KRCD (FM)

KRCD/KRCV
City KRCD: Inglewood
KRCV: West Covina
Broadcast area KRCD: Los Angeles
KRCV: Riverside-San Bernardino
Branding 103.9 FM/98.3 FM Recuerdo
Frequency KRCD: 103.9 MHz
KRCV: 98.3 MHz
First air date KRCD: 1961 (as KTYM-FM)
KRCV: 1962 (as KBOB-FM)
Format Spanish Adult Hits
ERP KRCD: 4,100 watts
KRCV: 6,000 watts
HAAT KRCD: 118 meters
KRCV: 91 meters
Class KRCD: A
KRCV: A
Facility ID KRCD: 1025
KRCV: 19088
Transmitter coordinates KRCD:34°0′26″N 118°21′54″W / 34.00722°N 118.36500°W / 34.00722; -118.36500
KRCV:34°4′18″N 117°48′46″W / 34.07167°N 117.81278°W / 34.07167; -117.81278
Callsign meaning KRCD: ReCuerDo (station name)
KRCV: ReCuerdo West CoVina
Former callsigns KRCD:
KTYM-FM (1961-?)
KACE (?-2000)
KRCV:
KBOB-FM (1962-1993)
KMNA (11/1993-12/1993)
KBOB (12/3/1993-12/10/1993)
KMQA (1993-1996)
KRTO (1996-2000)
Owner Univision Radio

(Univision Radio License Corporation)
Sister stations KLVE, KSCA, KTNQ, KMEX-DT, KFTR-DT
Webcast Listen Live (via iHeartRadio)
Website Official Website

KRCD is a commercial radio station in Inglewood, California, broadcasting to the Los Angeles area on 103.9 FM. The station is owned by Univision Radio, a subsidiary of Univision Communications.

KRCV is a commercial radio station in West Covina, California, broadcasting to the western sections of the Riverside-San Bernardino (Inland Empire) area on 98.3 FM.

KRCV & KRCD airs a Spanish language adult hits music format branded as "Recuerdo".

The stations' have studios located on Center Drive (near I-405) in West Los Angeles. KRCD's transmitter is based on a site in the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area in Baldwin Hills (mountain range), while KRCV's transmitter is based in Pomona.

History

KTYM-FM 103.9 FM

The very first Black music programming on 103.9-FM, Los Angeles, was in 1961. In those days FM was in its infancy and most people did not have FM in their autos. When Al Williams's KTYM AM was purchased the KTYM-FM was thrown in for free.

The very first Black Operations Manager on Los Angeles FM was Charles (Chuck) Johnson and the very first Black Program Director was Lonnie Cook, they constituted the only paid staff. The broadcast was on from sunset to midnight after a switchover from daytime programming. The station airtime was brokered with the exception of the shows hosted by these two. Cook hailed from Kansas City, Kansas, and Johnson had been a celebrated DJ at KPRS Kansas City, MO.

The format was R&B, Doo Wop, and Blues and its programs included one hosted by Floyd Ray, the owner of the first all Black Los Angeles Record Distributor and former big band leader. An in studio picture of all of the DJ's can be found online. Ron Johnson (in the picture) was the lone caucasian jock.The operation endured for 3 years.

The format was aired from 6pm to midnight and was shut down by Lonnie Cook with the closing theme song "Sugarloaf at Twilight" by Ahmad Jamal., as he doubled as engineer. Many future celebrities made their debuts on the station including a policeman running for office, Tom Bradley. LaMonte McLemore was a member of The Intervals (the Doo Wop group that represented the station at promotional functions) and was the station photographer (he was also the exclusive source of the center page models in Jet magazine); he later was one of The Fifth Dimension.

KTYM-FM was noted for its independent approach to programming and many times refused to air the designated "A" side of a record. It even played formerly banned tunes like "Your Old Lady" by The Isley Bros. (banned in 1961). Cook featured the Doo Wop "B" side "Write to me". KGFJ"s Larry McCormick (brother to lead singer Charles from Bloodstone) heard the station making noise and getting attention with "Your Old Lady" and added it to his play list and to his televised dance show. When Atlantic Records got calls for the 45 they put it back on the market. Billboard had a "New" hit.

Johnson and Cook moved on to KAPP-FM and have been credited with establishing the very first Top 40 sheet on any FM station anywhere in the world.

KACE FM

For the next three and a half decades 103.9, later with the new call letters KACE, played urban contemporary music. It became one of the premiere stations for African Americans in the Los Angeles area. The station was owned by former Green Bay Packers defensive end Willie Davis and his wife Ann. Some of the air personalities included Steve Woods (deceased), Lawrence Tanter, Pam Wells, Lisa Lipps, Ken Taylor, Hamilton Cloud, E.Z. Wiggins, Karla with a K, Antoinette Russell, Mike Mann, and Rico Reed. News and Public Affairs personalities included Ron Dungee, Sam Putney, Mark Whitlock, Isidra Person-Lynn and Kevin A. Ross. For a three-year period, between 1988–90, the station featured a nightclub formatted music "mix" show six days a week, with Southern California club DJ Elvin Bridges. In addition to being an on-air personality, Bridges created and produced his own Mon-Fri weekday music mix show that aired during the afternoon rush hour he coined "Bumper To Bumper - In The Mix with Elvin Bridges;" plus a weekly three-hour Saturday night party music mix show. Let's Talk, Speak Out, Sunday Morning Live and The People's Connection were popular community affairs talk shows. Production director Mark Drummond was also assistant program director during the Cox Years (see below), and later worked on the production staffs at KFI, KRBV, and KJLL.

It briefly experimented with a hip hop/R&B format in 1993 as V103.9, and would add an Inland Empire simulcast, KAEV. However, in October of that same year Davis' company, capitalizing on the political and social backlash against hip-hop music, announced an outright prohibition of the words "bitch," "ho," and "nigger" on air and shifted to a "Positive Urban" format. However, this lowered ratings significantly and Davis soon flipped KACE to urban oldies and flipped KAEV to modern rock as KCXX, thereby ending the simulcast. (Another local station, KPWR, also banned the words, but did not change the format.) KACE was sold to Cox Radio, then also the owner of KFI-AM and KOST-FM in 1994.

98.3FM

This station was long known as KBOB-FM and had easy listening and adult contemporary formats for most of its run as a San Gabriel Valley-based station. In the mid-1990s, it picked up a unique rock en español format and became KRTO, "Ritmo 98.3." Shortly after Cox bought KACE, it added to fill in some blank spots in KACE's signal.

Later, KBOB-FM was an active rock station in the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois.

Simulcast

In 1999, the stations added The Tom Joyner Morning Show but ratings remained low. In 2000, Cox traded KOST and KFI to AMFM (now part of iHeartMedia, Inc.) for some stations in Atlanta. KACE/KRTO were sold to Hispanic Broadcasting Company (now owned by Univision Communications through its Univision Radio subsidiary), and flipped to its current format.

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