How Radio
Broadcasting Began in Los Angeles
By Jim Hilliker
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How Radio
Broadcasting Began in Los Angeles By Jim Hilliker
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www.theradiohistorian.org Copyright 2022 - John F. Schneider & Associates, LLC (Click on photos to enlarge) This was
the KFI studio in the Anthony building in 1924.
 Earle C. Anthony at the KFI microphone, 1920's
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Beginnings This is an outline of U.S. radio broadcasting since 1920, and how it developed in and around Los Angeles. Radio broadcasting experiments were taking place early in the 20th century, but were stopped during World War I. After the war, ham radio operators, who had previously transmitted in telegraphic code, began experimenting with voice transmissions and playing phonograph records over the airwaves. Several Los Angeles area amateur radio enthusiasts appear to have done this around 1920 and ‘21. Fred Christian, who started what later became KNX and Major Lawrence Mott on Catalina Island, who later ran station KFWO, are two examples of hams who did this. By 1921, at least two amateur radio operators, a department store and an electronics company were broadcasting, using experimental radio call signs. Yet, even before World War I, there were at least a couple of wireless stations near Los Angeles doing some primitive broadcasting, related to the way music and voice would be heard by numerous Americans during radio’s first big decade in the 1920s. George Farmer, W6OO, a Southern
California ham operator whose wireless adventures began in 1906, wrote
in his books "Radio Almanac" and "56 Years of Wireless", that he heard
music sent out by Lee De Forest via wireless in 1908. In 1912, he heard
a ham experimenter in Watts, California named Joe McCarthy play music
over the air from his station. Later that same year, he heard another
ham in Long Beach doing the very same thing! Imagine the thrill. You’re
expecting to hear only the Morse code coming through your headphones.
Then, like magic, you hear a human voice and music coming into your
receiver without wires! It must have been quite a shock, but at the
same time, very thrilling. Farmer did not give any details about the
antenna or the radio receiver and transmitter used in those wireless
experiments. Early experiments in wireless radio
using code were taking place at the Los Angeles Polytechnic High School
as far back as 1905. Professor H. Lavine Twining taught A.C.
Electricity and Wireless in his classes. Twining published a book in
1905 called “Radio Frequency Electricity.” His students experimented
with wireless code, thanks to Twining’s classes. The professor taught
theory and practical building of wireless equipment. This included how
to make power transformers, tuners, helices, rotary gaps,
potentiometers, and how to build four-wire antennas with 20-foot
spreaders attached to tall towers. In 1914 and 1915, Farmer tried his hand at broadcasting something besides code. His ham station, 6GF at Clearwater (now Paramount), and later in Burbank, CA, used early transmitting equipment on 200 meters, equal to 1500 kilocycles. That’s where amateur radio stations were assigned at the time. He decided to send out songs of the day into his microphone; such as "In My Merry Oldsmobile" and "The Little Ford Rambles Right Along." Farmer sang the songs himself, off key. So, it’s quite clear that in Southern California, San Jose, and in other parts of the nation, broadcasting of some sort was taking place well before Westinghouse’s KDKA, even if it was on a much smaller and more primitive scale before World War I. Early Radiophone Concerts In Southern California According to Radio magazine, by November 1921, there were about 20 radio-telephone transmitting stations in Los Angeles. The magazine reported, “Some of these stations are concert sets operated by the various dealers on scheduled evenings, and the foremost transmitter is WESRAD’s 50-watt set, which entertains all the surrounding countryside on Tuesday and Friday evenings.” This station, 6XD, was owned by the Western Radio Electric Company and became radio station KZC, and soon after, changed calls to KOG. This was one of the first four licensed broadcasting stations in Los Angeles between October and December of 1921. Arno A. Kluge also had an experimental radiophone station, which became the first licensed broadcasting station in Los Angeles, the short-lived KQL; the Leo J. Meyberg Company’s experimental radio station became KYJ. In early 1920, a radio operator on a ship at sea arrived in Los Angeles. Instead of going back to work as a radio operator aboard a ship, Fred Christian stayed in Los Angeles and set up the radio department at the Electric Lighting Supply Company at 216 West Third Street. The Electric Lighting Supply Company started an amateur station in Christian’s home, using the call letters 6ADZ, to stay in touch with potential radio customers, the amateurs. On September 10, 1920, Fred W. Christian used a 5-watt