California Radio Dial 1928

by David Ricquish

It’s hard to imagine that within living memory, California once had only a little over 50 radio stations on the air. There was no FM radio and TV was also in the future. Hollywood had just introduced ‘The Talkies’, movies with sound. That’s California in 1928, when the population of the San Francisco-Bay area was about 1.5m and that of greater Los Angeles only 2m.

The radio dial stopped at 1500 AM, there were no radio stations broadcasting north of San Francisco and only one station was on the air in the state capitol [Sacramento] which then had a population of just 100,000 people. There were still orange groves in Orange County.

Almost half of the stations were located within the Los Angeles metro area alone, including one of the two strongest signals on the Californian radio dial, KFI 640 AM. At the time, KFI had regular listeners as far away across the Pacific as New Zealand, where radio magazines even published its program details and where older listeners still remember the KFI call.

The Los Angeles County Forestry Department had its own station [KFPR]. Newspaper owners included KMJ Fresno [Fresno Bee], KLX Oakland [Oakland Tribune], KPO San Francisco [San Francisco Chronicle] and KPSN Pasadena [Pasadena Star News].

Warner Brothers [the movie boys] operated KFWB in Hollywood, and another set of unrelated Warner Brothers owned KLS in Oakland. A small chain [KFRC San Francisco and KHJ Los Angeles] was owned by Don Lee Inc.

Religious broadcasters included the Echo Park Evangelistic Assoc [KFSG Los Angeles], Trinity Methodist Church [KGEF Los Angeles], Glad Tidings Temple & Bible Institute [KGTT San Francisco], Pasadena Presbyterian Church [KPPC Pasadena], First Baptist Church [KQW San Jose], First Congregational Church [KRE Berkeley] and the Bible Institute of Los Angeles [KTBI Los Angeles].

In 1928, the Californian radio dial was orderly, in stark contrast to the earlier years of the ‘Roaring 20’s’ when stations broadcast atop of each other in an unregulated and chaotic period of early experimentation with this fantastic new entertainment medium.

Just a few of these heritage radio stations remain today, still using the same calls that for 80 years have entertained, informed and provided friendly company to many generations of Californians. Most of these stations have simply faded away into silence, leaving just memories of old time radio, the performers, the stars, the sports and the music.

This reflection on the California Radio Dial in 1928 is dedicated to all those involved in bringing radio into the homes and hearts of millions of Californians since then.

Frequency	Call-Sign	Location	Owner	Transmitter Power [kW]
560	KFBK	Sacramento	Kimball-Upson Co.	0.1
570	KMTR	Los Angeles	KMTR Radio Corporation	0.5
590	KLX	Oakland	Oakland Tribune	0.5
640	KFI	Los Angeles	Earle C Anthony Inc.	5
660	KFRC	San Francisco	Don Lee Inc.	1
680	KFSD	San Diego	Airfan Radio Corporation	0.5
710	KPO	San Francisco	Hale Bros. & The Chronicle	1
720	KHJ	Los Angeles	Don Lee Inc.	0.5

780	KGO	San Francisco	General Electric Co.	5
800	KNRC	Santa Monica	Clarence B Juneau	0.5
820	KMJ	Fresno	Fresno Bee	0.05
830	KFWB	Los Angeles	Warner Bros. Broadcasting Corporation	0.5
870	KWG	Stockton	Portable Wireless Telephone Co.	0.05
890	KNX	Los Angeles	Western Broadcast Co.	0.5
950	KPSN	Pasadena	Pasadena Star News	1
970	KYA	San Francisco	Pacific Broadcasting Corporation	0.5
1000	KFWO	Avalon	Lawrence Mott	0.25
1010	KQW	San Jose	First Baptist Church	0.5
1040	KTBI	Los Angeles	Bible Institute of Los Angeles	0.5
1070	KTAB	Oakland	Associated Broadcasters	0.5
1090	KFSG	Los Angeles	Echo Park Evangelistic Assoc.	0.5
1100	KSMR	Santa Maria	Santa Maria Valley Rail Road Co.	0.1
1120	KFWI	San Francisco	Radio Entertainments Inc.	0.5
1140	KGEF	Los Angeles	Trinity Methodist Church	0.5
1170	KRE	Berkeley	First Congregational Church	0.1
1170	KFUS	Oakland	Louis L Sherman	0.05
1190	KPLA	Los Angeles	Pacific Development Radio Co.	0.5
1200	KFQU	Alma	WE Riker	0.1
1210	KFBC	San Diego	Arthur W Yale	0.1
1220	KLS	Oakland	Warner Bros.	0.25
1220	KZM	Oakland	Preston D Allen	0.1
1240	KFON	Long Beach	Nichols & Warinner Inc.	0.5
1270	KFWM	Oakland	Oakland Educational Society	1.0/0.5

1290	KFQZ	Hollywood	Taft Radio & Broadcasting Co.	0.1
1290	KFPR	Los Angeles	Los Angeles County Forestry Department	0.25
1310	KELW	Burbank	Earl L White	1.0/0.5
1310	KPPC	Pasadena	Pasadena Presbyterian Church	0.05
1330	KGEN	El Centro	ER Irey & FM Bowles	0.015
1340	KMIC	Inglewood	James R Fouch	0.25
1340	KGFH	La Crescenta	Frederick Robinson	0.25
1350	KFWC	Ontario	Lawrence E Wall	0.1
1350	KWTC	Santa Ana	Dr John W Hancock	0.1
1360	KJBS	San Francisco	Julius Brunton & Sons Co.	0.05
1380	KGDM	Stockton	EF Peffer	0.01
1390	KGER	Long Beach	C Merwin Dobyns	0.1
1390	KRLO	Los Angeles	Freeman Lang & AB Scott	0.25
1410	KGGH	Cedar Grove	Bates Radio & Electric Co.	0.05
1420	KFCR	Santa Barbara	Santa Barbara Broadcasting Co.	0.05
1440	KGFJ	Los Angeles	Ben S McGlashan	0.1
1440	KFVD	San Pedro	WJ & CI McWhinnie	0.25
1450	KGTT	San Francisco	Glad Tidings Temple & Bible Institute	0.05
1470	KGFO	Los Angeles	Brant Radio Power Co.	0.1
1470	KHAC	San Francisco	Flying Broadcasters Inc.	0.05

KFSG LA 4 Square Gospel

Los Angeles Changes Calls KFVD-KPOP-KGBS-KTNQ

KELW Burbank