KSYC (AM)
KSYC (1490 AM, "Radio 1490") is a Jefferson Public Radio affiliate radio station based in Yreka, California.
History
The station was founded in 1947 and signed on the air as a country music station, which had been Yreka's radio staple for many years. Its format slowly evolved to one of "middle of the road", with polkas being heard regularly in the mid 1960s through early 1970s. From the mid-1960s until the mid-1970s, KSYC would play top 40 music during evening hours. The studio was located at the transmitter site, several blocks from downtown Yreka.
In 1974 it was sold to Gary Hawk from the Los Angeles, California, area, d.b.a. Dalmatian Enterprises, Inc., and sometime later Gary added the FM station.
KSYC was one of the stations sold to Siskiyou Radio Partners, Inc. in 1995, owned by Tom Huth and Bob Darling. The call letters remained the same, but the format was moved to the FM band at 103.9 MHz, now known as "The Country Station". The station was then sold to Four Rivers Broadcasting, who also purchased KMJC, KMJC-FM, KSYC-FM and then KWHO in 2001. Two years later, Jefferson Public Radio acquired both KMJC and KSYC from Four Rivers.
KSYC-FM
KSYC-FM (103.9 FM) is a country music formatted radio station based in Yreka, California, owned and operated by Buffalo Broadcasting.
History
The station was founded in the 1970s by Dalmatian Enterprises, Inc., which also owned KSYC-AM 1490, the original country music station in Siskiyou County. The new station was given the call letters KYRE and licensed to operate at frequency 97.7 FM. It signed on the air on June 1, 1983 and played the pop/rock format with George Calvin Booth as the station's program director and main on-air talent. In the latter years of KYRE, it was promoted as "Hot Hits Y98".
The station was purchased in 1995 by Siskiyou Radio Partners, Inc., and the call letters were changed to KSYC-FM as a way of moving the country music format over to the FM band and make way for the fast-growing news/talk format on the AM station. The frequency was also moved from FM 97.7 to FM 103.9 that same year. The station's program director became Kevin Sponsler, who was PD of the AM station before the switch. KSYC-FM quickly replaced rival KWHO-FM as the county's only country music station when that station was sold to Huth Broadcasting in 1997 and KWHO's music format changed from country to hot adult contemporary.
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