KITS

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For other uses, see Kits (disambiguation).

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"Live 105" redirects here. For the radio station in Halifax, Nova Scotia branded as "Live 105", see CKHY-FM.
KITS
KITS2005.png
City of license San Francisco, California
Broadcast area San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, California
Branding Live 105
Slogan Everything Alternative
Frequency 105.3 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date December 28, 1959 (as KBCO)
June 1, 1964 (as KBRG)
February 1983 (as KITS with CHR/Pop, became a modern rock station in 1986)
Format Modern Rock
HD2: Indie rock "Indie 105"
ERP 15,000 watts
HAAT 366 meters
Class B
Facility ID 18510
Callsign meaning Hot HITS (when they were CHR)
Former callsigns KBCO (1959-1964)
KBRG (1964–1983)
Affiliations Westwood One
Oakland Raiders
Owner CBS Radio
(CBS Radio East Inc.)
Sister stations KCBS, KFRC-FM, KLLC, KMVQ-FM, KZDG
also part of CBS Corp. cluster: KPIX-TV and KBCW
Webcast Listen Live
Listen Live (HD2)
Website live105.com

KITS ("Live 105") is a San Francisco, California, USA-based radio station broadcasting at 105.3 MHz. The station is owned by CBS Radio and programs a modern rock format. The station also broadcasts on HD channel L2, locally on Comcast cable channel 986, and is streaming online. The station transmits its signal from San Bruno Mountains, while studios are located in the SoMa district of San Francisco.

History

Hot Hits

The station's original call letters were KBCO from its sign-on on December 28, 1959 to 1964. On June 1, 1964 the station changed their call letters to KBRG. The KITS call letters arrived in February 1983 when the station adopted radio consultant Mike Joseph's Hot Hits Top-40 music format. Seven air personalities were recruited during a nationwide search from stations such as XETRA Tijuana, Mexico, Q104 Kansas City, 92x Columbus, Ohio, and WCAU-FM Philadelphia. The transplanted jocks underwent a "broadcasting bootcamp" for two weeks prior to launching the new Hot Hits format. Radio personality Doug Ritter (Doug Ritterling) was the first Disc Jockey on the air (at 9am on February 27, 1983), transitioning KBRG-FM from its Spanish format to Hot Hits.

The station was referred to as "Hot Hits KITS" and followed the formula of a very short playlist with heavy repetition and fast-talking air personalities. The original DJ lineup on 105 KITS consisted of program director Jeff Hunter 6–9am, followed by Doug Ritter 9am–12pm, Gary Robbins 12–3pm, Todd Parker 3–7pm, Richard Sands 7–midnight, and Rick Neal (George Fryer) midnight–6am, Mark Van Gelder was 105 KITS first Production Director, 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.

A modest ratings success, KITS fought off competition from the legendary AM CHR station, KFRC (which changed format to big bands in 1986), as well as KMEL-FM, which had switched from album-oriented rock to CHR in 1984. 105 KITS was, for a while, the darling of the Jet Set; daily visits were common from movie celebrities such as Bette Midler, Tom Cruise, Pat Morita, George Takei, Anthony Perkins and others.[citation needed] The celebs didn't usually make it on the air, but they toured the studios in San Francisco's Merchandise Mart just to see what the industry buzz was all about.

Modern rock

1985–1997

The band Icicle Works visits with DJ Steve Masters in the Live 105 radio studio in San Francisco, California - 1987

Modern rock station KQAK "The Quake" changed formats in 1985, and fans of the station were eager for another station to pick up the format. During this time, on-air personality Steve Masters began experimenting with modern rock on his evening show and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive.[citation needed]

Over time, KITS dropped the "Hot Hits" approach and remained a mainstream CHR station, but began a gradual musical shift, incorporating modern rock songs into their Top 40 playlist. By October 1986, KITS had completely dropped the pop artists from the playlist and became a pure modern rock station. The station's new moniker became "Live 105" under program director Richard Sands and music director Steve Masters.

The music ranged from mainstream alternative rock, imports, dance music, and even classic songs from pioneering artists such as Lou Reed, David Bowie and T-Rex. Live 105 became a major influence on the format, and sole source of radio exposure for such artists in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Live 105/KITS DJ Steve Masters with Neil Finn of Crowded House, at the station's offices, in April 1987.

