KLOK went on the air on October 13, 1946. Founder E.L. Barker marked the occasion by taking the microphone for a broadcast called “Birth of a Station”.
At the outset, KLOK’s license permitted daytime-only operation with a signal strength of 5,000 watts. The Federal Communications Commission granted permission for nighttime operation in 1952. By 1964, KLOK was transmitting at 10,000 watts of power during daytime hours and 5,000 watts of power at night. On August 10, 1969 KLOK became the first Santa Clara County AM station to broadcast with the legal maximum of 50,000 watts of daytime power.
Early programming included a mix of local and syndicated shows. “Bashful Bob” McKenzie drew attention from Cashbox magazine in 1951 for playing a healthy mix of country records on his KLOK morning show. Noted San Jose media personality Steffi Abbott held forth on a program called Chatterbox, the content of which she would describe as “just quick repartee”.
The station first changed hands in 1966 when Barker sold the station to Davis Broadcasting. By 1969, Federal Communications Commission records included programming executive Bill Weaver as a limited partner.
Weaver is generally acknowledged to have created the “oldies” format, launching it on KWIZ in Santa Ana in 1964 before shifting KLOK to the format in 1966. Weaver later created the “Yes/No Radio” format, which was essentially programmed the station’s music by the votes of listeners. Another Weaver innovation was a morning show simulcast on two stations, with Buddy Hatton appearing on both KLOK and KWIZ. Weaver teamed Hatton with lounge singer Fran Marion for a show called Buddy and Fran.
From the 1970s into the 1980s, KLOK was known for a middle of the road music format, coupled with a strong local news department.
KLOK shifted to Spanish-language programming in 1988 when the station was acquired by former professional football player Danny Villanueva’s Radio America, Inc. In 1989, EXCL Communications bought KLOK from Radio América, Inc. and instituted a Regional Mexican music format under the name “KLOK Con la Música de México” (later called “Tricolor”).
KLOK would change hands many times in the 21st Century. Entravision purchased KLOK in 2000, selling it to Univision in 2006. Univision launched a Spanish talk format. The next owner, Principle Broadcasting Network, took over in 2009. In 2017, South Asian-formatted “Desi 1170” was sold to Tron Dinh Do’s KLOK Media for $6 million, a sale that saw the station’s programming shift to Vietnamese language. In 2021, KLOK began airing the South Asian “Mirchi” network. In 2023, Punjabi American Media’s “Punjabi Radio USA” announced it had agreed to acquire KLOK for $2.85 million, shifting to Punjabi-language programming.
