KIOI (101.3 FM, "Star 101.3") is an commercial hot adult contemporary-formatted American radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, and owned by iHeartMedia.
Eventually, Gabbert and Gielow hosted an evening program called Excursions in Sound, which showcased high fidelity recordings and took advantage of the high-quality broadcast signal.
Two years after KPEN's successful debut, the transmitter was moved to San Bruno Mountain and power increased to 35,000 watts.
KPEN became the first station west of the Mississippi to broadcast in FM stereo, officially beginning August 10, 1961, after a series of field tests.
By the mid-1960s, KPEN played primarily orchestral and light vocal performances of pop songs and standards, in competition with similar FM station KFOG (owned by Kaiser Broadcasting).
Even though KIOI's programming was mainly focused on music, it also featured many popular on-air personalities over the years including Don Kelly, Bill Keffury, Hoyt Smith and Jeff Serr.
In September 1980, Gabbert sold KIOI to Charter Company for $12.5 million, then the highest price paid for an FM station.
KIOI was profitable, however, various management tweaked the format to compete with market leader KOIT at various times, leaning softer-AC or towards hot AC, which they retained throughout the 80s.
[10] Throughout the changes, local morning host Don Bleu has remained consistent and more importantly, a ratings success through various co-hosts Renee Brinkley (1998–2002), Uzette Salazar (2002–2006), April Sommers (2006–2010) and Trish Jentz (2010–present).
Popular show segments during Bleu's morning show included Bleuper calls (prank calls to unsuspecting listeners), The Daily Dish (entertainment gossip), and the Bleu Room, an in-studio lounge session that featured acts including Dido, Natasha Bedingfield, Matchbox Twenty and others performing acoustic versions of their hits.
Since June 30, 2008, afternoon drive has been hosted by the nationally syndicated On Air with Ryan Seacrest program with cut-aways to local traffic by Dina Lawrence.
In June, Frosty Stillwell, formerly of KLSX in Los Angeles, and Sandy Stec, formerly of KEZR in San Jose, were announced as KIOI's new morning hosts.