The San Francisco Examiner heralded the arrival of KHYD with the words, “booming FM radio gets another Bay Area outlet.” KHYD went on the air in early 1961 with studios at the popular International Kitchen restaurant in the Niles district of Fremont. The 1,000 watt signal emanated from a transmitter site in the Fremont hills.
The licensee was listed as Triumph Broadcasters and here’s why: Russell “Rusty” Hyde (the “HYD” of the call letters) was a well-known importer of the British sports car of that name. His partners were Larry Loughran and another well-known Bay Area figure, Leon “Lee” Crosby. Crosby was a Dixieland jazz promoter who’d arranged live broadcasts on a number of Bay Area stations. He would go on in later years to own San Francisco’s KMPX and, later, KEMO-TV (Channel 20).
Like many of the new FM signals reaching Bay Area listeners in those years, KHYD programming was mostly light classical and show tunes, although Crosby’s beloved Dixieland had a nightly hourlong time slot. Early programming also included the Sunday Public Forum, broadcast from the Gondolier Room bar/restaurant at Newark’s Lido Lanes bowling alley. That program would morph into Signs of the Times Forum, produced and moderated by Fred McManus.
By 1962, KHYD was advertising heavily in the local Fremont newspaper, the News Register, calling attention to newscasts anchored by Tom Hall.
The station was also running classified “Help Wanted” ads headed “Learn Broadcasting”, offering to “train (a) limited number of disc jockeys, announcers, and radio operators, day or night.”
KHYD and its owner showed up in a 1963 News Register item literally headlined “Space Filler”. The piece noted that Hyde, despite an extensive antenna array, was unable to receive the signal of his Fremont radio station at his San Rafael home.
Air talent included Don James, Ron Lewis, Charlie Brown (his 10 AM to 5 PM weekday airshift was referred to as “the longest show in radio”), Tom Anthony and Jim Soars. By late 1963, the station was sprinkling in programs like Saturday Night Dance Party while generally sticking to the “good music” format. It switched to stereo broadcasting in mid-1963, touting its signal as “Ultra-sonic Hi-Fidelity Sound”.
In April 1964, Rusty Hyde (who had acquired 100% ownership of the station) notified the Federal Communications Commission that he was selling KHYD to the Sinasek family of Southern California, operating as Dell Broadcasting. The new owners promptly changed the call letters to KFMR.
Coincidentally, the sale of KHYD was approved the same week as the sale of San Francisco’s AM station KSAN by the Patterson family to Les Malloy and Del Courtney. That station would become KSOL while KHYD’s 94.9 frequency would see many changes before eventually becoming KXSC, which simulcasts KDFC.
