KEST can trace its roots to one of San Francisco’s early radio stations, KGTT. After a couple of false starts, the station licensed to the Glad Tidings Temple (the “GTT” of its call letters) and Bible Institute went on the air November 30, 1925, with a power of 50 watts. Pastor Robert J. Craig served as the station’s manager and announcer. Pastor Craig and Glad Tidings Temple had been a significant presence in San Francisco since 1911.
Federal Communications Commission records show Pastor Craig received approval to change the call letters to KGGC in 1929, with the station’s official licensee now referred to as The Golden Gate Broadcasting Company. The station’s transmitter and studios were moved from the Glad Tidings Temple site on Ellis Street to the Olympic Hotel at 230 Eddy Street in 1937. A year later, the studio location changed to the new Western Furniture Exchange and Merchandise Mart at 1355 Market Street.
From its launch through the Thirties, KGTT/KGCC served as a voice for the evangelism of Pastor Craig. Noted evangelists of the day such as Smith Wigglesworth, Aimee Semple McPherson, and William Booth-Clibborn preached at Glad Tidings Temple.
By 1937, Colorado broadcaster and evangelist Sherwood Patterson had arrived to manage the station, taking over ownership in 1939 and changing the call letters to KSAN. Patterson shifted the format from its religious focus to popular music, presented by disc jockeys.
The KSAN era ended in 1964, when former KSAN DJ Les Malloy and partner Del Courtney, a well-known Bay Area entertainer, bought the station and installed a rhythm-and-blues format under the call letters KSOL.
In 1971, the station changed hands again, finally becoming KEST. Programming was changed to feature mainstream adult-oriented music, despite many complaints from the station’s loyal black listeners. KEST carried middle-of-the-road music, Oakland A’s baseball, Golden State Warriors basketball, and a long-running series of comedy bits called “Freeway Funnies”. The station billed itself as “KEST Theater Of The Air.”
KEST was acquired by Douglas Broadcasting in 1988, beginning an era in which the station offered time-brokered programming in a number of languages. New York-based Multicultural Broadcasting, founded by Taiwanese immigrant Arthur Liu, took over the license in 1995. The majority of programming is in Cantonese or Mandarin.
