KXRX (1500 AM) went on the air on June 24, 1948 , broadcasting with 1,000 watts of power. The San Jose Broadcasting Company was the licensee, headed by president Joe E. Levitt (BARHOF 2019). Levitt’s radio roots stretched back to 1929, when he began working as an announcer on KQW/San Jose (later KCBS).
For most of its first three decades on the air, KXRX carried a mix of popular music, local news, San Jose State College (later San Jose State University) sports, and special programs produced by and for the San Jose State campus community. In 1960, KXRX launched Spartan Salute, a nightly, hour-long program featuring news reports, interviews, and music targeted towards San Jose State students. Beginning in the fall of 1966, KXRX broadcast Spartan Spectrum, a nightly news summary produced by the San Jose State radio/television program.
By the mid-1970’s, broadcasting with 5,000 watts of daytime power, KXRX had bulked up its news coverage and was serving up an all-news format during morning and afternoon drive time. Music programming would vanish by the late 1970’s in favor of locally-produced talk shows during midday and evening hours, with the nationally-syndicated Larry King Show presented during late-night hours.
Local ownership ended in 1978 with the sale of the station to Seattle-based Sterling Recreation Organization.
The news-heavy version of KXRX came to an end on February 27, 1981, when the station switched to a simulcast of co-owned KSJO-FM. A year later, the call letters were changed from KXRX to KHTT.
The KXRX call letters were shifted to Seattle, where “The X” played a major role in the explosion of the “grunge” music genre. Yet another shift landed the KXRX station ID in Pasco, WA.
