KYLD
| Broadcast area | San Francisco Bay Area |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 94.9 |
| Branding | "WiLD 94.9" |
| Programming | |
| Format | Rhythmic Top 40 |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Clear Channel Communications |
| KIOI, KISQ, KKGN, KKSF, KMEL, KNEW | |
| History | |
First air date | 1966 |
Former call signs | KSAN (1966-1997) |
Call sign meaning | YLD = Wild |
| Technical information | |
| ERP | 30,000 watts |
KYLD is a commercial radio station in San Francisco, California, serving the San Francisco Bay Area on 94.9 FM. The station airs a rhythmic Top 40 music format on its analog primary signal.
In January 2006, KYLD added a HD Radio subcarrier, "WiLD en Espanol", which had targeted a Hispanic audience with a commercial-free, jockless Rhythmic Dance format, but in 2007 it was replaced by "FuZiC", which offers a format focusing on future hit music.
History
The 94.9 MHz signed on in the 1940s with the KFSH call letters.[1]
The "original" KSAN
This station was home to legendary freeform rock station KSAN from 1968 until 1980, when they switched to country music. The KSAN call letters eventually went to 107.7 FM in a frequency swap that brought KYLD to 94.9.
KSOL
In the 1970s, an Urban/R&B station operated on 107.7 and was known as KSOL (K-Soul). It was successful for years until 1988 when the station's ratings began to slip due to competition from KMEL, then a Top 40 station which was slowly evolving in a rhythmic direction.
WiLD 107
KYLD originally started their current format at 107.7 (licensed to San Mateo, California when owned by United Broadcasting in 1992. The call letters at the time were KSOL. Allen Shaw's Crescent Communications bought KSOL (Wild 107) in December 1993 and changed KSOL's call letters to KYLD the following year. They also purchased 99.1 in San Jose from Viacom, and began simulcasting 107.7's programming in the South Bay, in order to help fill out 107.7 FM's frequency limitations. When changing formats from KSOL to WiLD 107 the station played "Wild Thing" by Tone Loc for 3 days straight. Program Director Rick Thomas and Music Director Michael Martin were the original team that attempted to dethrone KMEL. They came with a strategy of playing "old school" and up tempo freestyle/dance songs like those heard on Heritage San Jose radio station HOT 97.7. Of course, KMEL finally settled in on the urban contemporary format at the same time, and that station and KYLD battled with each other throughout the mid-1990s.
Since 1997
In the summer of 1997, KYLD switched frequencies from 107.7 to 94.9 giving it more signal coverage. The station's music mix includes current R&B/Hip-Hop, Dance, and some mainstream/rhythmic pop product, along with radio personalities and mixers. In the wake of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, KYLD was sold that year to Chancellor Media. The move eliminated the ongoing competition with now-sister station KMEL; KMEL maintained its audience approach and format, while KYLD relinquished its rhythmic format to go in a mainstream direction as the market has no Top 40/Pop station of it's own (KZQZ was the last CHR/Top 40 station in The Bay Area. It stopped in 2002 for a classic hits format. After years of broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area's African-American residents as KSOL and KYLD (during the ratings wars with KMEL), it is now targeting mainly Latino youths. While KYLD often ranks behind KMEL in Arbitron ratings in the San Francisco-Oakland market, it indeed ranks ahead of KMEL in the San Jose market.
Personalities
Some previous air personalities in KYLD's history include Mancow Muller and The Doghouse.
KYLD-HD
KYLD-HD, AKA "FuZic", is a HD2 subcarrier of KYLD. The station began broadcasting as "WiLD en Espanol" on January 19, 2006, offering a commercial-free, jockless Rhythmic/Dance Top 40 format targeting a bilingual Hispanic audience. In early 2007 it was replaced by a new format, the brainchild of Program Director "Jazzy Jim", which focuses on future hit music, thus the name "FuZiC". It's a unique blend of Unsigned Artists and Independent Label releases along side "Album Cuts" from Established Superstar Artists and "Foundation Songs" (tracks that gave much inspiration to today's music). FUZIC is also the only Bay Area HD-2 Channel to have "Jocks" and "Mix-Shows". In 2007 they we're nominated for Top HD-2 Channel in the U.S.