m., the station adopted a dance music format, branded "Groove Radio"."L.A.-Area Simulcast KACD & KBCD Flip To Dance", Radio & Records. June 28, 1996. p. 12. Retrieved May 19, 2019. Swedish Egil returned as program director. Groove Radio had a morning drive time show hosted by Jim "The Poorman" Trenton, an L.A. radio veteran and one of the two original co-hosts of the radio show "Loveline" on KROQ.Snow, Shauna. "Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press", Los Angeles Times. July 25, 1996. Retrieved May 20, 2019. Other on-air personalities included Joe "The Boomer" Servantez, Holly Adams, Christian B, China Smith, and Swedish Egil.
In August 1997, Egil was forced out of the station after the owners once again decided that they wanted the station to go in a mainstream direction, and the station was rebranded as "Groove 103.1", since Egil owned rights to the "Groove Radio" name.Hochman, Steve. "Station Gets Into the Groove With a New Name and Music", Los Angeles Times. August 7, 1997. Retrieved May 20, 2019. On September 18, 1997, the owners switched it to a rhythmic contemporary format, but after the flooding of negative feedback crashed their voicemail system, they brought the Dance format back a week later, continuing with an electronica-intensive dance hits format for a year."Groove Retooled", Radio & Records. September 26, 1997. p. 30. Retrieved May 20, 2019. In 1998, KACD and KBCD were sold to Jacor Communications for $35 million, and on October 12, 1998, at noon, after playing "Children" by Robert Miles, the stations began simulcasting Jacor's KIIS-FM."Changing Hands", Broadcasting & Cable. October 26, 1998. p. 70. Retrieved May 20, 2019."Street Talk", Radio & Records. October 16, 1998. p. 60. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
Channel 103.1 At 5 p.m. on October 19, 1998, the simulcast ended and the station adopted an adult album alternative (AAA) format, programmed by Nicole Sandler.Garcia, Irene. "Adult Alternative Album Format Back on Dial", Los Angeles Times. October 24, 1998. Retrieved May 21, 2019. The format was launched with a speech by Sandler. The first song played was "People Get Ready" by Ziggy Marley. The station was branded "Channel 103.1" with the slogan "World Class Rock". Program director Nicole Sandler was also afternoon DJ and Andy Chanley, previously with KLYY (Y107), handled the morning shift."KACD/KBCD 103.1 FM 'Channel 103.1' Adult Album Alternative Rock", Los Angeles Radio Guide. Volume 5, No. 1. Summer 1999. p. 18. Retrieved May 21, 2019.Ahrens, Frank. "Off the Air And Into Your PC", The Washington Post. July 16, 2000. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
In 2000, after Clear Channel merged with AMFM, the company would own too many stations in the Los Angeles area, according to Federal Communications Commission rules.Carney, Steve. "Kicked Off Airwaves, Station Finds New Home on Internet", Los Angeles Times. September 1, 2000. Retrieved May 21, 2019. It was decided that KACD and KBCD would be sold, due to their small listenership, the fact that they counted as two stations, and the fact that they did not cover the entire Los Angeles market. Channel 103.1 would continue to be heard on the internet, on a full-time web stream at channel1031.com and worldclassrock.com, which lasted until August 2001.Sandler, Nicole. "Life Goes On or Every Cloud has a Silver Lining", NicoleSandler.com. January 24, 2010. Retrieved May 21, 2019. "Channel 103.1" also began to air on AM 850 KACD in Thousand Oaks, California, primarily for the purposes of music-licensing, and to keep the station listed in Arbitron."M Street Bazaar", The M Street Journal. Vol. 17, No. 31. August 2, 2000. p. 9. Retrieved April 21, 2019."Format Changes & Updates", The M Street Journal. Vol. 17, No. 35. August 30, 2000. p. 2. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
Super Estrella KACD and KBCD were sold to Entravision Communications, a company known for its Spanish language outlets, for $85 million. At 9 a.m. on August 28, 2000, the stations adopted a Spanish hits format as "Super Estrella" (Super Star), as part of a simulcast with 97.5 KSSE in Riverside, California."'Super' Plus Two for KSSE/Riverside", Radio & Records. September 1, 2000. p. 3. Retrieved May 21, 2019. In 2001, the stations' call signs were changed to KSSC and KSSD."Call Sign History (KDLD), fcc.gov. Retrieved May 21, 2019.Call Sign History (KDLE), fcc.gov. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
KDL 103.1