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 went all-in on a rhythm-and-blues format under the call letters KSOL. Malloy ceded the battle for the Bay Area’s soul music audience to Oakland’s KDIA in September 1970, laying off the air staff and changing the format.
In early 1971, the station became KEST. Programming was changed to feature mainstream adult-oriented music, despite many complaints from the station’s loyal black listeners. KEST quickly grabbed former KSFO host Jack Carney, signing him to a reported $125,000 annual deal to handle the morning show.
KEST billed itself as “KEST Theater of the Air”. It was known for 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’s relatively weak signal meant large numbers of sports fans were unable to hear those A’s and Warriors broadcasts. Freeway Funnies, voice-tracked by Malloy, would hold down the 4 PM to 6 PM “afternoon drive” slot until 1990, when it was replaced by Korean-language programming.
Malloy and Courtney held onto the station until 1976, when they sold to a group led by Marvin Kosofsky and members of his family for $1.2 million. The group owned three small-market stations in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.
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.
