KSJO was one of San Jose’s new post-World War II stations, signing on in September 1946 with 1,000 watts of power and daytime-only operations.
Licensee Santa Clara Broadcasting Company was controlled by Patrick Peabody. An heir to the massive Peabody Coal fortune, Peabody owned several Santa Clara Valley weekly newspapers. The same company would launch KSJO-FM the following year.
Programming included local news, wire service news from United Press, music, and live sports. In fact, the station, operating under a daytime-only license, repeatedly sought Federal Communications Commission permission to stay on the air to the conclusion of San Jose State College, University of Santa Clara, and San Jose Red Sox (California League baseball) games as well as local boxing cards.
In 1960, the station was sold for a reported $350,000 to a group controlled by Riley Gibson, which filed for an increase in power to 5,000 watts and a change in call letters to KLIV.
