In July 1960, Franklin Mieuli’s pet radio station KPUP got hip…KHIP.
The new call letters were supposed to reflect a cool new format: jazz. Out went the witty DJ’s, sports, and occasional shows built on old 78 RPM records.
As Broadcasting magazine reported in its July 11, 1960 issue, “With nothing but jazz from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m., KHIP hopes to capitalize on what has been the most popular part of its previous programming. Jimmy Lyons of the Monterey Jazz Festival will conduct a two -hour nightly program and Ralph J. Gleason, author, columnist and jazz authority, will be in charge of a 60- minute show nightly.”
Somebody at KHIP must have been trying to add to the station’s sense of cool; newspaper programming listings consistently show the station at 107.0 FM instead of its assigned 106.9 (FM channel 295 was then and is now at 106.9 MHz).
Two years later, on July 1, 1962, Mieuli sold KHIP to Leon A. (Lee) Crosby. Mr. Crosby had previously owned Hayward’s KHYD. After putting up the selling price of $146,000 and receiving Federal Communications Commission approval, Crosby changed the call letters to KMPX in mid-August 1962.
The new call letters came with new studios at 1212 Columbus Street in San Francisco: for the first time, the station was broadcasting in multiplex stereo.
