The station signed on the air in November 1968. Its original call sign was KDNO. It was a
Christian radio station with studios and transmitter in Delano. It was later owned by
Richard Palmquist, who purchased the station from Chester Newell in 1970. Adopting the slogan
Uplift 98.5, the station was on the air until Palmquist sold it in 1997 to Mondosphere Corporation and went into retirement. Today, the KDNO call letters belong to a station in
Wyoming. At that point, KDNO was owned by a California Corporation, Tape Networks Inc., founded by Palmquist when he was a broadcast consultant in the Los Angeles area. After building KDNO for a client, that owner's bank loan was withdrawn. Palmquist arranged for his friend Chester Newell to purchase the station, and Palmquist became the manager. Later, Newell sold the station to Tape Networks, Inc. Palmquist raised the purchase price by soliciting donations from KDNO listeners. The station, however, was devoted to ministry rather than revenue, so to supplement his income Palmquist purchased the Pixley Enterprise Newspaper and later the Terra Bella News. He merged them to form the "Enterprise News," and the newspaper became commercially successful, thus helping to support the radio ministry. After two unsuccessful efforts to sell the newspaper, Palmquist closed that business in 1993 to concentrate on improving the radio station's music and Bible teaching ministry. However, income from listener support, though supporting current expenses, could not pay off the half million dollar long term debt on the station. When Palmquist reached retirement age, he sold the station to honor his obligation to those who had helped purchase and build the station. After the sale of KDNO, Palmquist transferred much of the KDNO programming to an online format: www.truthradio.com and www.truthradio.info. After Mondosphere took over, the station was downgraded from a class B at 50,000 watts to its current 8,000 watt power. The transmitter was moved to the same tower now used by 105.3
KBFP-FM, a site closer to Bakersfield. It was known as
Star 98.5 KKDJ and was an
oldies and
classic hits station. Its
playlist was made up of hits from the late 1960s, 70s and early 80s. In 1998, a frequency switch was arranged.
KKDJ moved to 105.3 FM and KSMJ moved to 98.5 FM. The station then was known as
Smooth Jazz 98.5 KSMJ. It played a
smooth jazz format of mostly instrumental jazz hits with some
R&B and
soft rock vocals. On March 24, 2000, the smooth jazz format was flipped to a
classic rock. The call letters were later changed to KDFO and the station branded as "98.5 The Fox". (Using a
Fox mascot is popular on a number of classic rock stations around the U.S.) Later in 2000, the station was acquired by
San Antonio-based
Clear Channel Communications. (In 2014, Clear Channel changed its name to iHeartMedia, the current owner.) On February 15, 2008, the call letters
KBKO and the
country music format were briefly moved from
96.5 FM to 98.5 FM in a frequency swap with KDFO where it was branded as "98.5 KBKO". The flip only lasted four months. On June 20, 2008, the two stations were moved back to their previous frequencies. ==References==