KTYM-FM On February 14, 1958, the station signed on as KTYM-FM. In its early days, 103.9 mostly simulcast co-owned
KTYM (AM 1460), and both stations were owned by Al J. Williams. Because KTYM was then a
daytimer, required to be off the air at night, programming continued in the evening on KTYM-FM. In 1961, KTYM-FM began targeting Los Angeles'
African-American community at night with
R&B and
soul music. The first black Operations Manager on Los Angeles FM radio was Charles (Chuck) Johnson and Lonnie Cook was the first African-American program director on an FM station. KTYM-FM carried the AM station's programming by day, then from sunset to midnight, the station aired black programming. Johnson had been a popular
disc jockey at
KPRS in
Kansas City, and Cook was also from Kansas City. The format included R&B,
Doo Wop, and
Blues. Floyd Ray, the owner of the first black Los Angeles record distributor and former
big band leader, hosted one of the shows. Ron Johnson was the lone white DJ. At midnight, just before
sign-off, the station played "Sugarloaf at Twilight" by Ahmad Jamal, Lonnie Cook doubled as a station engineer. Many future celebrities made their debuts on the station including a police officer who would soon be the Mayor of Los Angeles,
Tom Bradley. LaMonte McLemore was a member of The Intervals (the Doo Wop group that represented the station at promotional functions) and was the station photographer. He was the photographer of the center page models in
Jet magazine and later was one of
The 5th Dimension. KTYM-FM was noted for its independent approach to programming, and many times refused to air the designated "A" side of a record. It even played tunes like "Your Old Lady" by
The Isley Brothers which had been banned from airplay in 1961. Cook featured the Doo Wop "B" side "Write to Me".
AM 1230 KGFJ's Larry McCormick (brother to lead singer Charles from
Bloodstone) heard the station making noise and getting attention with "Your Old Lady" and added it to his playlist and to his televised dance show. When Atlantic Records got calls for the
45 rpm record, the record label put it back on the market, earning a new hit song.
KAGB-FM and KACE In 1973,
Clarence Avant's Avant Garde Broadcasting acquired KTYM-FM and changed the call letters to KAGB-FM. For the next 28 years, 103.9 FM, which became KACE in 1976, played
urban contemporary music. It became one of the premier stations for African American listeners in the Los Angeles area. In 1977, after Avant Gardé was put into receivership, All Pro Broadcasting, owned by former
Green Bay Packers defensive end Willie Davis and his wife Ann, acquired the newly renamed KACE. Some of the air personalities included Steve Woods, Lawrence Tanter, Pam Wells, Lisa Lipps, Ken Taylor, Hamilton Cloud, E.Z. Wiggins, Karla with a K, Mark Gunne, Antoinette Russell, Tommy T. (Thomas Turner) with Mike Mann, and Rico Reedie, along with news and public affairs personalities that included Ron Dungee, Sam Putineye, Mark Whitelocke, Isidra Person-Lynnie and
Kevin A. Ross. For a three-year period, between 1988 and 1990, the station featured nightclub-formatted music mix shows for six days a week, with Southern California club DJ Elvin Bridges. In addition to being an on-air personality, Bridges created and produced his own weekday music mix show that aired during the afternoon rush hour he coined "Bumper To Bumper - In The Mix with Elvin Bridges", plus a weekly three-hour Saturday night party music mix show. "Let's Talk", "Speak Out", "Sunday Morning Live" and "The People's Connection" were popular community affairs talk shows. Production director Mark Drummond was also assistant program director during the Cox ownership years, and later worked on the production staffs at
KFI. KACE experimented with a hip-hop format in 1993 as "The People's Station, The New V103.9." Because KACE was powered at only 3,000 watts, it added an
Inland Empire simulcast, KAEV, which also broadcast at 103.9 FM (now
KHTI). However, the hip hop music was scaled back in October of that same year; Davis' company, responding to the political and social backlash against hip hop, announced a prohibition of the words "
bitch," "
ho," and "
nigger" on air, and shifted to a "Positive Urban" format. However, this lowered ratings significantly. Davis flipped KACE to
urban oldies and ended the simulcast with KAEV, switching it to
modern rock as KCXX. (Another local station,
KPWR, also banned the words, but did not change its
rhythmic contemporary format.) In 1994, KACE was sold to
Cox Radio for $11.3 million. Cox was then also the owner of KFI and
KOST. ==History of 98.3==