Livermore’s KKIQ began as KYTE on May 1, 1969 under the ownership of Peer Broadcasting, headed by Ralph Peer. The call letters were changed to KKIQ in 1975, when the station was acquired by General Broadcasting Company. Tri-Valley Broadcasters, controlled by the Pedotti family, was the next owner, taking over in February 1981.
KKIQ would next be purchased in a 1998 package deal that included Vacaville’s KUIC. The purchasers were two brothers whose family history in Bay Area radio is a long one: John and Jim Levitt. Their father Joe Levitt (BARHOF 2019) had worked at pioneering San Jose station KQW and put KXRX on the air in 1948.
The Levitt brothers, operating under the corporate name Coast Radio (an homage to their father’s chain of radio stores), would add Walnut Creek-licensed KKDV (92.1 FM) to their portfolio and brand all three stations as “Your Hometown Station”.
The KKIQ format focused heavily on the Tri-Valley area and included down-home touches like birthday salutes for listeners and “Teacher of the Month” tributes.
Entering their mid-60’s, the Levitt brothers chose to step away from radio ownership in 2015, selling KKIQ, KUIC and KKDV to Portland-based Alpha Broadcasting.
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