amateur radio transmitter to broadcast phonograph recordings, to the few radio amateurs and experimenters in Los Angeles, to give the radio hobbyists something to hear on their radios. His “studio” was in the back bedroom of his home on Harold Way in Hollywood. Christian transmitted on 200 meters, or 1500 kilocycles. He had to share airtime with other “hams” to get on the air. A microphone had to be placed next to the horn speaker of his wind-up Victrola record player, to send out the music over the air. Fred Christian’s primitive broadcasting setup in 1920, was the start of today’s 50,000 watt KNX radio in Los Angeles. First Radio Station Assignments Are Made--1921 Starting in October of 1921, the Department of Commerce began to license the first radio stations for broadcasting to the public by "radiotelephone", as it was then called. At first, the broadcast service operated on a wavelength of 360 meters (833 kilocycles, now known as kilohertz) for entertainment, music, news, etc. to go out over the air. A second wavelength of 485 meters (619 kilocycles) was assigned to broadcast official government weather, crop and market reports. (In the Los Angeles area, only a handful of stations, including KFCL, KHJ, KWH, and KYJ received authorizations to broadcast on 485 meters. Use of this separate wavelength ended, with the expansion of the broadcast band on May 15, 1923). The first broadcasting station licensed in Los Angeles was KQL, owned by Arno A. Kluge at 1045 South Bixel Street. It was licensed on October 13, 1921, and tied with two other stations as the sixth station in the U.S. to receive a broadcast license. Kluge's station grew out of his radiophone experiments, broadcasting over his experimental stations 6XAO and 6XN. KQL was publicized for one broadcast on 360 meters on November 1, 1921, but no evidence has been found to point to any other broadcasts, before Kluge died unexpectedly on New Year’s Eve in 1921. The Department of Commerce deleted KQL on June 9, 1922. The reader will find more details in my profile of station KQL. The three other Los Angeles broadcasting stations first licensed in 1921 also began as experimental radio stations or as an amateur radio station broadcasting music and voice. KGC on December 8 was formerly 6ADZ dating from September of 1920; KZC on December 9 was formerly 6XD, first licensed in April of 1920; and KYJ, also December 9, was formerly 6XAK, dating from October 1,1921. Of these stations, only KGC survives, as KNX-1070, which makes it the oldest broadcasting station in Los Angeles, and the seventh oldest in the country. Radio Station Licenses Issued For The Asking In early 1922, the radio craze started to spread throughout the Los Angeles area. Radio was a free-for-all during this time. Anybody who had the proper equipment to broadcast was given a license for these new radio stations, just by applying to the Department of Commerce’s Radio Division. Station owners, announcers and technicians were all starting out with little or no experience, so everyone had their own ideas of what to put on the air. Listeners, using early crystal sets with headphones and one-tube radios, were excited to hear voices and music coming out of the air. Since commercial advertising didn’t exist yet, many stations went off the air after only a few months or less than two years. Some of the station owners got bored with radio. Others couldn’t find a way to pay for the operation of the station equipment. Many couldn’t make a profit from radio and couldn’t afford to pay their bills. Some left the air when they couldn’t find a properly licensed engineer and the radio inspector shut them down. Early Stations Take Turns Getting On The Air--1922 By June 1, 1922 there were 25 licensed stations in the Los Angeles area, all sharing time on 360 meters. That meant that 25 radio stations, all transmitting on the frequency of 833 kilocycles, had to take turns going on and off the air every day. With all the stations using the same wavelength, they had to negotiate a system of taking turns each day to get on the air. The Southern California Broadcast Association was established to maintain an elaborate time-sharing schedule. The Association met every 30 days to revise the station schedules, and came up with a couple of strategies to increase the amount of time stations could have on the air, especially during the coveted early evening hours. According to Radio Doings magazine, in many cases two stations were paired, so that one operated slightly above 360 meters and the other just below, allowing, at least in theory, a radio to be tuned to one or the other without interference. It also appears that lower-powered stations in different parts of the region were paired, to reduce interference. All of this made for some very complicated schedules. For example, the Monday evening schedule for August 6, 1922 included seven stations--KYJ, KUY, KFAC, KGO, KOG, KWH and KSS--signing on and off, with time slots as short as one-half hour. During most of the evening, two stations were broadcasting simultaneously, although