History

Hot AC and ethnic programming

The 93.5 FM frequency in Ontario used the call letters KNTF from the early 1980s until 1990 when it became "Thunder Country" for a very short time. In the early 1990s, this became hot adult contemporary (hot AC)-formatted KRZE, "The Breeze". Former staff members of KRZE include Steve Craig (later at WRXP in New York), Kevin Barrett (who became program director at KTRB "XTRA Sports" in San Francisco), and Lisa Osborne (news anchor at KFI). Both the Torrance and Ontario stations at 93.5 FM, begun in the 1950s on the AM dial, had call signs similar to each other: KFXM in Ontario (serving San Bernardino) and KFXT in Torrance (serving Los Angeles).

Soon after dropping hot AC, the station aired brokered programming purchased primarily by Korean broadcasters. In the mid-1990s, it began simulcasting the Redondo Beach station in its various formats, first as KRZE, then KREA, KFSB, KZBA, and KNJR. Its full-length programming in the Korean language was known as "Radio Korea" until 1999, when KNJR of Ontario/KZBA of Torrance switched to a Spanish language music format known as "Radio Grupera".

Rhythmic/urban formats and KDAY simulcasts

On September 20, 2004, the station became a simulcast of KDAY and its hip-hop/ R&B format, adopting the KDAI call letters to match its sister station's on-air handle. The signal was used to cover the eastern portions of Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire.^[2] Despite the effort to cover the area, it was signal challenged. In 2006, the KDAI calls were replaced with KWIE. After three years of simulcasting, Magic announced that KDAY would get a signal upgrade and cover more of the Los Angeles area as an urban contemporary/urban talk outlet. KWIE's simulcast of KDAY ended on August 14, 2008, with the Ontario station re-launched as "FLO 93.5".^[3][4]

The "FLO 93.5" approach was started by Don McCoy, CEO of Magic Broadcasting, which is headquartered in Panama City, Florida. The first 90 days of broadcasting was proposed to be commercial-free. In an interview with The Press-Enterprise, station sales manager Colleen Bambrick described the new format in a telephone interview: "FLO 93.5 will be rhythmic adult contemporary ... We'll play artists like Alicia Keys, Carlos Santana, Usher, maybe a Mary J. Blige."^[5]

Unfortunately, KWIE's rhythmic AC format did not perform well in the ratings. In September 2009, KWIE dropped the format and returned to simulcasting KDAY's classic hip-hop format under new call letters KDEY-FM. KDAY had dropped its urban contemporary approach, heavy on syndicated programming, in August 2009 after it too had poor ratings.^[6]

In May 2014, KDEY-FM and KDAY were sold to Meruelo Group, which also owns Los Angeles television station KWHY-TV (channel 22). On June 7, 2015, the radio stations began carrying Art Laboe's syndicated six-hour Sunday-night oldies program, The Art Laboe Connection. Previously, the show aired on KHHT until February 2015, when that station dropped its rhythmic oldies format in favor of mainstream urban as KRRL.^[7]

On February 28, 2017, KDEY-FM starting stunting with a loop of "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses, indicating a tease towards a flip to active rock or classic rock. However, on March 1, KDEY-FM flipped to R&B/hip-hop as "Wild 93.5", giving the Inland Empire its first urban contemporary outlet since 1994, when KAEV dropped the format for alternative rock as KCXX. It also revived the "Wild" branding that was last used at KRQB from 2004 to 2007 when it was KWIE.^[8][9]

On May 9, 2017, Emmis Broadcasting sold Los Angeles rhythmic top 40 station KPWR to Meruelo for $82.75 million; the new owner began operating KPWR that July. As a result of the acquisition and retaining KPWR's rhythmic format, air staff, and management, Meruelo announced that it will move KDAY and KDEY-FM to KPWR's studios in Burbank effective with the deal. KDEY-FM retained its urban format and continued focusing on the Riverside-San Bernardino market until its return to simulcasting KDAY in October 2017.^[10][11]

On October 30, 2017, at 2:00 p.m., KDEY reinstated its simulcast with KDAY. This is due to the acquisition of KPWR, which was done to avoid direct competition with its sister station as Meruelo management saw KDEY's urban format as redundant, despite having done research on targeting the area and to address signal coverage and overlapping issues.^[12]

References