Tracing its beginnings to a five-watt experimental station operated in 1921 out of the magnificent Hotel Oakland, KNEW came into being in September 1966 when Metromedia Broadcasting purchased KEWB. Metromedia already had a thriving New York City station, WNEW, and to get similar call letters for its new Bay Area property, it paid $75,000 to the operators of a Spokane radio station, since known as KJRB.
KNEW’s new owners built a state-of-the-art facility at Jack London Square and shifted the programming away from KEWB’s Top-40 format. Early forays into talk programming soon had KNEW battling with powerful KGO for the talk-radio audience, though KGO clearly had the upper hand.
Entering the 1970’s, KNEW had switched to a personality-driven popular music format. KNEW “Channel 91” played the hits, sponsored concerts, and grabbed attention with programs like Don Chamberlain’s “California Girls”, which offered some pretty frank talk about sex.
In 1980, Metromedia sold KNEW to Cleveland-based Malrite Communications for $5 million.
The station made the shift to country music in 1974, billing itself “KNEW Country”. The sound shifted to “classic country” in the early 1990’s.
Along the way, KNEW built a strong sports presence, carrying play-by-play of the Oakland A’s, Oakland Raiders, Golden State Warriors, and San Jose Sharks at various times. Its news department, featuring future BARHOF inductees Gil Haar (2015) and Knowles Robertson (2024), was well-regarded.
In September 1997, the last live, local program hosts were heard on KNEW as the station shifted to the satellite-delivered “Real Country” syndication service.
The next decade would see a variety of talk-centric syndicated formats aired on KNEW, including CNET Radio and Fox News Radio.
The KNEW 910 era came to an end on January 3, 2012 when owner Clear Channel Communications (now iHeart Media), which had acquired KNEW in 2000, rebranded the station as “KKSF NewsTalk 910”.
ADDITIONAL EXHIBITS:
KNEW Radio: The AM 910 Collection
The History of KZM, KLX and KEWB