The KDYA call letters have been heard at 1190 on the AM dial since 1998. That’s when Baybridge Communications, which had acquired KXBT from Quick Communications a few months earlier, dropped the Vietnamese-language programming that had been airing on the station.
Baybridge also owned a sister property at 1640 on the AM dial, KDIA (unrelated to the legendary Oakland station that had dropped those call letters in 1997). While the Vallejo iteration of KDIA carried rhythm-and-blues music, Baybridge went for the real soul on KDYA with a gospel music format targeted at the Black church community. General manager Ron Jordan told the San Francisco Chronicle that the station, marketed as “The Light”, was the only full-time gospel music station west of the Rockies.
In 2021, religious broadcaster Salem Media Group paid a reported $600,000 to buy KDYA and KDIA.
