City Paradise, California Branding 103.5 The Blaze Frequency 103.5 MHz | Broadcast area Chico, California Slogan Hit Country First air date 1992 | |
KHSL-FM (103.5 FM, "The Blaze") is a country music formatted radio station based in Chico, California. It is owned and operated by Deer Creek Broadcasting, which also owns NewsTalk 1290 KPAY, Mix 95.1 KMXI-FM, and Spanish station KHHZ-FM 97.7 (known as La Gran X/Radio Mexico). The station's general manager is longtime Chico media personality Dino Corbin, who served as general manager at KHSL-TV for over 20 years. The program director and morning personality is Mike Wessels. The distinction of the longest-tenured on-air talent at the station goes to Moriss Taylor, who has been a fixture at the station for six decades. (Taylor has since retired.)
History
KHSL Radio began in Chico, CA, in 1935 at the request of the Chico Chamber of Commerce. Two people, Harry Smithson and Sidney Lewis, put KHSL AM on the air. The first letters of these gentlemen's first and last names form the call letters (KHSL). Over the years these call letters have become an institution in the Northstate.
In 1936, KHSL was purchased by Hugh and Mickey McClung of the Golden Empire Broadcasting Company. In 1953 the McClungs signed on the first commercial television in the Northstate, KHSL-TV. Golden Empire Broadcasting Company, which included KHSL AM and KHSL-TV, was owned by the McClungs until October 1994, and, until the sale, was one of the last original family-owned broadcast companies in the country. Mickey McClung was noted as one of the first female broadcast pioneers in the industry. (Source: Original KHSL website: no longer exists)