KSFB


KSFB is an AM broadcasting station licensed on 1260 kHz at San Francisco, California. It broadcasts Relevant Radio, a Roman Catholic radio format, to the San Francisco Bay Area of the United States. It was previously known as KYA until 1983, and KOIT and KXLR after that.
The AM station was a simulcast of the former sister station KOIT-FM, and unlike that station, continued to be owned by Bonneville International until February 1, 2008, when it was officially sold to IHR Educational Broadcasting.

History

KYA

The station originated as KYA in 1926, and has had 14 owners and 4 different callsigns in 85 years. KYA was owned by everyone from Hearst Corporation to Avco Broadcasting of California, a subsidiary of the jet and aerospace contractor.
DateCallkHzwattsOwnerNetworkStudiosTransmitterRef.
KYA970500Pacific Bc. Corp. Clift HotelClift Hotel
KYA8501,000Pacific Bc. Corp. Clift HotelClift Hotel
KYA8501,000Pacific Bc. Corp. Clift HotelWarfield Theatre
KYA12301,000Pacific Bc. Corp. Clift HotelWarfield Theatre
late KYA12301,000Pacific Bc. Corp. CBSClift HotelWarfield Theatre
by KYA12301,000Pacific Bc. Corp. CBS680 Geary St. Warfield Theatre
KYA12301,000F.O. Dahlquist, receiverCBS680 Geary St. Warfield Theatre
late KYA12301,000Pacific Bc. Corp. CBS680 Geary St. Warfield Theatre
KYA12301,000Pacific Bc. Corp. CBSWhitcomb Hotel Warfield Theatre
late KYA12301,000NBC NBC Pacific Coast Whitcomb Hotel Warfield Theatre
KYA12301,000San Francisco Examiner NBC Pacific Coast Examiner Building Warfield Theatre
KYA12301,000San Francisco Examiner California Radio Sys.Examiner Building Warfield Theatre
KYA1230 5,000
1,000		San Francisco Examiner California Radio Sys.Examiner Building Bayview Park
KYA1230 5,000
1,000		San Francisco Examiner Examiner Building Bayview Park
KYA1260 5,000
1,000		San Francisco Examiner Examiner Building Bayview Park
KYA1260 5,000
1,000		Palo Alto Radio Station, Inc.Examiner Building Bayview Park
KYA1260 5,000
1,000		Dorothy Schiff Thackrey Examiner Building Bayview Park
KYA1260 5,000
1,000		Dorothy Schiff Thackrey Fairmont HotelBayview Park
KYA1260 5,000
1,000		J. Elroy McCaw & John D. Keating Fairmont HotelBayview Park
KYA1260 5,000
1,000		J. Elroy McCaw & John D. Keating Liberty Bc. Sys.Fairmont HotelBayview Park
KYA1260 5,000
1,000		J. Elroy McCaw & John D. Keating Fairmont HotelBayview Park
KYA1260 5,000
1,000		Golden State Broadcasters, Inc. Fairmont HotelBayview Park
Summer KYA1260 5,000
1,000		Golden State Broadcasters, Inc. One Nob Hill CircleBayview Park
KYA1260 5,000
1,000		Churchill Bc. Corp. One Nob Hill CircleBayview Park
KYA1260 5,000
1,000		Avco Bc.One Nob Hill CircleBayview Park
KYA1260 5,000
1,000		King Radio Bc. Co.One Nob Hill CircleBayview Park
Fall KYA1260 5,000
1,000		King Radio Bc. Co.300 BroadwayBayview Park
KYA1260 5,000
1,000		Bonneville International300 BroadwayBayview Park
KOIT1260 5,000
1,000		Bonneville International77 Maiden Ln.Bayview Park
KXLR1260 5,000
1,000		Bonneville InternationalMutual, BBC World Svc.77 Maiden Ln.Bayview Park
KOIT1260 5,000
1,000		Bonneville International77 Maiden Ln.Bayview Park
KOIT1260 5,000
1,000		Bonneville International400 2nd St. Ste. 300Bayview Park
KOIT1260 5,000
1,000		Bonneville International455 Market St. Ste. 2300Bayview Park
KSFB1260 5,000
1,000		Bonneville InternationalIHR3256 Penryn Road, Suite 100
Loomis, Calif.		Bayview Park
KSFB1260 5,000
1,000		IHR Ed. Bc.IHR3256 Penryn Road, Suite 100
Loomis, Calif.		Bayview Park
Total5 4 3
2		14~6103

KYA went on the air on December 18, 1926, with 500 watts on 970 kc. from the Clift Hotel in San Francisco. The owners were Vincent I. Kraft of Seattle, who had started KJR there; and Frederick C. Clift of San Francisco. It got a license for 1,000 watts on 850 kc. in November 1927. Its studios moved to the Warfield Theatre Building at 988 Market Street, but the transmitter stayed at the Clift Hotel.
In November 1928 moved to 1230 kc. as part of a nationwide frequency reshuffling, and joined the Columbia Broadcasting System. By May 1929 its transmitter was reported to be at 680 Geary Street at Taylor Street. The station licensee went bankrupt in August, and KYA was transferred to a new corporation by the end of 1929. The transmitter facility was moved again, on, to the Whitcomb Hotel.
Having moved to various locations around the radio dial during the chaotic early days of broadcasting, KYA was assigned permanently to 1260 kc. as a result of NARBA in 1941.

