KCLU (AM) - History

History

KIST signed on in 1946. For many years, especially in the 1960s and '70s, KIST was a premier Top-40 music station. In addition to playing the top music of the day, KIST also claimed one of the finest news broadcasting teams in the Santa Barbara area, winning awards from the Southern California Broadcasters Association for their coverage of the Sycamore Fire in 1977. Each on air "disc jockey", as well as many of the support staff, had two way mobile radios in their vehicles enabling them to "report from the scene".

Owned privately by J. Patrick "Pat" Wardlaw, some of KIST's staff from that era included Program Director Hal Bates, Music Director Dick Williams (since deceased), News Director Patrick C. Riley (whose car was incinerated in the Sycamore Fire), Morning Drive host Baron Ron Herron, Chief Engineer Doug Allan, and disc jockeys Tom Payne, Jack Kinney, Mike Hennie, Jim Cordes aka Jim Evans, Frank Catalano and Steve Dezormo (since deceased). One of the bumper-sticker mottos in that era was "Get KIST 1340!"

By the early-1990s, KIST had changed its format to oldies. KIST also broadcasted in C-QUAM AM Stereo. Before adopting to its most recent format, KIST had changed its call sign first to KLDZ then to KXXT and was known as all-sports "XTRA Sports 1340." One of the station's on-air hosts was Jim Rome, a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara. On March 29, 2000 the call sign was changed back to KIST.

On August 8, 2003, the call sign was again changed, this time to KTLK. Those calls remained in place until February 3, 2005, when they were changed back to KIST for a third time.

On January 11, 2007, Clear Channel Communications sold all of its radio stations in Santa Barbara to Rincon Broadcasting, who immediately sold KIST to the Santa Barbara Community Broadcasting Company.

It was announced on June 19, 2008, via All Access Media Group, that R & R Radio, LLC sold KIST to California Lutheran University for $1.44 million. On October 7, 2008, the school, also the owner of noncommercial National Public Radio affiliate KCLU-FM, converted the station to noncommercial status and adopted the current KCLU call sign. On October 28, 2008, Rincon Broadcasting picked up the KIST call and format on crosstown 1490 AM (formerly KBKO).