KGB was a broadcasting station authorization issued to Edwin L. Lorden in San Francisco, California, on December 8, 1921, and canceled on March 23 of the next year.
[1] Civilian stations were temporarily silenced during World War I, but in 1919 the wartime ban was lifted, and a number of individuals in the region, operating under Experimental and Amateur licenses, began making regular broadcasts intended for the general public.
[2] In order to provide common standards for the developing service, the Commerce Department, which began regulating U.S. radio in 1912, issued a regulation effective December 1, 1921, that broadcasting stations would now have to hold a Limited Commercial license that authorized operation on designated wavelengths of 360 meters (833 kHz) for "entertainment", and 485 meters (619 kHz) for "market and weather reports".
[3] On December 8, 1921, a broadcasting station license with the randomly assigned call letters KGB was issued to Edwin L. Lorden at 602 California Street in San Francisco, for operation on 360 meters.
Lorden was suspected of swindling $40,000 from "dozens of working girls, women and profession men", and later that year was found guilty of an initial charge of embezzling $400.