KPPC (defunct) - History

History

KPPC was founded by the Pasadena Presbyterian Church in 1924 (hence the PPC). Starting as an AM station, it was authorized to be on the air for just 22 hours a week (6 a.m. - 12 M Sundays and 7 - 11 p.m. Wednesdays). This was to carry the Sunday services and the Wednesday night prayer meeting. The station had just 100 watts of power, and barely covered Pasadena. In 1941 the station acquired its frequency of 1240 kHz, where it shared time with a station in San Bernardino. In 1962 the Church wanted to expand the hours and coverage, but other stations had filled in the remaining AM time allotments, so the Church started KPPC-FM, on 106.7 MHz. The studios and transmitters were located in the basement of the church (which later became part of the station's claim to being "underground"), with the antenna on the roof of the Pasadena Star-News building (a newspaper) next door at 585 East Colorado in Pasadena. The FM station had terrible broadcast coverage from this location. The station even distributed plans for an "Super Signal Sucker" antenna made of a broomstick and coathangers for listeners to build and get better reception.

In 1968, the church sold the stations to Crosby-Avery Broadcasting, and in 1969, they were sold to the National Science Network; the church retained the right to broadcast its services over both stations. In April 1970, the studios were moved out of the basement to an office building at 99 South Chester in Pasadena. In September, the transmitter was moved to Flint Peak, a mountaintop adjacent to Pasadena, and the power increased to 25,500 watts.

KPPC-FM was the first station in Los Angeles to broadcast a stereo simulcast with a television station. (A one hour program with 'Leon Russell and Friends' in collaboration with PBS station KCET), and the first to broadcast with Sansui quadraphonic sound. It was also the first FM station in Los Angeles to use two transmitters simultaneously to produce sufficient power.

The golden era of KPPC ended October 24, 1971 when the entire airstaff was fired, replaced overnight with a new line-up that reflected little of the previous freewheeling spirit. In 1973, the stations were sold to Burbank Broadcasting. Because the purchaser already had an AM (KROQ, 1500 kHz, Burbank), KPPC AM was sold to Universal Broadcasting, a religious broadcaster. The AM station continued to carry the services of the Pasadena Presbyterian Church until its last broadcast in September 1996. The FM station eventually became the well known KROQ-FM, which is still on the air.

The KPPC call sign was assigned to an FM station in Pocatello, Idaho which changed their call sign to KEGE in early 2008 to match their name "The Edge".

KPPC is now located in Amarillo, Texas.

There is a tribute to the original KPPC-FM currently on Live365 called "KPPC.FM revisited".