KKEE’s life was brief: the call letters occupied the 106.1 FM slot on the Bay Area dial only from October 1972 to September 1973, when the station owned by RKO General switched back to the KFRC-FM calls that had been used between 1961 and 1968.
KKEE aired the syndicated Bonneville Program Service, a “background music” format which replaced the AIR Productions format from Drake-Chenault that had been heard on KKEE predecessor KFMS.
General manager Mark Hurd told the San Francisco Chronicle, “We are not seeking the largest audience in Northern California but rather, that segment of the listeners who want an accompaniment to their thoughts.”
San Francisco Examiner columnist Dwight Newton would capture an example of the essence of that format: “Intones the announcer, ‘We come alone. We go away the same. We are meant to spend the interlude in closeness with our music on KKEE.'”
By the fall of 1973, the KKEE call letters were gone, but the ethereal branding continued. “Music from the backseat of your mind”, promised advertisements for KFRC-FM.
