KFI

Two Los Angeles TV stations do live segments with cameras in KFI's studios: KTTV (Bill Handel) and KTLA (John and Ken).

The station's studios and transmitter were moved to the top of the Packard dealership building, formerly located at Tenth and Hope Streets in Los Angeles, with a rooftop "T" antenna mounted between two short towers.

One of the first NBC programs to originate on the West Coast, and KFI, was the broadcast of the 1927 Rose Bowl Game from Pasadena, California, with announcer Graham McNamee.

On November 11, 1928, the Federal Radio Commission's (FRC) General Order 40 divided transmitting frequencies into "clear", "regional" and "local" classifications.

KFI was part of the Orange group, along with KGO in Oakland, KGW in Portland, KOMO in Seattle, and KHQ in Spokane.

[30] A special 4-hour program was aired, featuring congratulatory speeches by NBC West Coast vice president and others, joined by entertainers from New York and Chicago on a coast-to-coast live hookup.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, many people could not afford movie tickets, but they could purchase a radio where they could listen to commercially sponsored entertainment for free.

Every winter evening from 1924 to 1956, KFI delivered a frost report at 8 p.m. telling citrus farmers whether to turn on wind machines or light "smudge pots" to keep their orange and lemon groves from freezing.

However, in August 1941 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a "duopoly" rule, which restricted licensees from operating more than one radio station in a given market.

It was feared that an attack on the west coast of the United States was possible, and people were warned to turn off lights and drape black cloths over windows, so that enemy bombers would not see identifying landmarks.

KFI-FM only lasted until 1951, when Earle C. Anthony decided to end operations and returned the station license to the FCC for cancellation.

NBC and the other radio networks began dropping large-budget entertainment shows in favor of news and information programming.

NBC radio affiliates like KFI had to decide whether to reduce or eliminate their network connections in order to maintain profits.

In 1973, Cox Broadcasting, headquartered in Atlanta, purchased KFI for $15 million, which at the time was the highest amount paid for a radio station.

John Rook then moved in Eric Chase (midday), Charlie Fox (early evening) and Dave Diamond (late night).

By the late 1970s the staff was revised to Lohman & Barkley mornings, Tim & Ev Kelly in middays, Jack Armstrong afternoons, Big Ron O'Brien evenings and Charlie Fox at night.

In the spring of 1984, KFI was ranked 28th in the Los Angeles Arbitron ratings, ahead of only KHJ among the market's AM music stations.

Writer/Producer John Thomas was assigned to Lohman & Barkley in 1984 and helped raise their ratings for the morning show to a tie for #1 in the 25-54 demographic in Fall 1985.

In 2014, Clear Channel changed its corporate name to iHeartMedia to identify its radio stations with its iHeartRadio internet streaming platform.

In summer 2004, KFI became the most listened to talk radio station in the United States, beating New York City's WABC in cumulative audience during the rating period.

The syndicated Rush Limbaugh Show was heard on KFI from July 4, 1988, to January 20, 2014, when it moved to sister station KEIB.

[37] In recent years, especially since the 2003 recall of the Governor of California, afternoon drive hosts John and Ken have become actively involved in several political causes, most notably that of illegal immigration.

In the months leading up to the 2004 election, the hosts instigated several political rallies advocating the defeat of Congressmen David Dreier (a Republican) and Joe Baca (a Democrat), both of whom they felt were wrongly supportive of illegal immigration.

[43] The main transmitter was eventually relocated from Anthony's Packard dealership to its present location in La Mirada, California, where a "T" antenna was erected between two medium height towers, and the studios of the KFI and its sister station, KECA, were moved to 610 South Ardmore Avenue.

There is an unpatched bullet hole in the ceiling of the transmitter building, where a National Guardsman accidentally discharged a rifle during World War II on December 10, 1941.

Pilots had complained for years to KFI management that it needed to put strobe lights on the tower and highly reflective balls on the guy wire.

KFI and Clear Channel Communications management responded by saying the tower was in compliance with FCC and Federal Aviation Administration regulations and that it did not need to make any changes.

Work was conducted at the site on November 19, 2006, temporarily interrupting a broadcast of Leo Laporte's talk show KFI Tech Guy at 11:55 a.m.[47] At 2:30 p.m. on March 18, 2008, the replacement tower collapsed while under construction.

The tower was also equipped with high intensity strobe lights due to its proximity to the Fullerton Municipal Airport, and additional safety upgrades because of the previous plane crash.

(Local regulation authorities in apparent defiance of electrical engineering principles, and communications law, demanded "a 10 percent reduction in overall height", otherwise the necessary permits would be refused, not withstanding the federal government's primary authority over radio communications, and KFI's strategic role as an Emergency Alert System station for the western U.S. region).

Advertisement for a live radio broadcast featuring soprano Lisa Roma , published in the Los Angeles Times on May 6, 1930
In 1972, KFI celebrated its 50th anniversary. [ 36 ]
KFI logo from 1981 to 1988
Plaque for LA Radio engineer John Paoli on the wall of the tower compound at KFI