KFSD

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KFSD
Broadcast area	Escondido, California
Branding	"AM 1510 and AM 1450 The Spa"
Slogan	"Contemporary Adult Standards for Southern California."'
First air date	1960s as KOWN
Frequency	1450 (kHz)
Format	Adult standards
ERP	1,000 watts
Class	C
Callsign meaning	K "FM of San Diego" (from their FM 94.1 days)
Owner	Astor Broadcast Group
Website	www.thesparadio.com

KFSD AM 1450 is an adult standards radio station based in North County, San Diego, California. It is owned and operated by Astor Broadcast Group. KFSD is actually a simulcast of sister station KSPA in Ontario, California. From 2004 until February 1, 2007, KFSD was a classical music radio station.

KFSD stands for "FM of San Diego", dating from when it was an FM classical music station, broadcasting from the top of Mount Soledad (between La Jolla and Pacific Beach). At that time, its 100 kW transmitter (on 94.1 MHz) was the most powerful in the area. While KFSD primarily played classical music, it presented a complete range of broadcasting items: news, traffic reports, and (since classical music listeners tend to be upper class) stock market reports.

While KFSD had a good solid audience, it depended primarily upon locally-owned businesses for advertising revenues and, when many of those companies were bought out by national chains, the radio station was financially strangled.

KFSD changed ownership in 1996, and its format was changed a number of times, from rock, to elevator music. The 94.1 transmitter was renamed KXGL, and the call letters KFSD were transferred to a much smaller FM transmitter, 92.1 MHz, near Escondido, California, which now simulcasts KSON. The KFSD call letters have now been transferred to a nearby AM transmitter on 1450 kHz, where it currently broadcasts today.

The call letters were previously used on KOGO AM 600, as well as Channel 10, San Diego's ABC television affiliate (now KGTV). In the 1950s, these three broadcasters (AM, FM, and TV) were all operated by the same company; their call letters were changed as a result of a corporate breakup.

In the 1960s, the 1450 spot on the dial was occupied by KOWN, which played a variety of music and had its studios in the Ting's Pharmacy plaza in Escondido, where visitors and shoppers could see the disc jockeys spinning the 45s. In the 1980s and early 1990s, 1450 AM was known as KSPA. "Kay Spa" (as the station was called then) featured a nostalgia format, with music from the 1930s through the 1960s.

[edit] External links

• AM 1510 and AM 1450 The Spa
• Article talking about FM 94.1's antenna atop Mt. Soledad, features picture with caption "KGTV 10 and FMs"
• SDRadio.net article regarding KFSD's format flip to adult standards.
• Query the FCC's AM station database for KFSD

In the middle to late '60s, KOWN was located in the Escondido Village Mall at the end opposite Mayfair Market. They later moved to the new mall on the same side as Mayfair.