KMPC (1540 AM, "Radio Korea", 라디오코리아) is a commercial radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by P&Y Broadcasting Corporation. Radio Korea is a division of the Radio Korea Media Group. The station airs Korean language programming, a blend of talk, news, information, and music for the largest Korean American community in the United States, and the largest Korean community outside Korea. KMPC is one of four radio stations in the region that broadcast entirely in Korean, the others are KGBN in Anaheim, KYPA in Los Angeles and KFOX in Torrance.
KMPC's offices are in La Palma in Orange County. KMPC's transmitter is sited off of Carter Drive in the El Sereno district of Los Angeles.
History KPOL On September 22, 1952, the station signed on with the call sign KPOL. It ran 5,000 watts and was originally a daytimer, required to be off the air at sunset. It was owned by Coast Radio Broadcasting Corporation. In 1958, it added an FM station at 93.9 MHz, KPOL-FM (now KLLI). Then in 1965, it put a television station on the air, KPOL-TV (channel 22, now KSCN-TV).
KPOL 1540 went on the air 10 minutes after receiving Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval. The following year, its power was increased to 10,000 watts. Full time operations were added in 1958, with a power of 10,000 watts at night using a directional antenna array. Daytime power was increased to 50,000 watts in 1961.
In its early years, KPOL aired several polka music programs.TV-Radio Life. January 10–16, 1953. Retrieved April 29, 2019 That gave the station its call letters. Tom Kennedy, later a popular TV game show host, was a polka DJ on the station during this era.
In 1959, KPOL advertised on a billboard at Los Angeles's Wrigley Field, which can be seen in the television series Home Run Derby.
In 1966, KPOL-AM-FM were sold to Capital Cities Broadcasting for $7.8 million."KPOL buy brings Capital up to limit", Broadcasting. July 25, 1966. p. 58. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
For many years, KPOL aired an easy listening/beautiful music format on both AM and FM.Zhito, Lee. "LP Programming", Billboard. February 27, 1961. pp. 41, 46. Retrieved April 29, 2019.Tiegel, Eliot. "2 L.A. Outlets Come on Strong", Billboard. June 1, 1968. p. 22. Retrieved April 29, 2019."Radio Stations Enjoy 'Strings'", Billboard. August 25, 1973. pp. A-8, A-12. Retrieved April 29, 2019.Broadcasting Yearbook 1977, Broadcasting, 1977. p. C-22. Retrieved April 29, 2019. In the late 1970s, the station switched to a soft adult contemporary format.Herbeck, Ray, Jr. "Buses Prove Promo Boon To L.A. Outlets", Billboard. November 11, 1978. p. 40. Retrieved April 29, 2019. In August 1978, it began carrying the syndicated Larry King Show overnight.Moran, Bill. "MOR /Adult Contemporary Now Cutting Back Night Music Shows", Billboard. January 20, 1979. p. 32. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
KZLA In 1979, the station's call sign was changed to KZLA while airing a more upbeat adult contemporary format, simulcast with 93.9 KZLA-FM.History Cards for KMPC, fcc.gov. Retrieved April 28, 2019."L.A. KPOL Is Now KZLA", Billboard. October 13, 1979. p. 22. Retrieved April 28, 2019. But with several other AC stations in Los Angeles, KZLA-AM-FM had trouble achieving significant ratings.
In 1980, with no country music station on FM in Los Angeles, KZLA-AM-FM flipped to a country format."Los Angeles Now Boasting 4 Country Format Stations", Billboard. September 27, 1980. pp. 3, 21, 43. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
As of 2006, the KZLA calls are assigned to a Rhythmic Oldies station serving Fresno, California.
Spanish language era In 1984, the station was sold to Spanish Broadcasting System for $5 million."Changing Hands", Broadcasting. August 20, 1984. Retrieved April 29, 2019. In December 1984, the station's call sign was changed to KSKQ, and it adopted a Spanish language format as "La Super KQ".Call Sign History, fcc.gov. Retrieved April 28, 2019."Street Talk", Radio & Records. January 11, 1985. p. 30. Retrieved April 28, 2019.McDougal, Dennis. "Radio In the Afternoon", Los Angeles Times. April 6, 1986. Retrieved April 28, 2019. (KSKQ is now a non-commercial educational station in Ashland, Oregon.)
