KITS
KITS (105.3 FM, "Live 105") is a commercial radio station in San Francisco, California. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock radio format known as "Live 105". The studios and offices are co-located with formerly co-owned KPIX-TV on Battery Street in the North Beach district of San Francisco.[2]
For other uses, see Kits (disambiguation).Live 105
- Audacy, Inc.
- (Audacy License, LLC, as Debtor-in-Possession)
December 28, 1959
- KBCO (1959–64)
- KBRG (1964–83)
Hot Hits (reference to former Top 40 format)
18510
B
15,000 watts
366 meters (1,201 ft)
Listen live (via Audacy)
KITS's transmitter is located on Radio Road, at San Bruno Mountain in Daly City.[3] It has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 15,000 watts, from a tower at 366 meters (1,201 feet) in height above average terrain. KITS broadcasts in the HD Radio format; its HD2 subchannel formerly aired a gold-based modern rock format as Classic Live 105, inspired by its previous long-time tenure in the format as Live 105, while their HD3 subchannel formerly carried "Radio Zindagi", a South Asian radio service. These subchannels have since been turned off.
History[edit]
Early years[edit]
The station's original call sign was KBCO, beginning on December 28, 1959, when it signed on the air.[4] It was owned by Bay Area Broadcasters, with Saul R. Levine as president.
In January 1964, Apollo Broadcasting acquired the station.[5] On June 1, 1964 the call letters were changed to KBRG and became K-Bridge. KBRG carried a stereo classics format, Apollo operated a similar format on KLEF in Houston. In 1969, the station changed hands again, this time acquired by Entertainment Communications, Inc. KBRG carried a multi-ethnic programming format, with music and talk shows in German, Chinese, Italian, Filipino, Arabic, Armenian and Spanish. KBRG was later converted into a fulltime Spanish-language station. At the time, the Spanish-speaking community in San Francisco was growing, but only several AM stations were broadcasting in Spanish. KBRG would switch to Regional Mexican music (as "Caballero Spanish Radio"), the market's only full-power Spanish-language FM station at that time.
Hot hits[edit]
In February 1983, Entertainment Communications (later renamed Entercom, and the forerunner to Audacy) decided to go in a more mass-appeal direction. The station adopted radio consultant Mike Joseph's Hot Hits Top 40 music format, with the call letters switching to KITS. Seven air personalities were recruited during a nationwide search, coming from stations such as XETRA in San Diego-Tijuana, KBEQ-FM in Kansas City, WXGT in Columbus, Ohio, and WCAU-FM in Philadelphia. The transplanted disc jockeys underwent a "broadcasting bootcamp" for two weeks prior to launching the new Hot Hits format. Radio personality Doug Ritter (Doug Ritterling) was the first DJ on the air when the new format premiered at 9 a.m. on February 27, 1983.
The station was referred to as "Hot Hits KITS". The format featured a short playlist of only current hit songs, with heavy repetition, frequent jingles and fast-talking air personalities. The original weekday DJ lineup on "Hot Hits KITS" consisted of program director Jeff Hunter 6–9a.m., followed by Doug Ritter 9a.m.–Noon, Gary Robbins Noon–3p.m., Todd Parker 3–7p.m., Richard Sands 7–midnight, and Rick Neal (George Fryer) midnight–6am. Mark Van Gelder was the first Production Director under the "Hot Hits" format, Annette Parks (daughter of pioneer broadcaster and Miss America Pageant Host Bert Parks) was the station's news director, and Michele Meisner (formerly of San Francisco's Fantasy Studios) was music director.
When Hot Hits debuted, it was a ratings success. In 1983, San Francisco only had one Top 40 station, KFRC. The following year, KMEL flipped from album-oriented rock to CHR, giving KITS new competition. Due to losing their core listening audience to KITS and KMEL, KFRC would switch to adult standards in 1986. The KITS studios were a popular place with celebrities; visits were common from movie and TV stars such as Bette Midler, Tom Cruise, Pat Morita, George Takei, Anthony Perkins, and others. The celebrities would not typically make it on the air, but they would the studios in San Francisco's market square just to see what attracts people to go there.
Concerts[edit]
KITS had hosted two major concerts every year from 1994 to 2018. "BFD" was held every June at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California that would run all day with up-and-coming bands performing on the festival stage during the day, and more established bands on the main stage at night. The first BFD concert took place in June 1994 with artists such as Beck, Green Day, and The Pretenders and continue to showcase a wide range of artists including Red Hot Chili Peppers, The White Stripes, Blink 182, Hole, The Killers, The Strokes, 311, Third Eye Blind, Foo Fighters, Panic! at the Disco, The Offspring, Stone Temple Pilots, and the Beastie Boys as well as older bands such as Duran Duran, Social Distortion, and The Cure.
The station's winter concert, "Not So Silent Night", formerly known as the "Green Christmas Ball" and "Electronica Hanukkah", occurred in early December and has featured such bands as Linkin Park, Muse, Green Day, Kasabian, The Killers, My Chemical Romance, Smashing Pumpkins, System of a Down, Blink-182, David Bowie, Franz Ferdinand, The White Stripes, Silversun Pickups, Modest Mouse, Cake, Paramore, Angels & Airwaves, Spoon, Jimmy Eat World, Death Cab for Cutie, and Everclear.
From 2009 to 2014, KITS hosted the "Subsonic Halloween Spookfest", which debuted on October 30, 2009 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. The Halloween-themed concert featured three stages of entertainment, having included performances over the years by The Faint, Basement Jaxx, Crystal Method, DJ Steve Aoki, Crystal Castles, MSTRKRFT, Underworld, DJ Shadow, and many other electronic and rock artists that were regularly featured on the station's Saturday night show, Subsonic.
Awards[edit]
In 1989, Live 105 won Billboard magazine's award for Radio Station of the Year – Rock.
In 2007, the station was nominated for the top 25 markets Alternative Station of the Year award by Radio & Records magazine.
Other nominees included WBCN in Boston, KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, KTBZ-FM in Houston, KNDD in Seattle, and WWDC in Washington, D.C.[43]
Members of the Live 105 programming and air staff have also received awards. Program Directors Richard Sands and Sean Demery were awarded Program Director of the Year by various trade magazines, as well as Music Director and DJ Aaron Axelsen, who received the Best Terrestrial Radio DJ in San Francisco award from the weekly newspaper San Francisco Bay Guardian in 2009.