[8] Rush Limbaugh replaced Edwards in 1989 after Edwards refused to play promotional spots for the controversial Leykis show. Most of the FMs were only on the air from mid-afternoon to about 9 pm, while some like KFI-FM were on the air from 6 am to midnight with the simulcast of their AM stations. "Pomona radio legend was citrus ranchers' savior - On frosty nights, Jack Benny lost ratings to Floyd Young". Gradually, NBC and the other radio networks began dropping large-budget entertainment shows in favor of news and information programming. KFI, being an NBC Radio Network affiliate, also shared in this wide listening audience. Listen to your favorite radio stations at Streema. KFI and Clear Channel Communications management responded by saying the tower was in compliance with Federal Communications Commission and Federal Aviation Administration regulations and that it did not need to make any changes. In its early days, it was typically on the air for only four and a half hours a day. Starting in the mid-1970s, KFI successfully programmed Top 40 music. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Writer/Producer John Thomas was assigned to Lohman & Barkley in 1984 and raised the ratings for the morning show to a tie for #1 in the 25-54 demographic in Fall 1985. Early on, Anthony operated the station from his garage, and later from atop his Packard automobile dealership. The voice of KFI Jesus - a strong, smooth bass - belongs to Neil Saavedra, who does not believe he is the Messiah, yet he assumes the godly persona during a three-hour call-in show that airs Sunday mornings. A paired exchange program resulted in kidneys for Neil and seven other people. Saavedra was raised in Thousand Oaks, California along with his six siblings, among them cartoonist/illustrator Scott Saavedra (“Dr. KFI is licensed by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to broadcast in the HD (hybrid) format. The Tim & Neil Show - Tim Kelly and Neil Saavedra hosted a weekend show, then replaced Tammy Bruce on weeknights. Live stream plus station schedule and song playlist. According to a May 1, 2004 broadcast by Art Bell, this station can even be heard by sensitive receivers in parts of the eastern United States, if there are no nearby stations operating on 640 kHz. Neil is the marketing director at KFI and is "Jesus" on KFI's Sunday morning. In 1922, Earle C. Anthony was the founder and owner of what eventually became KFI, a radio station he controlled until his death in 1961. Get the latest on food, glorious food on KFI AM-640. The tower has been dedicated to the memory of John Paoli, KFI Chief Engineer from 2000 to 2008, who died suddenly from a previously unknown genetic heart condition soon after overseeing the construction of the new tower. Saavedra calls the program "interactive radio theater to teach people from all walks of life about the historical person of Jesus Christ." As of January 14, 2008 he was back on air with KFI and KOST as a ground-based traffic reporter with an occasional KFI in the Sky from his own plane. When NBC's network facilities were finally extended to the west coast of the United States, KFI immediately became one of its affiliates. In addition to Lohman and Barkley, other hosts included Hudson & Landry (of "Ajax Liquor Store" fame), Charlie and Mitzi (Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In), and Gary Owens. 11pm newscast on KFI about the plane crash and destruction of KFI's transmitter tower in La Mirada. KFI-FM went on the air from that site at 105.9 megacycles (Megahertz today) in July 1946 with its first test program, though some later sources say the station went on the air in 1947. Some Canadians in British Columbia while others in Alaska were able to pick up KFI signals in the winter months, and even as far away as Japan, Philippines, Guam, American Samoa, New Zealand, Australia, and parts of Central America down to Panama on the proper receivers when conditions are right. The main transmitter was eventually relocated from Anthony's business establishment to its present location in La Mirada, California, where a "T" antenna was erected between two medium height towers, and the KFI studios, and the studios of its sister station KECA, were moved to 611 South Ardmore Avenue. Construction of the new tower in Aug. 2008, Article on John Ziegler's time at KFI from LA Observed, Article from LA Daily News about Bryan Suits and John Ziegler, Pictures of the NEW KFI tower construction and failure, KFI Tower Completed in 14 Days August 14, 2008, List of radio stations owned by iHeartMedia, List of programming syndicated by iHeartMedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=KFI&oldid=1003919126, News and talk radio stations in the United States, American radio stations with a three-letter call sign, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2008, Articles needing additional references from October 2007, All articles needing additional references, Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Mark Denis - worked the KFI Traffic Center from 1986 until his death in April 2000; was the imaging voice of "KFI, More Stimulating Talk Radio", Ken Gallacher — former news anchor for the. [11], On Sunday, December 19, 2004 at 9:45 am Pacific Standard Time, Jim and Mary Ghosoph were killed when their rented Cessna 182P single engine airplane, travelling from the El Monte Airport to Fullerton Municipal Airport, struck KFI's transmission tower, located in the City of La Mirada.