KRTY, calling itself “Country 95.3”, came to life on January 10, 1990. The Country format had actually arrived a few weeks earlier when Thomas Gammon’s Crown Broadcasting acquired KATD for $5 million, initially re-branding the station under the call letters KYAY.
The station found itself battling for listeners among several other stations pumping out Country music. It was a heady time for the format, as Country music’s “Class of ’89”–names like Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson and Clint Black–were filling arenas and selling albums.
While KRTY was building an audience, its ownership was in financial trouble. The company fell into receivership and in July 1991, Federal Communications Commission records show Randolph George became the licensee.
A year and a half later, George’s employer Media Venture Partners announced the sale of KRTY for $3.3 million. The buyer was Empire Broadcasting, headed by longtime San Jose broadcaster Robert Kieve. Years later, Randolph George would be convicted of failing to file tax returns for income derived from his receivership work during this era. His conviction would be upheld by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Meanwhile, KRTY had managed to build a solid niche for itself. By 1994, the station’s “Hot Country” approach was holding its own against KKCY’s “Young Country” and KSAN’s “Hot New Country”.
As part of Empire Broadcasting’s South Bay portfolio along with KLIV and KARA, KRTY held an enviable position as the radio industry consolidated through the 1990s: it could boast of local ownership. In 1995, Empire’s stations booked a reported $7 million in advertising revenue.
Nate Deaton became general manager in 1994. Julie Stevens arrived as program director in the mid-90s as did morning host Gary Scott Thomas. They would all remain with the station for more than 25 years.
In 2000, KRTY attracted national attention amidst the controversy surrounding the Dixie Chicks song “Goodbye, Earl”. The song about two women who deal with a spousal abuser by taking the law into their own hands had been banned by some stations. KRTY kept it in rotation and made a donation to a domestic-violence shelter each time it aired.
When Bob Kieve died in late 2020, the handwriting was on the wall for KRTY. The station had managed to outlast every other Country station on the Bay Area dial, but Kieve’s death meant the end of local ownership.
On March 23, 2022, Empire Broadcasting announced that it would sell KRTY to the Educational Media Foundation, operators of nationally syndicated Christian music networks Air1 and K-LOVE, for $3.1 million. The call letters would soon shift to KJLV.
KRTY went out a winner: the final Nielsen Audio ratings before the sale shows the station with a 7.5 share in the San Jose market, its best-ever report.
Now branded as “Legendary Country”, many veteran KRTY staffers continued to be heard online at KRTY.com.
ADDITIONAL EXHIBITS:
Town & Country: Gary Scott Thomas (1993 Bay Area Radio Digest interview)
