[26] The station originally broadcast from its El Monte transmitter site, near Santa Anita Avenue and the Pomona Freeway, in the vicinity of the Peck Road exit.

The on-air personalities included Dave Hull (The Hullabalooer),[27] Emperor Bob Hudson,[28] Ted Quillin,[29] Rebel Foster,[30] Jimmy Rabbitt,[31] Casey Kasem,[32] Bob Eubanks,[33] Dick Biondi,[34] Sam Riddle, Dick Moreland, Jimmy O'Neill, Wink Martindale, Johnny Hayes and Sie Holliday.

[citation needed] During the 1960s, the KRLA studio was in an old carriage house just off the parking lot of the old Huntington Sheraton Hotel[26] on Oak Knoll Drive in Pasadena, making it possible to drop by and watch the on-air DJ do his show,[43] those who did were called "porch people" by the staff.

[45] One of the highlights of this station was the Big 11 Countdown Show hosted by Johnny Hayes, with stories and facts about the songs and the artists, as well as the historical events that were going on at that time.

[46][47][48][49] It only remained on the air because the FCC transferred the license to Oak Knoll Broadcasting, with the profits used to fund local non-commercial television station [KCET].

This arrangement was intended to be temporary until a new permanent licensee could be found; however, the number of applications received forced comparative hearings that lasted until 1979.

[51] Art Laboe was brought in to program KRLA in at the beginning of 1977 by Oak Knoll[52] and the format changed from an automated "middle of the road" to oldies.

[citation needed] On February 25, 1997, CBS Radio announced that it would trade WMMR in Philadelphia, and WOAZ and WBOS in Boston to Greater Media in exchange for KRLA and sister station KLSX, as part of its acquisition of Infinity Broadcasting Corporation.

[26][59] As a talk radio station, KRLA featured many cast-offs from KABC, such as Michael Jackson and Ken Minyard, as well as Don Imus, Dr. Toni Grant,[60] G. Gordon Liddy, Ron Barr's Sports Byline USA, and Ed Tyll.

[77] On June 12, 2023, Disney filed to sell KRDC to Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, owner of KWVE-FM and KSDW, for $5 million.

The sale, which included KRDC's low-power FM translator in Pasadena, would complete Disney's exit from radio station ownership.

[78][3] In preparation for the impending closure of the sale to Calvary Chapel, The Walt Disney Company filed to change KRDC's callsign to KWVE on August 31, 2023.

[79] On September 8, the sale had closed, completing ABC/Disney's departure from broadcast radio after 96 years, dating back to the founding of NBC's Blue Network.

The switch gives the KWVE-FM signal enhanced coverage in the northern and western sections of the Los Angeles metro area, as far north as Ventura County.

[4] The main FM signal only operates at 530 watts, transmits from Santiago Peak near Rancho Santa Margarita and is directed away from the northwest, making it hard to hear in Los Angeles proper.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted an original construction permit on December 6, 2013, to build an FM translator (K293BZ, now K256CX) licensed in Beaumont, California, and located in the 106.5 MHz frequency, which would rebroadcast KWVE-FM in San Clemente.

[81][82] On October 18, 2016, KDIS' licensee ABC Radio Los Angeles Assets agreed to acquire from the Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa the permit with the intention to rebroadcast the AM station for $45,000.

[83][84][85] On November 8, the FCC, as part of the AM revitalization program, granted a modification to move the transmitter location to Irwindale (although the translator will maintain Beaumont as its license city) and change the frequency to 99.1.