from 5:00 to 5:15 p.m., three were on the air. Given the primitive radios and transmitters at this time, it's likely that instead of being able to choose between two offerings, many early radio enthusiasts instead heard only clashing programs or piercing heterodynes! One radio station made it quite clear it was trying to avoid interference from other stations. KFAW in Santa Ana, ran its daily broadcast schedule in the Santa Ana Register, where the KFAW studio was located. From its first day on the air, KFAW printed in the paper that it would broadcast on 340 meters, not 360, "in order to avoid conflict with Los Angeles stations." Other radio stations tried that strategy to avoid interference, broadcasting at 340 meters or slightly above or below 360 meters. To further complicate matters, Radio Doings noted in the September 30, 1922 issue that Los Angeles stations had started a nightly 7:20 to 7:40 p.m. "Listening Period," when all the Los Angeles stations stayed off the air. This would allow radio fans "who have receiving sets powerful enough to 'listen in' on concerts in San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Stockton, Sacramento, Fresno, Salt Lake City and Denver" to pick up the distant stations, which were also operating on 360 meters. By November 1st, the "Listening Period" was expanded to last from 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. nightly. These listening periods, also called "Silent Nights", were common in cities throughout the United States until 1927, when they started to threaten revenue from the newly formed commercial chain (network) broadcasts and local stations, which began to air commercial advertising more frequently. In fact, Radio Doings reported in April of 1923 that Mondays would be the "Silent Night" for Los Angeles and vicinity, and that all broadcast stations in the region would go off the air that night. Monday, May 7, 1923 was the first official time this was tried. Radio Doings listed programs in Denver, Salt Lake City, Fort Worth, San Francisco and Portland with the scheduled times for radio fans to try for those distant stations. The next week, one radio dealer placed an ad in the magazine, offering free advice for DXers who weren’t able to hear the distant stations listed in the Monday night schedule. At the end of 1922, four more stations were added in the Los Angeles area, while six were deleted, leaving 23 radio stations. However, only 15 of these appear to have had regular broadcasting schedules! “Class B” Wavelength Stations Established In late September 1922, a second entertainment wavelength of 400 meters (750 kilocycles/kilohertz) was added, to ease the overcrowding on 360 meters. This was designated for use by "Class B" stations, which used 500 to 1,000 watts of power, and generally had superior program offerings, with live entertainment and no phonograph records. The stations on 360 meters, which used lower transmitter power, were now known as "Class A" stations. Out of about 30 stations nationwide to be given Class B status, two were in Los Angeles: KHJ and KFI. (KJS applied for a 400-meter license but was turned down). KHJ and KFI set up their own time-sharing plan on 400 meters. To deal with increasing interference, the broadcast service wavelengths were expanded on May 15, 1923, with stations now spaced in 10-kilocycle steps from 550 to 1350 kilocycles. Class B stations were assigned to the frequencies from 550 to 1040 on the radio dial, with Los Angeles allocated to use 640 kilocycles, assigned to KFI, and 760, which went to KHJ, as these continued to be the only Class B stations in the area. “Class A” stations were assigned to broadcast between 1050 to 1350 kilocycles. A few stations were also permitted to stay on 360 meters, which was now known as the “Class C” wavelength. (At this time both KFI and KHJ operated 500-watt transmitters. However, the most powerful area station for a brief time was KJS, which remained on the “Class C” wavelength. In June 1923, KJS installed a 750-watt transmitter, which temporarily made it more powerful than all but a handful of radio stations nationwide). Los Angeles Radio Continues to Evolve—1923 to 1926 During 1923, no new radio stations started in Los Angeles. But 9 were deleted, which left 14 stations still licensed. In November 1924, the Broadcast Band was again expanded, with the upper limit moved from 1350 to 1500 kilocycles, making 15 more “Class A” frequencies available. During 1924, 10 new stations came on the air in and near Los Angeles. However, two of these were deleted before the end of the year, along with six others that started in 1922! This left 17 broadcasting stations licensed at the end of 1924. Two of the radio stations that started broadcasting in the Los Angeles area in 1924 are still on the air today: KLAC-570 and KFRN-1280. KPPC in Pasadena at 1240 on the dial lasted until 1997. KFSG was broadcasting on the AM band until 1970, and went off the air on the FM band for good in 2003. In 1925, seven new stations started in the Los Angeles area, and three of these are