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KRTH-FM is an oldies FM radio station in the Los Angeles area and is known as "K-Earth 101".
History The radio station began operations on August 11, 1941 as Los Angeles's 1st FM station on 44.5 megahertz. After World War II, when the FCC mandated the 88-108 MHz range, Don Lee had to move this station to 99.7 megahertz, with the KHJ-FM call letters. In 1948, it had settled at 101.1 megahertz, simulcasting KHJ-AM. In the mid '60s KHJ FM switched to a progressive rock format briefly before evolving to an adult top 40 format focusing on rock and roll hits from 1955 to the then present. In the early '70s the station dropped most of the pre 1964 songs. With the programming different from KHJ-AM, the station had changed its call letters to KRTH-FM in 1973. The station switched formats, playing '50s and '60s music with some '70s and current music mixed in. This format was very similar to 101.1 WCBS-FM New York. The station was owned by RKO over the years. "K-Earth 101" continued with the format into the 1980s. Until 1985 KRTH played '50s, '60s, and '70s music as well as an '80s song and a current hit per hour. In September 1985 KRTH dropped the current product. By 1989 the station was playing songs from before 1984. At that point RKO was selling all their stations to separate owners. KRTH went to Beasley Broadcasting. At that time CBS put a 1955-69 oldies format on 93.1 and named them KODJ. KRTH continued to get high ratings. In 1992, KODJ was renamed KCBS-FM and moved to a pre-64 oldies format that also failed. KRTH at this point dropped all the '80s music as well as late '70s music. They trimmed the playlist down to about 600 songs and played mostly music from 1964-69 with a three or four pre-64 oldies an hour and about one early '70s song per hour (ratings continued to be high). KCBS-FM left the format in 1993, making KRTH the only FM oldies station in Los Angeles. In 1993, Infinity, which owned 106.7 KROQ, would buy KRTH. In 1997, Infinity would merge with CBS and KROQ and KRTH joined the CBS family along with Smooth Jazz The Wave KTWV 94.7, KCBS-FM (which by now was Classic Hits The Arrow), Talk 97.1 KLSX, and news stations 980 KFWB and KNX 1070. In 2002, KRTH cut back the pre-64 oldies to about one or two per hour and added more early '70s and some late '70s music. In 2003, KRTH added a few '80s hits as well. Today, KRTH is a '60s/'70s oldies station playing almost entirely music from 1964 to 1979. Notable personalities The station has had many famous DJs, such as Brian Beirne "Mr. Rock 'N Roll", Robert W. Morgan, "Real" Don Steele, Joni Caryll, "Shotgun Tom" Kelly, and Gary Bryan. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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