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KROQ-FM is a commercial radio station located in Los Angeles, California, broadcasting on 106.7 FM to the greater Los Angeles area. KROQ-FM airs a modern rock music format branded as "106.7 K-Rock". The call sign is pronounced "kay rock."
HistoryImage:KROQ-10.gif KROQ logos through the years KPPCOriginally, 106.7 FM was KPPC, owned by the Pasadena Presbyterian Church. They broadcast religious programming with a co-owned AM station. As the church encountered difficulties operating the stations, they sold the two stations to an outside company, Crosby-Avery Broadcasting, with the church retaining the right to broadcast its services over both stations. Until 1969, the station still broadcasted from the basement of the church.
The following year, after a few bounced paychecks, dress code regulations and other rules changes, The Donahues and the disc jockeys at both KMPX and KPPC walked out on the stations in what was called by some at the time as "The Great Hippie Strike." The former KMPX and KPPC staffers were later hired at Metromedia-owned KSAN in San Francisco and KMET in Los Angeles. KPPC hired new staffers and kept the freeform format, though they floundered for several years following the strike. In 1969, the two stations were sold to the National Science Network. In April 1970, the studios were moved out of the church basement. In September of that year, the FM transmitter was moved to Flint Peak, a mountaintop adjacent to Pasadena, and the station's power was significantly upgraded.
KROQ-AM and KROQ-FMCountry music station KBBQ (1500 AM) in Burbank became KROQ in September 1972, changing its format to Top-40 and hiring established disc jockeys from other stations. The new KROQ called itself the "ROQ of Los Angeles". In 1973 KROQ's owners bought the struggling KPPC-FM from National Science Network, which was forced by the FCC to sell their stations due to compliance issues 1. The FM station's call letters were changed to KROQ-FM and hired Shadoe Stevens to create a new rock format described as high energy "all-cutting-edge-rock-all-the-time" and began simulcasting as "The ROQs of L.A.: Mother Rock!" (KPPC (AM) was sold to Universal Broadcasting, and remained on the air with its limited-schedule of Wednesday evening and Sunday operation until subsequent owners took the station — by then, KBLV — off the air permanently in 1996.)
The management of KROQ once again had problems maintaining payroll, and the staffers again quit, taking all of the station's records with them. Bingenheimer was the only one who stayed. KROQ scrambled to find new air personalities. One of the new on-air talents was Jed Gould, aka Jed the Fish, who is still with the station. Around this time, the owners pared down to one station when they sold the weak-signalled KROQ-AM, which switched to an ethnic format briefly, then went off the air in 1986 when the new owners lost their lease on the property where the transmitting towers were located. By 1978, new wave and punk rock were becoming increasingly popular, and KROQ started adding more of it to their freeform format. Program director Rick Carroll arrived at the station in 1979 and took the new music and combined it with a Top 40 formatic structure. Subsequently, KROQ became an instant success. The "Rock of the Eighties" was born. The station still mixed the new music of the Talking Heads and Blondie with established artists such as The Rolling Stones, AC/DC and Lynyrd Skynyrd, but by 1982, the station was full-fledged modern rock. The station's proximity to Hollywood and the Los Angeles punk rock scene gave it a unique place in the development of the new wave and alternative rock genres, and KROQ quickly became one of the most influential radio stations in broadcast history, particularly when Carroll, as a consultant, took the "Rock of the 80s" format to other stations, including 91X in San Diego and The Quake in San Francisco. Over the years, KROQ had a unique place in the development of popular music, promoting groups as diverse as the The Cure, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Coldplay, Duran Duran, Franz Ferdinand and Nirvana. In 1986, KROQ was purchased at a then record $45 million by Infinity Broadcasting, which merged with CBS in 1997, and is now owned by CBS Radio. KROQ todayOriginally located at 117 S. Los Robles Avenue in Pasadena, California, the station moved to 3500 W. Olive Avenue in Burbank, California in 1987 as part of the purchase agreement and to be closer to the music industry. In 2002, the station was moved to a facility at 5901 Venice Blvd. in Los Angeles, California to consolidate operations with K-Earth. Unlike most other (Class C) FM stations in Los Angeles whose transmitters are atop Mount Wilson, KROQ's (Class B) transmitter is located on Verdugo Peak in Glendale at an altitude of 2500 feet, which results in somewhat weaker signal coverage. KROQ-HDIn 2004, KROQ began broadcasting in High Definition Radio for a higher quality broadcast. On February 20th, 2006, KROQ added streaming music from the radio station to their website. KROQ-HD2On June 9, 2006, KROQ launched an HD sub-carrier, KROQ HD Channel 2, which now replicates the original Roq of the Eighties format. This somewhat justified the dropping of the long-running Flashback Lunch, until then nearly the sole remnant of the new wave and '90s modern rock days. PersonalitiesThe early success of the radio station can be attributed to the station's almost anarchic beginnings, playing music that was not being aired anywhere else. The personalities and their willingness to explore and take risks led to the station's success among the young and burgeoning punk and new wave scene of the late-1970s and early-1980s. Rodney on the Roq was the original new music guru, while Richard Blade, Freddy Snakeskin, Dusty Street and Jed the Fish championed the burgeoning UK music scene. The promotion of the Poorman from local surf reporter to full-time air personality reflected KROQ's tradition of occasionally giving airshifts to fans of the radio station. The music and a freewheeling approach appealed to listeners dissatisfied with more traditional local rock stations KMET or KLOS and Top-40 pop stations like KIIS-FM. Thus the need for the term "alternative." Present
Past
Concerts and communities
KROQ-related albums
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