This KPEN is not the one launched by James Gabbert and Gary Gielow–the station that would become Bay Area legend K-101. But the decision by Gabbert to brand his station as K-101 and change the call letters to KIOI in December 1968 left the KPEN call letters available. Peninsula Broadcasting Corp., the owners of KPGM, which had been on the air since October 1960, moved quickly to grab them.
Licensed to Los Altos but with its offices and studios in Mountain View, the station installed an all-night symphonic music program called Classics Through the Night, which aired from midnight to 6 AM.
Along with classical music (the music mix would evolve over the next few years to include jazz, soft rock, and more), the station offered local public affairs programs and carried University of Santa Clara sports broadcasts.
San Mateo Times columnist Bob Foster saluted the station in 1971, writing, “It rates as one of the best radio stations in the Bay Area.” Foster noted the youthfulness of the station’s ownership; general manager and part-owner Lawrence “Lee” Gahagan was just 25 years old. Gahagan would go on to launch Sacramento’s KZAP. Tragically, Gahagan would be found dead of an apparent suicide just over a year later.
In the wake of Gahagan’s death at age 27, the station was sold for a reported $250,000 in 1973. The buyer was Los Altos Broadcasting, headed by former KFRC executive Mark Hurd. He would serve as general manager. Hurd said KPEN would carry a “middle of the road (MOR)” format during the day and what he called “classics by acclaim” at night. Hurd also promised improved local news coverage.
By 1975, KPEN was broadcasting from facilities in Mountain View’s San Antonio Center shopping complex. A two-person news staff was delivering hourly updates during commute hours, and Stanford University sports were being added to coverage of University of Santa Clara athletics (Santa Clara still had a football team at the time). In 1976, the station began carrying the San Francisco Golden Gaters, competing in the World Team Tennis league. The music mix had evolved to soft rock.
In early 1978, Hurd and his co-owners sold KPEN to LDS Enterprises, controlled by Frank DeSmidt and his family.
DeSmidt would attempt to sell KPEN only two years later. But the prospective buyer had a problem. Don Burden had become KPEN’s general manager, and he had gotten crosswise with the FCC. In 1975, Burden’s Indianapolis-based Star Stations had been denied license renewals for its properties including WIFE AM and FM after allegations of improper business practices. The proposed transfer of the KPEN license would languish for four years before DeSmidt worked out an exit plan.
in early 1984, Alan Baer, the chairman of the Omaha department store operator Brandeis Co., took over control of KPEN. His 51% ownership stake cost him $60,000, plus the assumption of approximately $1.8 million in debt. Burden, unable to secure FCC approval to control the station, held a 49% stake.
Mere months after this transaction, KPEN ended up with another owner. Ken Dowe, who’d made a name for himself as a disc jockey and program director in Dallas, paid $2.7 million to acquire full ownership of the station, which by then was airing a Top-40 format. Dowe immediately announced plans to return to the soft rock format KPEN had aired in the mid-’70s.
And the call letters would change to KLZE, pronounced “Classy”, as Dowe set out to take on San Jose’s KBAY.