[12][13][14]. In the months leading up to the 2004 election, the hosts instigated several political rallies advocating the defeat of Congressmen David Dreier (a Republican) and Joe Baca (a Democrat), both of whom they felt were wrongly supportive of illegal immigration. The "Political Human Sacrifice" campaign, as they dubbed it, was not successful, since both Dreier and Baca were re-elected, albeit Dreier by a substantially smaller percentage than in past terms. Born into a large family of seven kids and raised in Southern California, Neil started his career in radio in January of 1990. One of the first NBC programs to originate on the West Coast, and KFI, was the broadcast of the 1927 Rose Bowl Game from Pasadena, California, with announcer Graham McNamee. History Early history. KFI served as the flagship station of the Los Angeles Chargers, carrying all of the team’s gameday broadcasts from the team's move to the Los Angeles market in 2017 until 2020 when games were moved to KYSR. 2 = Notable Part 15 station In 1931, NBC reorganized its West Coast operations, creating Orange and Blue networks for that area to replace its previous Pacific Coast network. and his likeness now graces the wall around the tower's base.[17]. As the years progressed into the 1930s and 1940s, NBC's, and KFI's, programming improved. As a side note to KFI's participation in World War II, there is a bullet hole in the ceiling of the transmitter building, located in La Mirada, California, where a National Guardsman accidentally discharged his rifle on December 10, 1941, three days following the Attack on Pearl Harbor. James Wesley, Cox's manager at WIOD in Miami and that station's Operations Manager, Elliott "Biggie" Nevins, were dispatched to Los Angeles to manage the station. Its programming transitioned during this period from block programming, often featuring 15-minute programs, to full service radio with disk-jockeys playing records interspersed with aggressive local news coverage. Saavedra was raised in Thousand Oaks, California along with his six siblings, among them cartoonist/illustrator Scott Saavedra (“Dr. He was an early president of the National Association of Broadcasters and, during his term, oversaw the establishment of the organization's first paid staff. KFI's very own Neil Saavedra is turning 50. KFI moved the music to more of a Soft Gold-based AC and began to play less and less of it. KFI-FM was the first Los Angeles FM station to have its transmitter on Mt. Most hours begin with news from Fox News Radio. In 1973, Cox Broadcasting, headquartered in Atlanta, purchased KFI for $15 million, at that time the highest amount ever paid for a radio station. View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on … Later, after the establishment of the Communications Act of 1934, stations were assigned specific operating frequencies. KFI-FM was listed in the 1951 Broadcasting Yearbook, but was gone from newspaper radio logs by mid-1951 and gone from the 1952 Broadcasting Yearbook. The bullet hole is still there to this day, preserved as a monument to KFI's wartime service. [2], KFI and competitor station KNX (the two most powerful Los Angeles radio stations) are primary entry points for the Southern California Emergency Alert System, which are responsible for activation of the EAS when hazardous weather alerts, Disaster area declarations, and child abductions are issued.[9]. KFI's signal was knocked off the air for approximately one hour. KFI (640 AM) is a radio station in Los Angeles, California, owned and operated by iHeartMedia. Amal Alyassiri is a mom of three from Iowa; she is also a Muslim American woman who spent her formative years as an Iraqi refugee before coming to America at age 10 The solid steel truss, originally built in 1948, collapsed upon itself, mostly landing in a parking lot to the north of the site (KFI was relatively late to convert from a horizontal to a vertical antenna—same-market Class A KNX converted to a vertical in 1938, and same-state Class As KGO and KPO (now KNBR) converted to verticals in 1941 and 1949, respectively). The show is billed as "Hosted by Jesus Christ". In other words, it was a hobby. He would move on to top ratings at KIIS-fm and WOGL-fm in Philadelphia. Neil Saavedra Net Worth is $9 Million Neil Saavedra Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018 Neil Saavedra is an actor, known for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner (2004). Wilson, its short history lasted only about five years on 105.9. As a matter of practice, Saavedra refers to himself as "your holy host" and God as "my father," asks that people pray "to me," and that "the way to salvation is through belief in my sacrifice." In the early-1980s, KFI began broadcasting in stereo, with the C-QUAM system (continued until January 2000) [1]. By day, its signal can be heard throughout all of Southern California and at night, it can be picked up throughout the western segment of North America. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his "Fireside Chats" broadcasting from the White House, used NBC and KFI to reassure the public that everything was safe and under control. Neil Saavedra lives in Lake Forest, CA; previous city include Huntington Beach CA. Work was conducted at the site on November 19, 2006, temporarily interrupting a broadcast of Leo Laporte's talk show KFI Tech Guy at 11:55 a.m.[15]. In November 1926, NBC was incorporated. One station would operate on this frequency for a period of time. People were glued to their radio receivers and KFI during this time to get news, any news, no matter how small, concerning the outcome of the war, the safety of themselves, their families, and their country. Within the first year Dave left abruptly for crosstown Top Forty rocker KTNQ (Ten-Q). In 1948, the "T" antenna was replaced by a 722-foot vertical tower and a 200-foot emergency vertical tower, as long before vertical antennas had been determined to be superior to "T" antennas for high-powered stations, although 195 degrees (which would be 828-feet on 640 kHz) would have been optimum. As the programming improved and more money became available, the station was moved to his Packard automobile dealership building, formerly located at Tenth and Hope Streets in Los Angeles, with a "T" antenna mounted on its roof between two short towers. It’s eventually how I got my show Saturday nights on KFI 640. The E.C.A. This page was last edited on 31 January 2021, at 09:19. By Victor Wright Jul 27, 2019.