For twenty-five years, the call letters KDIA were synonymous with soul
music in the Bay Area. Descended from the pioneering Oakland station KLS
— which itself was born from an early experimental station, 6XAM, in
1921 and became KWBR in 1945 — the 1,000-watt station had begun
emphasizing programs that targeted the local African-American audience
around the end of World War II.
By the late 1950s, while still known as KWBR, the station was competing
with KSAN/1450 in San Francisco for black listeners with
rhythm-and-blues music and popular disc jockeys, including
Big Don
Barksdale and Bouncin' Bill Doubleday. In July 1959, KWBR was sold
for $550,000 to the Sonderling Stations group, operator of the legendary
Memphis station, WDIA. On September 4, 1959, KWBR became KDIA,
reflecting its new parentage. (Sonderling also owned KFOX in Los Angeles
and WOPA in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park.)
Under Sonderling ownership and the management of Walter
Conroy, KDIA directed its full programming effort toward the emerging
black audience, keeping Don Barksdale and Bill Doubleday on its staff
and adding high-caliber talent over the years that included Bay Area
Radio Hall of Famer George
Oxford (previously a competitor at KSAN), John Hardy, Belva Davis (later
known for her work at KPIX-TV), Rosko (nom de radieux of William
Roscoe Mercer), Roland Porter, Bob White, Bill Hall, Johnny Morris and
Bob Jones. The station leveraged its dial position — 1310 AM — into its
identity as "KDIA Lucky 13."
In 1965, KDIA's power was raised to 5,000 watts from a
new transmitter facility near the Bay Bridge Toll Plaza which also
housed the station's new studios and offices. The five-fold increase in
power made KDIA a veritable powerhouse and helped to hasten the demise
of the old KSAN, which had become KSOL in 1964. (Going full circle, it
was another KSOL — this time on 107.7 FM — that would eventually end
KDIA's supremacy in the late 1970s.)
George Oxford, 1965
In September 1969, John W. Doubleday — "Bouncin' Bill" —
became KDIA's general manager, a position he held until September 1974,
when J. Walter Carroll assumed the role. Mr. Carroll served as KDIA's
general manager until his death on January 20, 1976; Kernie L. Anderson
became the station's GM in 1977.
The station thrived through the 1970s, but was sold by
Sonderling to Viacom International in 1980. KDIA continued with an Urban
Contemporary music format under Viacom until 1983, when the station was
sold again (along with WDIA) to Ragan Henry. In 1984, KDIA changed hands
once more, becoming the property of Adam Clayton Powell III, who flipped
the station to All News KFYI.
After
the failure of KFYI's news format, the station went off the air on April
9, 1985, only to be revived under new ownership as KDIA in October of
that year. In subsequent years, the station was owned by future San
Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris, and by
James Gabbert, who had also owned KIOI and KOFY.
In 1997, Mr. Gabbert
entered into an agreement to air the syndicated "Radio Disney"
programming format on KDIA in advance of selling the station to ABC,
Inc. The station's call letters were changed to KMKY on January
20, 1998, and ABC purchased the station for $6.25-million in May 1998.
The KDIA call letters are currently assigned to the
religious-formatted station known as "The Light For San Francisco,"
licensed in the city of Vallejo and operating at 1640 kHz.
A raw and extraordinary hour-and-a-half of
"The Burgie Show" with the Poet Laureate of Soul, captured
by Steve Robbins on reel-to-reel tape. Despite numerous
discontinuities, the greatness of Rosko and the incredible
spirit of KDIA comes through in vivid detail. You may also
listen separately to
Part One and
Part Two of
the recording.
KDIA suspends regular programming to pay
tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the night he is
murdered in Memphis. Interspersed between gospel music and
recordings of Dr. King's speeches is the voice of KDIA's
Wally Ray. The ethereal "long distance" sound of
the broadcast is attributable to it having been recorded
near Sacramento, well outside KDIA's primary coverage area.
— Exhibit includes text and audio.
— Audio presentation only.
— Edited (scoped) audio.
— Poor or fair audio quality. BFT — Courtesy of Ben Fong-Torres. DB — Courtesy of Dave
Billeci. MG — Courtesy of Michael
C. Gwynne. PM — Courtesy of Pat
Maestro. SR — Courtesy of Steve
Robbins.
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
In 1997, Mr. Gabbert
entered into an agreement to air the syndicated "Radio Disney"
programming format on KDIA in advance of selling the station to ABC,
Inc. The station's call letters were changed to KMKY on January
20, 1998, and ABC purchased the station for $6.25-million in May 1998.
— Exhibit includes text and
audio.
SR
![[ Return To The Bay Area Radio Museum ]](http://www.sfradiomuseum.com/logos/barhof_logo_110px.gif){kind=logo}
