angeles metropolitan area branding desi 980 slogan hollywood s bollywood station frequency 980 khz also on hd radio first air date march 3 1925 ; 91 years ago 1925 03 03 format bollywood music power 5 000 watts class b facility id 25457 transmitter coordinates 34 4 11 n 118 11 35 w 34.06972 n 118.19306 w 34.06972 ; 118.19306 coordinates 34 4 11 n 118 11 35 w 34.06972 n 118.19306 w 34.06972 ; 118.19306 callsign meaning sequentially issued owner lotus communications sister stations kirn ktmz kwkw webcast listen live website desi980am.com kfwb 980 khz desi 980 am is a los angeles am radio station airing a bollywood music format presented primarily in hindi . kfwb is owned by lotus broadcasting and operates with 5 000 watts of power from a non directional transmitter near lincoln park in eastside los angeles . the station had a mostly all news format from 1968 until september 8 2009 after which it converted to a news talk format . on september 22 2014 kfwb became a cbs sports radio network affiliate known as the beast 980 . 1 on march 1 2016 the sports radio format was discontinued and desi 980 was launched . on october 17 2016 a new format will be announced . kfwb is licensed by the u.s. federal communications commission fcc to broadcast in the hd hybrid format . 2 3 contents 1 history 2 later years 3 switch to sports 4 switch to desi 980 5 former on air staff 6 studios and transmitter 7 previous logo 8 references 9 external links history edit the station s history goes back to march 3 1925 when it was launched 4 by sam warner a co founder of warner bros. . the station launched the careers of such stars as ronald reagan and bing crosby . the station was the first to broadcast the annual rose parade in pasadena california . although some think its call letters stand for keep fighting warner brothers or k four warner brothers actually the callsign was sequentially issued by the department of commerce predecessor to the fcc march 1925 at the same time as kfwa in ogden utah february 1925 and kfwc for san bernardino also february 1925 . 5 nevertheless warner bros. animation regularly used kfwb as a running gag in its productions . on february 8 1937 kfwb opened a new facility on the south end of the warner bros. lot . it included six large studios one of which was a 500 seat theater and a multi manual pipe organ built especially for broadcasting . 6 a 1940 merrie melodies cartoon produced by warner bros. and directed by chuck jones entitled bedtime for sniffles has sniffles the mouse trying to stay awake for santa claus and a radio announcer signs off for the night identifying the station as kfwb . another cartoon of the same year the timid toreador co directed by bob clampett shows an announcer broadcasting on this station though the action takes place in mexico the merrie melodies cartoon for i ve got a torch song released in conjunction with gold diggers of 1933 has kfwb written on the microphones in the scenes of the torch singers . in 1946 kfwb imported two disc jockeys from new york city maurice hart of wnew whose drive time show start the day right was described as words and music straight from the hart and martin block who coined the phrase make believe ballroom which was later used by al jarvis when block returned to new york . in those days disc jockeys selected their own music either from kfwb s extensive record library or new songs brought to them by song pluggers . old and new vocal and instrumental were mixed together to the disc jockey s choice . kfwb was sold to its long time general manager harry maizlish in 1950 7 and soon after moved off the warner bros. lot to join maizlish s fm station kfmv on hollywood boulevard . 8 in 1958 the original seven swingin gentlemen took rock and roll into its first major market at kfwb . also in 1958 under new owners crowell collier broadcasting program director chuck blore transformed the station into a top 40 format called channel 98 color radio . the station became one of the most highly listened to stations in the southland and in the nation . the air staff during the glory days included bill ballance b. mitchell reed bruce hayes al jarvis joe yocam elliot field ted quillin . and gene weed . their staff of highly respected citation needed newscasters included cleve herrmann charles arlington john babcock beach rogers mike henry hal goodwin al wiman bill angel j. paul huddleston and jackson king . in the mid 1960s kfwb was overtaken by rival krla . then krla was put in second place by the launch of boss radio at 93 khj and this relegated kfwb to the position of the third place pop music station in the l.a. market . later years edit kfwb was later purchased by westinghouse in 1966 . on march 11 1968 the station was relaunched as an all news radio station . the station promoted itself with its slogan you give us 22 minutes we ll give you the world as first used by new york westinghouse station wins although the station s format used a 30 minute news cycle . until spun off into a trust kfwb was owned by cbs radio a subsidiary of cbs corporation after its merger with westinghouse . cbs also owns 1070 knx now the only all news station in los angeles . kfwb and knx feuded as all news rivals for years both on radio and in television advertising . like its former sister stations and fellow all news stations wins in new york and kyw in philadelphia kfwb had a running teletype sound effect in the background during regular newscasts . kfwb previously aired dodgers games and many national football league games from westwood one . the nfl broadcasts stopped after the 2007 pro bowl and the dodgers left kfwb after the 2007 season some months later to return to kabc . with that the slogan all news all the time returned . however in 2008 the nfl broadcasts returned for a brief period . beginning in 2008 knx and kfwb were jointly branded as cbsnewsradiola . the cbsnewsradiola brand was used for simulcast special programming and for marketing to advertisers . 