The airstaff lineup remained relatively stable from 1986 through 1997, and included Masters, Big Rick Stuart, Mark Hamilton, Roland West, and Alex Bennett & Lori Thompson in the morning. Bennett was let go from the station briefly in 1989 and replaced by Perry Stone, as Live 105 attempted a 'more music' approach in the morning. This proved to be a failure, and Bennett, who briefly went to WIOD in Miami, Florida, was brought back.

Hamilton left in 1994 to accept the program director job at KNRK in Portland, Oregon, and Steve Masters departed soon after to take a Promotion job at MCA's new alternative label, WAY COOL. Roland West then moved from night to middays and took over the music director position, eventually becoming the Assistant Program director. Aaron Axelsen, then assistant music director, become the music director and host of specialty programs "Sound Check" and "Subsonic." The station also ran Hibernia Beach LIVE, a gay-themed radio call-in show, from 1989 to 1999.

The modern rock format changed nationwide by the 1990s, moving away from the dance-heavy European sound to a harder direction with artists like Nirvana and Soundgarden, and Live 105 began incorporating it into their sound. After numerous years of success, ratings for Live 105 began to dip during the late '90s, as Infinity Broadcasting's KOME in San Jose switched to a harder modern rock sound. KOME had great success in the ratings and managed to even beat Live 105 with the Howard Stern morning show and its guitar-driven music format, as opposed to the more British, euro-based music Live 105 had carved a niche with.

1997–2005

On March 11, 1997, owner Entercom sold the station to Infinity Broadcasting (later CBS Radio). After the sale to Infinity, on June 1, 1998, the big shakeup occurred. Stern's morning show, KOME's management and programming staff, and a few on-air personalities were brought up from San Jose to take over Live 105. KOME was eventually sold to Jacor, which moved KUFX to the 98.5 frequency and the KOME call letters were "parked" on an AM station in Fort Worth, Texas. Program director Richard Sands, assistant program director/midday host Roland West, and the relatively new morning team of Johnny Steele & Lori Thompson were all dismissed. KOME's program director, Jay Taylor, assumed programming duties at the new Live 105, and Ally Storm and No-Name moved into middays and nights, respectively. The syndicated call-in advice show, Loveline, was also brought to Live 105 as its late-night program. Big Rick Stuart continued in afternoons until being let go in 2000, severing the last remaining thread to the original incarnation of Live 105, though Steve Masters returned briefly to host a midday specialty show.

By the end of 2001, Live 105 had drastically lost listeners due to the generally unpopular music assortment that was being played, which included heavier amounts of hip hop and heavy metal. Toward the middle of 2002, the station hired Sean Demery (formerly of 99X in Atlanta) as Program Director in hopes of bringing back listeners and refocused on core alternative rock artists, more popular hits, and established artists, playing a mix of critically acclaimed artists from The Cure, The Pixies, Depeche Mode, The Clash and current artists like Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, and The Killers. The station regained its reputation as a leader in new music and respect among many industry types, winning numerous awards for creativity and playing new bands before national support. Muse, The Bravery, Silversun Pickups, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs were amongst the popular bands which enjoyed huge success after early support from Live 105.

2005-present

Howard Stern ended his syndicated morning show in December 2005, and departed for Sirius Satellite Radio. In response, CBS Radio flipped the majority of its Alternative-formatted radio stations to an all-talk format known as Free FM. Live 105 was allowed to keep its music format, and thus decided to go in a music-oriented direction for its subsequent morning show, The Woody Show (originally The Morning Music Co-op, then The Woody, Tony and Ravey Show), hosted by Jeff "Woody" Fife, Tony Mott, and Renee Ravey, with producer Greg Gory and asst. producer "White Menace". Woody, Tony, and Ravey had previously worked afternoons on Chicago alternative rock station WKQX. The show made its debut on January 3, 2006.[1] A successful run ensued, as the show retained many of the original listeners from Howard Stern. In November 2006, the station hired a new Program Director, Dave Numme, who was already programming KUFO in Portland, another station owned by the CBS Radio.[2]