"The Boss of the Bay" - KYA as a Top 40 Rock Station

In the mid-1950s, KYA made its mark as a rock and roll station. KYA was for many years the leading Top 40 music radio station in the Bay Area, until the stronger-signalled KFRC switched to the format in 1966. From time to time, up through 1970, KYA would again beat KFRC in the Arbitron ratings, but KYA's dominance was truly over after the mid-60s. Former KYA morning man and legendary radio programmer Bill Drake went on to consult KFRC to its ratings success; it was at KYA that Drake first made his mark as program director. KYA was also instrumental in the careers of future sportscaster Johnny Holliday, audio and electronics store pitchman Tom Campbell, Hall of Fame disc jockey and underground radio pioneer Tom Donahue, and Tommy Saunders, who retired from KYA's successor, KOIT, in 2006.
Other notable disc jockeys who plied their trade on KYA's airwaves in the 1960s included Les Crane,, Casey Kasem, Jim Stagg, Bobby Mitchell, Norman Davis, "Emperor" Gene Nelson, Peter Tripp, Tony Bigg, , Chris Edwards, Ed Hider, Johnny Holliday, Bill Holley, Bwana Johnny, and Gary Shaffer. The 1970s saw a staff that included Christopher Cain, Roger W. Morgan, Jay Stone, Scott Thomas, Steve Jordan, Jimmy "Jet" Powers, Jeff Serr, Gary Mora, and Michael Rivers.
In the mid-1960s, a group of KYA DJs, led by Holliday, formed a basketball team known as the KYA Oneders. The team played many Bay Area high school faculties, helping the schools raise funds for a variety of programs. Perhaps the most famous of the Oneders was Rick Barry, who played for the team during the 1967-68 campaign before jumping from the NBA's San Francisco Warriors to the ABA's Oakland Oaks.
During the 1960s, the radio station issued weekly tabloid newsletters and hit sheets, The KYA Swingin' Sixty and later the KYA Beat. These popular flyers were available at Bay Area record stores and other sponsor locations. The station's under-promoted news team included Mark Adams, Terry Sullivan, Larry Buller,, Tony Tremayne and Brad Messer, who would later be inducted in the .

Easy Rock 93 and Oldies

In December 1979, KYA AM & FM flipped to a light album rock format under the title "Easy Rock 93." Within months the AM station would flip again, this time to an oldies format while the FM station would continue the light album rock format as KLHT. Morgan, Mora, Serr and Syracuse would be brought back to revive the station from its heyday. This format would hold until the station was sold in 1983.
KYA's dominance was basically over by the late 1960s when FM stations began playing rock & roll and gained large chunks of the audiences. King Broadcasting took over on November 1, 1977.

KOIT and KXLR

KYA, which became KOIT in 1983 under the ownership of Bonneville International Corp., still transmits from the station's classic Julia Morgan-designed transmitter building on , with studios at 2nd and Howard in San Francisco. Morgan was on retainer for Hearst, and the building has the trademark Hearst eagle above the front door.
A KYA jingle can be heard at the beginning of the movie Zodiac. A commercial for a now defunct local San Francisco Bay Area retailer, Gensler-Lee Diamonds, can be heard preceding the jingle. "Gensler-Lee Diamond; Gensler-Lee Diamonds; the place to buy diamonds if you're really smart; Gensler-Lee Diamonds... the store... with a heart!"
In mid-2007, Bonneville reached an agreement to sell the 1260 AM frequency to IHR Educational Broadcasting. IHR took over the station's operations in December of that year under a time-brokerage agreement, and officially closed on the station on February 1, 2008.
In 2007, KOIT became KSFB, a Catholic-oriented station owned by Immaculate Heart Radio. Ironically, KYA's chief Top 40 rival in the 1960s and 1970s, KFRC, is now the Christian-oriented KEAR.

Catholic Radio

On December 10, 2007, a religious format came to 1260 AM; the call sign was changed to KSFB. KSFB is part of one of the largest Catholic radio network in America, and its daily broadcasts include daily mass and rosary. Many other programs such as Life is Worth Living with Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, Fr. John Corapi, and Mother Angelica are also on the air.
KSFB flipped to the Relevant Radio branding when IHR Educational Broadcasting and Starboard Media Foundation consummated their merger on July 3, 2017.

Additional frequencies

In addition to the main station, KSFB is relayed by these stations and translators to widen its broadcast area.