9 in addition there were no longer separate field reporters for knx and kfwb and cbsnewsradiola reporters filed stories for both stations . also in the 2009 season kfwb began broadcasting weekday baseball games of the los angeles angels of anaheim although the flagship remained the angels owned klaa . 10 also as it was announced on august 13 2009 the station and the nba s los angeles clippers signed a multi year broadcast rights pact with kfwb carrying every clippers contest . 11 on september 8 2009 the station adopted a news talk format adding syndicated shows such as dave ramsey laura ingraham laura schlessinger who moved from longtime flagship kfi and michael smerconish . 12 in 2011 dr. laura left the station dave ramsey moved to 11am 2pm and the station added motivational speaker les brown to its afternoon lineup . brown left the station in 2012 . ramsey left in 2014 . by the summer of 2014 kfwb s weekday line up included la s morning news with penny griego and phil hulett ; money 101 with bob mccormick ; as we see it with phil hulett and friends ; la s afternoon news with maggie mckay and michael shappee ; and the amani & eytan show from nbc sports radio . on november 2 2011 cbs radio placed kfwb into a trust headed by diane sutter under the name the kfwb asset trust . this was due to cbs corp. s ownership limitations after the network bought kcal tv 9 years prior . 13 switch to sports edit on september 22 2014 kfwb became a cbs sports radio affiliate the beast 980 . 14 the beast 980 featured a live and local morning show the home team hosted by bill plaschke and jeanne zelasko . the beast 980 s weekday lineup also featured jim rome and fred roggin . sports updates were provided during the day mostly by sam farber amy bender and ted sobel with hall of fame usc trojans broadcaster pete arbogast providing sports updates and as a fill in host from time to time . the beast 980 was the flagship radio station of the nba s los angeles clippers and the la galaxy of the mls . the beast 980 also carried nfl games ncaa football games and ncaa basketball games . switch to desi 980 edit on january 5 2016 it was reported that kfwb was in the process of being sold to an operator of foreign language radio stations . 15 a filing with the securities and exchange commission stated that the station would be acquired by principle broadcasting a company backed by mercury capital partners for 15 million . the final price in the contract filed with the fcc was 8 million . 16 as a result of the sale the station s sports format was discontinued on march 1 2016 . 15 after one day of continuous airings of a five minute retrospective of the station kfwb launched a full service south asian bollywood music format under the name desi 980 which is already airing on kkdz in seattle washington and klok in san jose . the station s website is desi980am.com . 17 on march 16 2016 the los angeles clippers entered into a multi year deal making klac the team s new flagship station . 18 on october 4 2016 lotus communications purchased kfwb from universal media access for 11.2 million . lotus owns 34 stations in california nevada and arizona including three in the los angeles area southern california farsi language kirn in simi valley and espn deportes affiliates ktmz in pomona and kwkw in los angeles . a new format for kfwb will be announced on october 17 2016 . 19 former on air staff edit musicians irving aaronson and his commanders circa 1929 20 news anchors jack popejoy judy ford john brooks paul lowe penny griego phil hulett cindy dole michael shappee maggie mckay bob mccormick tammy trujillo bob howard susanne whatley tracie savage steve kindred reporters john brooks pete demetriou claudia peschiutta phil nash clayton sandell zoey tur traffic anchors rhonda kramer jeff baugh tom storey allen lee robin johnson jennifer burns richard turnage scott greene colleen ryan arianna ortiz lisa walker sports anchors ted sobel bill seward bob harvey studios and transmitter edit the original kfwb studios and transmitter location were at the warner bros. studios which is now ktla at 5800 sunset boulevard . one of the two original towers still stands prominently out front . due to rf interference getting into the movie studio s talkies sound equipment the transmitter was moved in 1928 to the roof of the warner theater now the hollywood pacific theatre at 6423 hollywood blvd. eventually the studios were also moved to the warner theater . those two towers are still there as well . years later when kfwb was sold to kfwb broadcasting co. harry maizlish the studios moved to 6419 hollywood blvd. now demolished and the transmitter moved to the area near la cienega and rodeo blvd. about three blocks south of the keca kabc studio transmitter site . in july 1958 the transmitter again moved to make way for the construction of a fedco membership department store to its present location diplexed with klac in east la . the studios moved in 1977 to 6230 yucca st. also in hollywood . in june 2005 kfwb moved into new studios on