Originally thought to be an April Fool's joke, The Woody Show was taken off the air on April 1, 2009 and subsequently confirmed that several members of the program were fired by CBS Radio management. On April 20, 2009, it was announced that No Name, the former radio morning show co-host on Alice 97.3 and former night jock of KITS in the late 90s and early 00s, would host the Live 105 morning show, known as The No Name Show, originally with Greg Gory and Katie. Greg Gory was fired from Live 105 on July 16, 2009, with Matty Staudt taking over producer duties. Staudt and No Name had worked together at KLLC for numerous years; however, the morning show was unable to gain traction in the ratings and Staudt was let go after one year. In October 2009, Dave Numme was released from his position as Program Director and the programming reins given to CBS Radio San Francisco VP of Programming, Michael Martin.

On March 30, 2010, the Oakland Raiders announced a multi-year agreement for Live 105 and its sister station, KFRC (now KZDG) to broadcast play-by-play coverage of the team’s pre-season, regular season and post-season games.[3]

In December 2010, the majority of the on-air staff was overhauled by management. The most notable of the changes was airing the syndicated Kevin and Bean show, originating from sister station KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, as the new morning drive program (5:30–10AM) beginning January 3, 2011. As a result, the No Name Show was broken up as sidekick/traffic reporter Katie was released from the station and No Name was moved from mornings to afternoons, displacing long-time afternoon host Jared Aman.[4] Midday host Kat was also released from the station as part of the changes.

On September 3, 2011, the Kevin and Bean show was dropped in favor of a music-intensive morning show. The duo was subsequently dropped [5] from its syndicator, Westwood One, due to the loss of outlets carrying the show.

Shortly after the dropping of Kevin and Bean in 2011, "Menace", formerly of The Woody Show, took over morning show hosting duties, and in August 2012, formed "Megan and Menace" in the morning. By December, Megan moved back to her previous midday shift, and in April 2013, Steve Masters returned to the station to host the morning show. In December 2013, Steve Masters left the station.

A brand new morning show, Kevin Klein Live, debuted on September 2 of 2014.[6] It is currently still on the air. Host Kevin Klein previously worked[7] at Playboy Radio. He is not related to the actor or the hockey player, both of whom have the same name. Kevin is also a compulsive gambler, which has resulted in many bets made live on the show. One loss resulted in Klein having to pose for an erotic photo-shoot[8] with cats and kale, two things he hates. Co-host Ally Johnson is a Bay Area native with a background in comedy.[9] The show has received press coverage for events, including a flash mob parade for competitive eating champion Matt Stonie[10] and campaign to rid San Francisco of selfie sticks.[11] Some of their most notable interviews include Drew Barrymore,[12] Dave Grohl,[13] Ronda Rousey,[14] and Lisa Johnson, an African-American woman who made headlines after getting kicked off[15] the Napa Wine Train.

Concerts

Live 105 hosts two major concerts every year. BFD has traditionally place at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California in June. This festival-style concert runs 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. It has since hosted bands which went on to platinum-album status such as AFI, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The White Stripes, Blink 182, Hole, The Killers, The Strokes, 311, Third Eye Blind, the 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 is Not So Silent Night, formerly known as the Green Christmas Ball and Electronica Hanukkah, occurs in early December, 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.

In 2009, Live 105 added a third annual concert - Subsonic Halloween Spookfest. This concert debuted on October 30, 2009 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. The Halloween-themed concert featured three stages of entertainment. Performers have included The Faint, Basement Jaxx, Crystal Method, DJ Steve Aoki, Crystal Castles, MSTRKRFT, Underworld, DJ Shadow, and many other electronic and rock artists that are regularly featured on the station's Saturday night show, Subsonic.

Awards

Live 105 won Billboard Magazine's award for Radio Station Of The Year - Rock in 1989.

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, DC.[16]

Various members of the LIVE 105 programming and airstaff have also received individual awards for contributions to the station. Ex-Program Directors, Richard Sands and Sean Demery were awarded "Program Director of the Year" by various trade magazines, as well as current Music Director and DJ Aaron Axelsen, who received the "Best Terrestrial Radio DJ in San Francisco" award from the weekly publication SF Guardian in 2009.

References

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External links

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