still on the air. Seven station owners gave up, turned in their licenses and signed off for good. The result: The same number of stations existed at the end of 1925 as the year before, 17. Station transmitter power was increasing in some cases, and the programming continued to evolve. By the summer of 1925, five Los Angeles stations held prestigious "Class B" authorizations: KFI-640, KHJ-740, KNX-890, KPSN-950, and KTBI-1020. These stations all had broadcasting transmitters with an output of 500 watts or higher. One interesting change that took place in early 1925 was station KFI operated briefly on 642 kilocycles and KHJ on 742. This lasted only from January to February of 1925. The use of the "split-frequency", instead of an even 10-kilocycle-spaced frequency, was part of a short-lived--and unsuccessful--test by the Department of Commerce. They were thinking at the time about trying to reduce the separation between “Class B” stations to 7.5 kilocycles. Nearly 55 years later, KFI took part in another type of experiment during the overnight hours. This called for KFI to alternate between 639 and 640-AM. This was a test requested by the FCC, when 9 kilohertz spacing was being considered on the AM band in North America. The FCC later decided against spacing AM stations 9 kHz. apart, which is done in other parts of the world, such as Japan and Australia. During 1926, three new radio stations began operations, two of which continue to this day. No station went silent this year, bringing the number of radio stations in the Los Angeles area to 20. Regulatory Collapse and Reorganization—1926 and 1927 Up to this point, the Department of Commerce, through its Bureau of Navigation, regulated broadcasting under the Radio Act of 1912, which did not address broadcasting. It was written at the time to regulate wireless telegraphy to and from ships at sea. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover asked Congress to strengthen his power to regulate the fledgling business of radio broadcasting, but Congress refused. In 1926, there were several legal opinions that said Hoover didn't have the authority to deny station licenses, assign frequencies or transmitter power for any radio station. Thus, from July 1926 to the February 1927 formation of the Federal Radio Commission, anyone was free to bring a new station on the air, and stations could use powers and frequencies of their own choosing. The Los Angeles area, like most major metropolitan regions, saw a number of new stations go on the air during this seven-month period. With their new freedom from government regulation, many of the new stations and established broadcasters took part in the nationwide practice of "wave jumping". Many of the new stations, and most of the "wave jumpers", showed up on choice Class B frequencies, increasing interference for the older stations. Some examples of this include KMTR on 1260 (Class A), which jumped to 810 kilocycles (Class B); KFXB moved from 1480 to 850. In addition, some new stations chose to broadcast on split frequencies. KMIC-Inglewood came on the air in January of 1927 on 775 kilocycles, while KGFJ made its debut in February of 1927 on 1375. Other new stations that came on the air during this chaotic period include KGER, which took the Class B frequency of 920, KGEF on 580 and KELW on 560. A few small stations chose to raise their transmitter power. In early 1927, just before the Federal Radio Commission was formed, KFQZ bumped up its power to 500 watts from its assigned 50 watts; KNRC was listed at 1,000 watts, up from 500; KWTC in Santa Ana, which was licensed for only 5 watts (one radio log says 15 watts), was listed at this time with 250 watts; and KFVD decided to go up to 500 watts instead of its previously assigned 50 watt power; quite an increase in those days. After the FRC was given the right to oversee the regulation of radio broadcasting by Congress, those stations had to lower their transmitter power by mid-1927. KFI spearheaded a novel demonstration one night in support of the restoration of government controls. According to the June 1927 issue of Radio Broadcast, "Between the hours of eight and nine on February 11, KFI, and ten other Pacific Coast stations presented what they called an “Interference Hour.” The stations were paired off and so changed their wavelengths as to interfere seriously with one another. After an hour of squeals, howls, indistinguishable announcements, and distorted music, the stipulated wavelengths were resumed, following which pleas were made from each of the stations in support of the radio bill before the senate." The radio bill was soon passed, which resulted in Congress creating the Federal Radio Commission, which would have sole control over broadcasting. It began to reassign stations to new frequencies to reduce interference. This plan took 1-1/2 years to complete. While broadcasting was undergoing these historic changes in 1927, seven new radio stations were added to the airwaves in and around Los Angeles, bringing the total on the air to 27. Time Sharing and