KRTH
The station's signal covers an extremely large area of Southern California due in part to its antenna location on Mt.
[3] In May 1940, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorized an FM band effective January 1, 1941, operating on 40 channels spanning 42–50 MHz.
In the late 1970s, under program director Bob Hamilton, KRTH added current hits to its oldies playlist—essentially an adult contemporary format.
[18] Doo-wop, early rock, Motown, girl groups, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles were the mainstays of the station's music mix.
Every L.A. #1 song would be played in chronological order (utilizing the older KHJ Boss 30, KFWB Fab Forty, and other local charts) from 1955 through 1985.
KCBS-FM successfully switched to a classic rock format in late 1993 called "Arrow 93", but later flipped to adult hits as "Jack FM".
In April 1997, Steele announced in a very emotional on-air statement that he had lung cancer, which subsequently led to both his retirement as well as his death by the summer of 1997.
Older songs from before the British Invasion of 1964 were increasingly dropped from the playlist, and the station began to emphasize music of the late 1960s, especially that of Motown.
In 2002, the station would be reunited under common ownership with the former KHJ-TV when CBS bought KCAL-TV; KRTH wound up moving into KCAL's old facility at 5515 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood (on the Paramount Pictures studio lot) as a result of KCAL's operations being merged into KCBS-TV's Columbia Square facility, which KRTH had been operating out of.
With its target demographics aging and ratings sagging, KRTH, along with most oldies outlets across the country, began adding 1970s songs to the playlist in the early 2000s, particularly disco.
This process was taken a step further in 2007 with a few early 1980s songs added to the mix by artists such as Hall & Oates, Phil Collins, and Michael Jackson.
In 2010, K-Earth began adding songs from the mid- to late 1980s into its mix from artists such as Janet Jackson, The Bangles, Deniece Williams, and The Police.
Another change that was made in the 2000s was the addition of adult contemporary Christmas music during the holiday season from performers such as Mannheim Steamroller, Air Supply, and Barry Manilow.
Airing three times an hour, this holiday fare was designed to entice listeners away from AC competitor KOST, which annually shoots to #1 in the ratings with its all-Christmas format.
(In years past, K-Earth played a similar amount of Christmas music, but only from oldies artists such as the Beach Boys or Alvin and the Chipmunks.)
Following the departure of program director Jhani Kaye in 2013, a series of changes at KRTH accelerated the station's transition from oldies to a classic hits format.
After Labor Day 2013, under new PD Rick Thomas, the station began to remove a portion of 1960s music, as it had appealed to a much older audience than was measurable by the ratings system.
In August 2015, "Shotgun" Tom Kelly left his afternoon drive position but remained with KRTH in an "ambassador" role, making public appearances and otherwise representing the station off-air.
In addition to Rewind with Gary Bryan, KRTH also broadcasts America's Greatest Hits, hosted by Scott Shannon, and the 1980s and 1990s editions of Backtrax USA with Kid Kelly on the weekends.
