On May 7, 1958,[3] RKO General, owner of Top 40 powerhouse KFRC 610 AM, was granted authority to construct a new station at 106.1 FM and on July 20, 1961,[3] it became officially licensed with the call letters KFRC-FM.
On July 2, 1977, after Century Broadcasting purchased the FM station, KFRC-FM changed call letters to KMEL, and flipped to album-oriented rock ("AOR").
Bennett and Regelski left KMEL in June after the station hired Sebastian, Casey & Associates as programming consultants to increase ratings.
[9] In September 1982, KFOG entered the battle for rock-listener market share after dropping its beautiful music format in favor of an eclectic mix of rock.
After playing "Caribbean Queen" by Billy Ocean, followed by the national anthem performed by Huey Lewis and the News, KMEL flipped to a mainstream CHR format designed by new program director Nick Bazoo, brought in for the purpose from WEZB in New Orleans.
Naftaly created a new slogan for KMEL, "The People's Station", reflecting its community outreach programs and prime-time public affairs shows.
[14] Jeff Chang credits KMEL's reputation as "the people's station" for its location "blessed with one of the strongest campus and community radio networks in the country.
"[11] Two on-air personalities hired in this era came from local college radio stations: Davey D from UC Berkeley's KALX and Kevvy Kev from Stanford's KZSU.
[15] During the football season in late 1985, 49ers tight end Russ Francis joined the morning zoo by phone and sometimes in person to comment on sports.
Under Naftaly's guidance, KMEL gravitated its format direction from pop top 40 to rhythmic by adding more urban artists and increasing its popularity with younger audiences.
Personalities during this time included John London, Renel Lewis and Brian Cooley on "The Morning Zoo", middays with Leslie Stoval, afternoon drive with Rick Chase, and nights with Evan Luck.
As the 1980s gave way to the 1990s, KMEL became one of the first crossover pop stations in the nation to target young multiracial audiences with not-yet-mainstream hip-hop, dance, freestyle, house, and reggae music.
The new owners guided KMEL into its current urban contemporary format, effectively shedding its Top 40 direction for good and refocused now as an R&B station with a strong emphasis on hip-hop.
[11] The fierce competition over the coveted 18- to 34-year-old "urban" listening audience continued for another four years until the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 increased the number of radio stations that a company could own.
[11] Jeff Chang blames the Telecommunications Act for reducing the amount of community-based programming and causing playlists to become more generic on urban stations nationwide.
In the 1990s, KMEL's DJ Alex Mejia put together a show called "Westside Radio" which featured Ice Cube's West Side Connection.
Frequent guest DJs were also rappers, including Ice-T, Ice Cube, Kid Frost, LA Dream Team, Snoop Dogg, and Rodney-O & Joe Cooley.
[22] On October 1, 2001, radio personality and hip-hop activist David "Davey D" Cook was terminated, due to what the station said were consistently low ratings.
Cook, however, claims his departure was due to his political views, including his having aired statements from California Congresswoman Barbara Lee and rapper Boots of The Coup voicing opposition to the War in Afghanistan.
[citation needed] In addition to its typical daytime mixture of hip hop and R&B, KMEL plays R&B and soul slow jams from roughly 10:00 pm to 1:00 am Monday through Thursday.
In line with its slogan, "The People's Station", KMEL broadcasts the community-affairs show Street Soldiers, hosted by Dr. Joseph E. Marshall, on Sunday evenings.
Toné!, Bell Biv Devoe, Boyz II Men, Jodeci, E-40, the Coup, Too Short, Club Nouveau and Mac Dre.