Reallocations—1922 to 1930 Time-sharing was a neccesity in the early days of radio, especially in the bigger cities where there were many stations. With only a limited amount of space on the broadcast band, some radio stations were forced to divide time on their frequency. This meant that two or more stations had to come up with a schedule in which one station turned on its transmitter, came on the air for a few hours, and then would go off the air so the other station could broadcast its own programming. There was only a limited amount of time-sharing following the band expansions in 1923 and 1924, although KFSG divided 1080 with KDZF, until the latter station was deleted. Others that divided time briefly in 1923-24 were KFAR/KFAW on 1070; KUY/KNV on 1170; KFCL/KFOC on 1270; and KFON/KFQI on 128O kilocycles. In 1925, KFWC-San Bernardino shared time on 1420 with KFWO on Catalina Island until May of 1927. Under the FRC reorganizations, the number of time-sharing arrangements gradually increased. One of the first nationwide frequency shifts came on June 15, 1927. Eighteen stations in the Los Angeles area were affected. Among the stations which were required to share time under the new arrangement: KFPR and KFQZ on 1290; KELW and KPPC on 1310; KFWC and KWTC on 1350; KGER and KRLO on 1390; and KGFJ was paired with KFVD on 1440. February 1928 brought frequency changes for ten Los Angeles area stations and the following time-share plans: KPSN and KPPC on 950; KWTC and KSMR-Santa Maria on 1100; KGEF and KGFH on 1140; KFSG and KEJK (x-KRLO) on 1190; and KGER and KFVD (after KRLO moved to 1190) on 1390. On May 25, 1928 the Federal Radio Commission issued General Order 32, which challenged 164 stations nationwide to prove they were operating in the "public interest, convenience, or necessity.” Only a handful of West Coast stations appeared on this list, and the Los Angeles County Forestry Department's KFPR was the only one in the Los Angeles area. However, it failed its review, and was deleted on August 1, 1928, one of about 50 stations nationwide the FRC took off the air under the proceedings. On November 11, 1928 the FRC assigned 22 Los Angeles area stations to new frequencies, as part of a nationwide adjustment of the broadcast band. (Only KFI-640 and KPSN-950 remained on their old frequencies.) Stations were now assigned to frequencies classified as Clear Channel, Regional and Local. This plan created eight time-share pairings: KMTR and KPLA on 570; KTM and KELW on 780; KPSN and KFWB on 950; KFSG and KMIC on 1120; KFWC and KPPC on 1200; KFON and KEJK on 1250 (which lasted only until February 1929); KTBI and KGEF on 1300; and KWTC and KFWO on 1500. During 1928 no new stations came on the air in the area, while two were deleted. As noted earlier, one of these, KFPR, was denied renewal of its license by the FRC. A third, portable station KGGM in Inglewood, moved east to become a "stationary" station in Albuquerque, NM. The FRC shifted frequencies once again on November 15, 1929 for nine Los Angeles area stations. KPPC and KFXM were moved from 1200 to share 1210, while KPSN was shifted to 1360 with KGER, which lasted until KPSN's demise in 1931. Earlier in 1929, the FRC refused to renew KGFH's license and it went silent, which allowed KMTR to become a full-time station on 570. Also, when KFWO went silent in January 1929, KWTC-Santa Ana was able to become a full-time station on 1500 kilocycles. Twenties Recap A total of fifteen area station licenses dating from this crazy first decade of broadcasting have survived to the present: KNX-1070 (established December 1921 as KGC); KWKW-1330 (March 1922 as KJS); KHJ-930 (March 1922); KFI-640 (March 1922); KFRN-1280 (February 1924 as KFON); KLAC-570 (March 1924 as KFPG); KFWB-980 (February 1925); KABC-790 (February 1925 as KFVF); KTNQ-1020 (March 1925 as KFVD); KVNR (ex-KWIZ)-1480 (October 1926 as KWTC); KLTX-1390 (January 1927 as KGER); KEIB-1150 (January 1927 as KMIC in Inglewood); KYPA-1230 (February 1927 as KGFJ); and KSPN-710 (February 1927 as KRLO). A 15th station, KPPC-1240 in Pasadena lasted from December 25, 1924 until it went off the air in September of 1996. The KPPC license was deleted by the F.C.C. in 1997. Some of the longtime AM stations that were first licensed in the 1920s have changed call letters. The license for 1330 was known for many decades as KFAC. The sports-talk station KSPN on 710 had been familiar to Southern Californian radio listeners as KMPC, until early 1997. KFRN-1280 in Long Beach was KFOX until 1977. Other stations such as KGFJ-1230 and KGER-1390 had their historic call letters changed after new owners bought the stations between 30 and 50 years ago 1930s and 1940s KFQZ signed-off forever in 1930, KPSN did the same in 1931, followed by KGEF in 1932. Also, KPWF, which was to be a new radio station in Orange County, had its construction permit canceled in 1931 and never got on the air. The only new station to go on the air in the Los Angeles area in the '30s was KIEV-Glendale, built by David Cannon in 1932 (now KRLA-870). The 1930s saw the replacement