Robert S. Kieve was born in New Jersey and worked at the campus radio station while attending Harvard University. After graduation in 1943, he worked in the State Department’s Office of War Information in Madrid, helping launch Madrid’s first Top 40 radio station.
His State Department posting led him to a job in the Eisenhower Administration, working as an assistant speechwriter for the President.
Leaving government, Kieve found himself in the radio business in Rochester, NY. When that station was sold, he and a few co-workers thought they’d buy their own radio station. That led Kieve to San Jose, where he and James M. Trayhern, Jr., calling themselves Empire Broadcasting, paid $974,000 to acquire KLIV in 1967.
That started a remarkable run, as Kieve oversaw the station for the next 52 years. KLIV had a brief period of dominance in the San Jose market while broadcasting rock music aimed at a surfer vibe. Future years saw the station struggle to break even financially, but Kieve never lost sight of his desire to keep the station tightly-focused on the Santa Clara Valley.
Over the years, Kieve was known for his editorial messages. Anything that captured his interest could lead to a fresh commentary which always ended with, “This is Robert Kieve, and that’s a personal opinion”.
Kieve was an active member of the San Jose Rotary Club for over 40 years, always attending meetings sporting a hand-knotted bow tie.
Kieve’s Santa Clara Valley radio empire would eventually include three stations. He bought Santa Clara FM station KREP in 1972, changing the call letters to KARA. In 1992, Empire Broadcasting bought Los Gatos-licensed FM station KRTY. KARA was sold in 2002, and KLIV was taken off the air in 2019.
Bob Kieve died in 2020 at age 98.
ADDITIONAL EXHIBITS:
Bob Kieve: A Life In and Out of Broadcasting