KERN

KERN signed on the air at 1370 kilocycles on January 3, 1932, powered at 100 watts. In its early days it was owned by the Bee Bakersfield Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Company, owner of a number of radio stations and newspapers in California. KERN served as the CBS Radio network affiliate for Bakersfield, broadcasting its schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band broadcasts during the Golden Age of Radio.

KERN, the #1 station most years in Bakersfield California back in the 70's. Home to Truck-Ken Stevens (Ken Levine) in 1971. Ken wrote about his first radio job, weekends at KERN, earlier this week on his blog http://www.kenlevine.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-first-radio-job.html ...about the shack surrounded by 3 towers..

But some of his memories have faded a bit over the years (just like the front sign at KERN as you can see above). The KERN building back then was a bit bigger than a "shack" - probably the size of a typical 3-bedroom house in Bakersfield..As you can see, KERN spared no expense in maintaining the lavish KERN building and the "grounds" out front.

KERN/1410 was a non-directional station, and they had only the one tower you see in the above pictures.
That's KERN 3-7PM DJ-Program Director-Chief Engineer Johnny Mitchell in the luxury KERN studio in the picture up top. Photos courtesy http://www.bakersfieldtop40.com/

KERN moved to 1410 kHz in 1941 as the result of NARBA (North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement), increasing power to 1,000 watts. In 1948, it added an FM station at 94.1, KERN-FM (now KISV). At first, KERN-FM simulcast most of the programming of the AM station. As network programming moved to TV in the 1950s, KERN switched to music programming with local air personalities and news.

In the 1960s, KERN flipped to a Top 40 sound. Johnny Mitchell, Program Director and Phil Drake, Music Director took this fledgling station to a solid number one in 1973, soundly beating its competitor, KAFY 550 AM (now KUZZ). KERN was among the first stations to carry the nationally syndicated countdown show American Top 40 hosted by Casey Kasem, beginning on July 4, 1970.

Also in 1970, KERN sold its FM station to The Reliable Broadcast Company, which had just bought 1350 KLYD (now KLHC). Emmy Award winning writer Ken Levine (then known as Ken Stevens) got his start in radio at KERN in 1971.

As Top 40 listening switched to FM in the late 1970s, KERN moved to a middle of the road format, with national news supplied by ABC Radio News. In the 1980s, KERN began adding some talk shows to its schedule. By the mid-1990s, KERN had made the switch to all talk, using programming from the ABC Talk Radio Network and NBC's Talknet.

On December 29, 2008, KERN started simulcasting on 1180 AM to get listeners used to the new frequency as part of a frequency swap with sister station KERI, which ran a religious format. The KERN call sign was officially moved from 1410 to 1180 on December 30, 2008 and the KERI call sign was moved to 1410. On January 1, 2009, the Christian music format was reunited with the KERI call sign on 1410 AM.