of the Federal Radio Commission by the Federal Communications Commission in 1934. Overall, this decade was fairly stable for Los Angeles area broadcasters, but economically, times were tough for radio, especially for the smaller stations. Network radio was growing and L.A./Hollywood became a big radio center by 1938, when NBC and CBS built new studios there. By 1936, there were only two time-sharing plans left on the L.A. radio dial, 780 and 1120. Then, KEHE-780 merged with KELW on January 5, 1927, and became a full-time station on 780. This event reduced the number of broadcast band stations in the Los Angeles area to 19. The time-share plan on 1120 (later 1150) between KRKD and KFSG was the longest in the Los Angeles area, and lasted until March 21, 1961. (KPPC, on 1210 and later 1240, originally shared time with KFXM-San Bernardino. However, after 1947, KFXM was allowed to remain on the air with reduced power when KPPC operated under its specified-hours schedule). As the 1930s ended, KECA moved from 1430 to 780, consolidating with and taking over the facilities of KEHE-780. March 29, 1941 saw the next big change for the Broadcast Band. The North American Regional Broadcast Agreement (NARBA) expanded the band from 1500 to 1600 kHz, and a major frequency reallocation was put in place across the United States. For the 18 Los Angeles area stations then on the air, one moved down 10 kilocycles, one moved up 10 kilocycles; three moved up 20 kilocycles; ten moved up 30 kilocycles; and three stayed put -- KFI-640, there since May 15, 1923; KMTR-570, dating back to November 11, 1928; and KMPC-710, there since November 15, 1929 as KEJK. (The call letters became KMPC in March 1930.) During World War II, two new stations came on the air: KPAS-1110 in Pasadena and KWKW-1430 in Pasadena. It should be noted that during the 1930s and early ‘40s, there were several applications for new stations or construction permits, which never got on the air. These included a new station on 1160 kilocycles in 1934, that would have been on only in the daytime with 250 watts, licensed to Los Angeles; A new station in Los Angeles that proposed to broadcast on 1300 kilocycles with 1,000 watts, and would have shared time with KFAC in 1935. Also in 1940, there was an application for a new station in Santa Monica which applied to broadcast on 1160 kilocycles, with 250 watts day and 100 watts at night. All of these applications were denied by the FCC. Post World War II With improved directional antenna systems, and a reduction by the Federal Communications Commission of interference standards, thousands of new stations came on the air across the United States after 1945. In Southern California, the new stations turned up mainly in the Riverside-San Bernardino areas and the suburban cities around Los Angeles and Orange County. Most were successful, with the exception of KTED-1520 in Laguna Beach (1949-1951). Twenty-three new stations came on the air from 1940 to 1970, while 3 disappeared: KTED-1520 in 1951, KFSG-1150, which left the AM band in 1961, and KPPC-1240 signed-off for good in 1996 after more than 72 years of broadcasting. After 1980, there was a construction permit for a new station on 830. This became KPLS-830 (now KLAA) in Orange County, and didn’t get on the air until 1992. By my count and checking with Radio-Locator, there are now 30 radio stations on the air in the Los Angeles-Orange County Metro Area, between 540 and 1650 on the AM dial. There are also other stations that can be heard in Los Angeles County and/or Orange County from Ventura County; Lancaster High Desert area; Riverside-San Bernardino areas; San Diego and stations in Baja California. But, I am only counting radio stations licensed in the Los Angeles city and county areas along with Orange County. Call Letters Through April 1922, new broadcasting stations in the western U.S. received three-letter calls starting with "K". After that date, four-letter calls were assigned to most new stations, although in a few cases, such as KTM, station owners were able to get three-letter calls by special request. At first, most new stations receiving four-letter calls got call letters assigned alphabetically, starting with KD--, and later followed by KF--, KG--, and KI-- calls. Starting in 1924 in the Los Angeles area, it became an occasional practice for station owners to request descriptive calls of their own preference. This was the case for KFSG, KEJK, KELW, KMIC, KPSN, KTBI, KWTC and a few others. KFSG was one of the first (at least in Los Angeles), to request their own call letters in January of 1924, although it is possible (but not proven yet) that the call sign KOG was requested in early-1922, when it changed calls from KZC. In 1927, Freeman Lang and A.B. Scott started KRLO in Los Angeles. This seems to be a request set of call letters, but I have not been able to determine what the letters may have stood for.
REFERENCES: The following are the major sources used for these charts and station background information:
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