KFXM and the Early Days of Radio

In the beginning, Radio was almost an instant success. During and after the depression, the days of vaudeville and very popular stage performer’s acts such as Red Skelton, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Steve Allen (no relation), Edwin Wynn, Jack Benny and Bob Hope all were seeing smaller audiences. People couldn’t afford to venture out of their homes and pay to see entertainment. These people and their families were ripe for a new form of entertainment and radio was coming of age.

Almost an overnight success, radio started gaining huge listening audiences right from the start. Most of the vaudeville performers were both very talented and very resourceful and the migration to radio was fairly easy for them. What were once live performances of comedy and music like the big bands and solo singers on a stage took to the air waves.

 

More and more people started buying radios for their living rooms. The radio took its place in the living room along side the sofa and grandfather clock. Rather than sit in the living room after supper exchanging stories of the day, people were gathering around the radio to listen to the broadcasts. The radio became a welcome member of the family and had the appearance of a nice piece of furniture. Fancy radio sets were covered in fine wood veneers of Cherry wood, Mahogany, Oak and other exotic materials. Name brands like R.C.A. and Philco were standard fare. Like the automobile, your radio had a certain degree of status. The radio programming at first was merely the vaudeville acts being “acted out” on the radio. A recent PBS documentary interviewed Red Skelton who said, “You had to adapt and develop the skill of portrayal that enabled the radio listener to visualize in their minds the character you personified on the radio.” Skelton said he quickly developed a series of characters to get his comedy across. Similar techniques were eventually used by almost all the radio performers.

As radio literally exploded in popularity, the huge corporations that manufactured the radio sets like R.C.A. created their own broadcasting units. It wasn’t long before networks like Columbia Broadcasting Service (CBS), the Mutual Broadcasting Network, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and RKO (Radio Keith Orpheum and merged with RCA in 1909). I think if you look at some of these corporations you realized that many of them had close ties to the movies studios. RKO was a theater chain that was very successful dating back to the 1880’s. Eventually, stage performers became radio performers then became film actors and the opposite also happened where film actors became radio personalities. The film actors appeared on radio because they were on contact with the movie studios and the radio provided a publicity outlet.

So where does KFXM fit in the overall history of radio broadcasting in Southern California? Well, again the movie industry and the actors working in the movies spent a lot of their leisure time in the Inland Empire. Places like Soboba Springs near Hemet and San Jacinto was a hot springs retreat frequented by celebrities. Also, the Arrowhead Hotel and Resort in San Bernardino and Lake Arrowhead were also places where actors and movie industry people came to relax. The fact that the Inland Empire was 60-75 miles away from Hollywood and gossip columnists Hedda Hopper, gave the movie industry people some privacy. The other fact was that the movie studios used the Fox Theater in Riverside and the California Theater in San Bernardino to preview their new movies. Believe it or not, these two theaters were the actual “premiere” locations for many movie studio films. The quaint bedroom community appeal drew many celebrities to the Riverside area. I dated a girl in high school (Riverside Poly) and her next door neighbor was Broderick Crawford. A number of visitors to the area where very successful business people and they were always looking for investment opportunities. My second grade school teacher was Muffy Mann, who was the little blonde girl in the little rascals.

I’m in the process of researching the FCC databases and files to try and determine who started KFXM originally and on what date. Also, when Howard Tullis purchased the KFXM and then he became a partner with John Hearne. John Hearne was a very bright lawyer who was a graduate of Stanford University. I will update this information when it possibly becomes available.

Tennessee Ernie Ford was a On-Air Personality at KFXM!

I do know that at the Tennessee Ernie Ford Web site, they say, “Tennessee Ford was hired immediately to work at KFXM in March of 1946 after he left the military in Victorville.” It was at KFXM where he had his debut for the first time as Tennessee Ernie Ford. He also had started a wild and crazy show titled, "Dude Ranch Party."

The untitled picture at left was courtesy of the California State University, San Bernardino. I'm not sure if it's the same one, but the KFXM Mutual Broadcasting "pennant" appears in both pictures (Ernie Ford and the "Rancho Round-up" photos). I spoke with a KFXM Alumni who remembers back when Ernie Ford was on the air. He would be hooping and hollering and carrying on but when he did the top-of-the hour newscasts, he would get very serious and proclaim, "this is your up-to-the-minute KFXM news....and this is Ernest Ford reporting."

