Early Years
KROY was initiated in 1937 by station owner Royal Miller (for whom the station's call letters were named) and originally operated at 1210 kHz with 100 watts of power. The original studios were located on the mezzanine of the since-demolished Hotel Sacramento. One of the station's early members was a salesman named Elton Rule, who would later become the President of the American Broadcasting Company. In its early years, KROY programmed live news reports and entertainment while carrying network programming and playing the popular hits of the time.
On March 29, 1941, KROY was reassigned to 1240 kHz where it stayed for the remainder of the station's history. During the years of World War II, KROY was one of only two radio stations broadcasting in the Sacramento market (the other being KFBK). KROY would continue to play current hits of the day; the "Big Bands," Frank Sinatra, and other legendary crooners. The station would move its facilities to the Senator Hotel, allowing the broadcast of live music from the hotel ballroom.
Following the war, KROY increased its power to 250 watts and carried network programming from the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) In 1950, KROY attempted to expand its services with a 12,500 watt FM station located at 94.5 MHz. But with new ownership taking over by 1954, the FM station was abandoned in favor of putting all efforts into KROY. By the end of the decade, KROY had increased its daytime power to 1000 watts. It continued to broadcast at 250 watts during the night.
Read more about this topic: KROY (defunct)
Famous quotes related to early years:
“If there is a price to pay for the privilege of spending the early years of child rearing in the driver’s seat, it is our reluctance, our inability, to tolerate being demoted to the backseat. Spurred by our success in programming our children during the preschool years, we may find it difficult to forgo in later states the level of control that once afforded us so much satisfaction.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)