KLLC


KLLC is a commercial FM radio station located in San Francisco, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by Entercom. Its transmitter is off Wolfback Ridge Road on Mount Beacon in the Marin Headlands near Sausalito, California. The studios and offices are located on Battery Street in downtown San Francisco.

History

The 97.3 MHz frequency signed on the air as KWBR-FM, dedicated September 14, 1947. The station was owned by the Warner Brothers of Oakland, with studios and transmitter on the side of Twin Peaks. It was a sister station of KWBR-AM format, to compete against leading rock station KMEL. The first song played under the KRQR call sign was "I'm a Rocker" by Bruce Springsteen. KRQR's harder approach helped start a long run as a dominant rock station. The year was a busy one for Bay Area rock stations. In May of that year, KSFX dropped rock and went to a talk format as KGO-FM. A month later, on August 23, KQAK switched to rock as "The Quake". And in September, KFOG dropped beautiful music for a more eclectic mix of rock.
Even with four AOR stations in San Francisco, in addition to two more in San Jose, KRQR still dominated amidst the stiff competition. KQAK was the first to give up, dropped AOR in April 1983. The station switched to modern rock. KRQR and KFOG competed with the tightly-formatted KMEL, which flipped to CHR in 1984.
KRQR's rock format continued throughout the 1980s and up to 1993, when it moved to more of a classic rock direction. By 1995, the hard rock format was in decline across the country, as modern rock was on the rise. To combat this, the station evolved back to a more current direction in February 1996. However, this failed to turn around ratings, and on June 5, 1996, at 3 PM, KRQR flipped to KLLC, "Alice 97.3," with a Modern AC format. The flip to "Alice" made the station one of the first in the U.S. to air the format. KLLC gradually evolved into Hot AC in 2010.
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom. The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th.

Sarah and Vinnie

The station's most popular show has been in weekday morning drive. Originally known as "The Sarah and Vinnie Show", it was hosted by Sarah Clark and Vinnie Hasson, then known as Vinnie Crackhorn, until he was fired in 2002 due to problems with alcohol. After a several month search for a replacement for Vinnie, the station selected Mike Nelson, a.k.a. "The DJ with No Name," to become the co-host of the renamed "Sarah and No-Name Show." After 6 years, Nelson was let go by station management on July 17, 2008, who announced that Vinnie would re-team with Sarah starting on August 4, 2008, returning the show's name to "The Sarah and Vinnie Show." Nelson later returned to his previous station, Live 105, as the host of the morning show before becoming a part of KFOG's morning show in 2015.

Booster

KLLC is rebroadcast on the following FM Booster:

HD Radio

KLLC broadcasts in the HD Radio format. Its HD2 subchannel originally carried an automated chill music format, known as "Chill with Alice." According to the radio industry website , KLLC has the most-visited site of its kind in the United States.
On October 11, 2018, KLLC-HD2 switched to Radio.com's LGBTQ talk and EDM dance music format, branded as "Out Now." On November 1, 2018, the station rebranded as "Channel Q".

Off-Air Activities

The station sponsors three seasonal concerts each year: the free "Summerthing" show in June and the "Now and Zen Fest" in September, both in Golden Gate Park, and "Alice in Winterland" in December. Featured acts have included Alanis Morissette, Duran Duran, Five for Fighting, Smash Mouth, and Train. Up until 2009 recordings from the concerts and other live appearances on the station were collected into the annual "This is Alice Music" CD, which was sold to raise funds donated to Breast cancer research and treatment charities.

Summerthing lineups