On August 4, 1992, its call sign was changed to KXED, and it aired a Mexican pop/contemporary format branded "La Grande" or The Big One.Stark, Phyllis; Boehlert, Eric; Borzillo, Carrie. "Vox Jox", Billboard. August 22, 1992. p. 75. Retrieved April 28, 2019. On March 29, 1996, the station's call sign was changed to KXMG. In late 1996, its format was changed from Regional Mexican to Spanish oldies."Format Changes & Updates", The M Street Journal. Vol. 13, No. 49. December 4, 1996. p. 1. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
Sports era In 1997, One on One Sports Inc. of Northbrook, Illinois, purchased the station and changed its format to sports, as an owned-and-operated network affiliate of One-on-One Sports, later known as Sporting News Radio, a nationally syndicated 24/7 sports network."One-On-One Sports Closes Station Deals", Radio & Records. October 10, 1997. p. 8. Retrieved April 28, 2019."Format Changes & Updates", The M Street Journal. Vol. 14, No. 35. September 3, 1997. p. 1. Retrieved April 28, 2019. On December 19, 1997, its call sign was changed to KCTD. One on One Sports also bought AM stations in the New York City and Chicago areas, so it would have its programming available in the largest, second largest and third largest radio markets.
On March 28, 2000, the call sign was changed to KMPC. In 2000, One-on-One Sports was acquired by Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures, and ownership of KMPC was transferred to Paul Allen's Rose City Radio Corporation."Vulcan Prospers With One-On-One Deal", Radio & Records. December 15, 2000. p. 6. Retrieved April 28, 2019.Public Notice Comment – BAL-20010313AAE, fcc.gov. Retrieved April 28, 2019. The KMPC call letters had long been used in Los Angeles on AM 710 (now KSPN). On February 10, 2003, the station began to be branded "1540 The Ticket", concurrent with the launch of a new local morning show, hosted by Roger Lodge.
The station covered Southern California sports teams, including the San Diego Chargers. It also aired select Westwood One sports programming not carried by CBS Radio's KFWB and KLSX. Among the many Westwood One games KMPC carried include NCAA basketball, PGA Tour golf tournament updates (mostly those covered by CBS Sports television), the Masters Tournament and NFL football (including Monday Night Football on occasion).
In 2006, KMPC lost the broadcast rights to University of Southern California Trojans basketball and football to rival 710 KSPN. KMPC acquired the local broadcast rights of the University of Notre Dame's football games from Westwood One. The station also stopped covering NASCAR races after having done so for several years.
The station's regular talk-show hosts included Tony Bruno, who began his morning show in April 2005 following the departure of Roger Lodge;Stewart, Larry. "Bruno's Return Could Be KMPC's Ticket to Success", Los Angeles Times. March 25, 2005. Retrieved April 30, 2019. Dave Smith,Roderick, Kevin. "The Lowe-down", LAObserved. August 3, 2005. Retrieved April 30, 2019. Fred Roggin,Stewart, Larry. "Roggin to Host Radio Show", Los Angeles Times. December 5, 2001. Retrieved April 30, 2019. and former USC football player Petros Papadakis.Stewart, Larry. "Papadakis Talks a Great Game", Los Angeles Times. August 31, 2001. Retrieved April 30, 2019.Hoffarth, Tom. "Loud and proud", Los Angeles Daily News. January 13, 2006. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
Former Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Ross Porter filled in for Roggin in May 2005.Stewart, Larry. "Impressive, but It's Not Rocket Science", Los Angeles Times. May 28, 2005. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
Roger Nadel, former GM of all-news KFWB in Los Angeles, was General Manager.Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2006, Broadcasting & Cable, 2006. p. D-81. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
In June 2006, former afternoon host and KNBC-TV sports director Fred Roggin left KMPC, resulting in a shift in the station's daily programming lineup and the addition of a new program, the Atlanta-based 2 Live Stews."Radio: 'StarDate' explains the night", Orange County Register. June 11, 2006. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
On September 5, 2006, it was announced that Sporting News Radio would be sold to American City Business Journals for an undisclosed price."Paul Allen's Vulcan unloads The Sporting News", Associated Press. NBC News. September 5, 2006. Retrieved April 29, 2019."American City Business Journals buys Sporting News magazine", Birmingham Business Journal. September 5, 2006. Retrieved April 29, 2019. In October 2006, the station fired all local on-air staff.Stewart, Larry. "All Local KMPC Employees Fired", Los Angeles Times. October 19, 2006. Retrieved April 30, 2019."KMPC/L.A. Drops Local Staff", All Access Music Group. October 19, 2006. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
Radio Korea In 2007, the station was sold to P&Y Broadcasting for $33 million, and it began to air Korean language programming as "Radio Korea"."Deal of the Week", Radio & Records. April 20, 2007. Retrieved April 28, 2019."KMPC Price: $33 Million", All Access Music Group. April 12, 2007. Retrieved April 29, 2019.Stewart, Larry. "Can the fight match hype?", Los Angeles Times. May 4, 2007. Retrieved April 29, 2019. In April 2013, KMPC began airing Korean language broadcasts of Los Angeles Dodgers baseball games."Dodgers announce official Korean radio partner Radio Korea", MLB.com. April 2, 2013. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
In December 2025, the station moved its offices to La Palma. This caused controversy in the Los Angeles area Korean community.
References
External links Radio Korea Website
Tony Bruno Show