February 4 Radio History

In 1935...the CBS Radio Network first aired "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch".


In 1927...KGA-AM, Spokane, Washington began broadcasting.  KGA was a successful country music outlet for most of its life until 1994, when it switched to a news/talk format.

On July 15, 2008, KGA reduced its nighttime power to 15,000 watts, changed its class from Class A to Class B (Class A stations are required to operate at 50,000 watts at all times) and changed its directional antenna system, all so that its sister station KSFN 1510 AM in Piedmont, California, which serves San Francisco could increase its nighttime power to 2,400 watts, up from 230 watts.

KGA 1510 AM (50Kw-D, 15Kw-N) Red=Local Coverage

The justification for this change was gaining several hundred thousand potential listeners in San Francisco while sacrificing a few thousand potential listeners in the Pacific Northwest. The hope for a larger audience did not materialize.

Today, the station airs CBS Sports Radio Network.


In 1940...one of the many Frank and Anne Hummert radio soap operas, ‘Amanda of Honeymoon Hill‘ began it six-year run, the first half on NBC Blue, and then on CBS.



In 1976...Fleetwood Mac released the single "Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win)" in North America.


In 1977…Fleetwood Mac released "Rumours."


In 1978..."Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees peaked at number one on the pop singles chart.


In 1983…Radio announcer (WHN- New York, WQXR-New York, The Chase And Sanborn Hour) Jim Ameche, radio's original Jack Armstrong on "Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy," died of lung cancer at age 67.

He portrayed Alexander Graham Bell in the 1957 film The Story of Mankind, the role his older brother Don had played in the film biography of Bell in 1939. The two brothers' faces and voices were a close match.

In 1992...veteran actor John Dehner died from emphysema & diabetes at age 76.

On radio he had played a succession of bad guys on Gunsmoke, Escape & other dramas, and was the star of two 1950’s westerns, Frontier Gentleman and Have Gun Will Travel.  On television he had recurring roles on The Doris Day Show, Gunsmoke, The Don Knotts Show, The Virginian, The Colbys, Baileys of Balboa, Rawhide, Tales of Wells Fargo, The Winds of War.

In 1996...WYNY 103.5 FM, NYC drops Country.

In September 22, 1988 at 5:30pm, a frequency swap took place between WYNY 97.1 and 103.5. 103.5 became country as WYNY "Country 103.5" and 97.1 became WQHT "Hot 97."

DJ's during this time included Joe Marino, Jim Kerr, Dan Taylor, Kim Ashley, Bill Walker, Del DeMontreux, Jesse Walker, Frank Sata, Bill Rock, and Ray Rossi.

Charlie Cook became the PD in 1992, replaced by Johnny Michaels, Fred Horton, Rusty Walker, and finally Chris Kampmeier (now Operations Manager for iHeartMedia/Orlando).

Country lasted on 103.5 until February 4, 1996 at 6:15pm when it was dropped in favor of resurrecting the old calls of WKTU (which had been on 92.3 in the 1970's and early 1980's - but by this time, the WKTU calls were being used at a station in Ocean City NJ and when WKTU was acquired for 103.5 on February 28, 1996, the Ocean City station switched to WTKU.)

The last song played on WYNY was Garth Brooks', "The Dance."

WKTU now features a Rhythmic/Dance CHR format.


In 2004...11 years ago, Facebook was launched as a social networking Web site limited to Harvard University students.


In 2009...Eddie Schwartz died at age 62. Schwartz worked late night and overnight at WGN 720 AM, Chicago from 1982 to 1992.