KFXM - How it Started

To: Mr. John Bunnell via email

KFXM started as KFWC in Upland in 1925, ended up in San Bernardino for a while, then moved to Ontario and Pomona, before moving back to San Bernardino as KFXM in September of 1929. The KFXM calls were first used by the station on September 25, 1929.

The station was on several frequencies, but ended up on 1210-AM in 1929, 1240-AM on March 29, 1941, and then moved to 590-AM in late-1947.

Also, from 11-11-1928 until 1947, KFXM shared time with KPPC-AM in Pasadena; that is until June 13, 1944, KFXM had to go off the air whenever KPPC would broadcast on Sundays and Wednesday nights...After that date, KFXM would stay on the air on 1240, but had to lower its power when KPPC was on air...After the move to 590, a new station came on air on 1240 in San Bernardino.

Hope this is helpful to you, and I can get the freqwuency chart for KFXM too, if you like. I see we have stuff on the stations first two owners as KFWC, but not much on the Lee Brothers, who bought the station in 1929 and changed call letters from KFWC to KFXM...I'll try to see how long they owned KFXM and what other data this history hseet has, if I can still find it...But this will give you a bit of a start.

Good luck with your web site.
Sincerely,
Jim Hilliker
Los Angeles Radio Historian
Monterey, California

Attached with email: (Some history of KFWC/KFXM San Bernardino, CA)

KFWC: Was licensed on February 9, 1925 from Upland, originally under the ownership of Larry Wall, who ran a motion picture production company. The station was moved several times within four years. Mr. Wall decided at one point to have KFWC broadcast from Pickering Park, a popular amusement park at that time in San Bernardino on Foothill Blvd. This move became official on April 19, 1926.

When all the equipment was in place, an opening night program was broadcast from the park for several hours on June 17, 1926. Talent from San Bernardino and surrounding towns was featured, along with a few entertainers from vaudeville and movies. Local politicians also took part in the festivities to welcome KFWC to the city. Nearly a year later, in May of 1927, the studio and transmitter location moved to the California Hotel at 5th and E Streets.

The station moved again in 1928 to Ontario and Pomona, but was back at the California Hotel in San bernardino by October 31, 1929, with a flattop wire transmitting antenna on top of the building. A slogan used by KFWC around 1927 was "The Voice of the Orange Empire", which was continued under the KFXM calls. (The same slogan was later used by KVOE in Santa Ana after 1936).

Larry Wall sold KFWC in 1928 to KMIC-Inglewood owner James Fouch, who in turn sold it to brothers John and Eugene Lee in September, 1929. They requested a call letter change to KXB, KXM or KXY, claiming the KFWC calls were formerly used by an "unworthy party". But they settled for KFXM, beginning September 25,1929.
The station was part of the Don Lee Mutual Network by 1938 and into the 1940s. By mid-1938, KFXM's slogan was "The Voice of the Sunkist Valley".

In 1940, the station's power was raised from 100 to 250 watts. A new transmitter building and vertical tower were built on Colton Ave., now the site of KLFE-1240. On October 1, 1947, KFXM was granted approval from the FCC to change frequency, from 1240 to 590 khz. This move, combined with a power increase to 1,000 watts, gave KFXM a much better signal in its listening area. To prevent interference to other stations on 590, a new multi-tower directional antenna system was constructed on a 40 acre site southwest of the city. Separate directional patterns were used for day and night broadcasting. Studios remained at the hotel, while the old transmitter site became the new KRNO-1240 property.

In early 1964, studios were moved to their current location at 666 Fairway Drive. As radio changed to meet the challenge of competing with television, KFXM took on a Top-40 pop format with rock and roll music. During the '60s and into the '70s, KFXM was an important rock station for young people in the Inland Empire. But, times change and along with ownership changes, there was a decision to drop the long-time KFXM calls after 59 years. The call letters became KRSO in December 1988, for Radio San Bernardino and a short-lived all-news format failed. Next came a stint as an Adult Standards/Big Band music station. In early 1994, the owners of AM-590 decided to change the call letters to KHTX. The format became country music by simulcasting 97.5 FM in Riverside. By the end of 1994, the calls became KSZZ with a Spanish language format. Their became "La Super Zeta" or Super Z.

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