ERP 8,900 watts Class B City of license San Mateo Owner Cumulus Media | HAAT 354 meters Frequency 107.7 MHz Format Mainstream rock Branding 107.7 The Bone | |
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Broadcast area San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, California Repeater(s) 107.7 KSAN-FM1 (Pleasanton) First air date April 1, 1963 (as KUFY)
1966 as KSAN on 94.9 FM Area San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland Slogan 107.7 The Bone ROCKS! The Rock of the Bay | ||
KSAN (107.7 FM, "107.7 The Bone") is a commercial radio station licensed to San Mateo, California, with its transmitter located on San Bruno Mountain. It is owned and operated by Cumulus Media and broadcasts to the San Francisco Bay Area. KSAN airs a mainstream rock music format. The station's studios are located in San Francisco's SoMa district.
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KUFY/KVEZ
On April 1, 1963, KUFY signed on with a beautiful music format that targeted San Jose and the South Bay area. The call letters would change to KVEZ in 1968.
KSOL
In the 1970s, an Urban/R&B station operated on 107.7 and was known as KSOL (K-Soul). Originally broadcast on 1450 AM (now KEST), KSOL moved to the FM position in the early '70s, making it the first urban contemporary radio station on the FM dial in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sly Stone played a part in influencing the station to the point where it was a successful radio station in the region. While KSOL managed to fend off competition from KBLX unscathed throughout the 1980s, the station's ratings began to decline due to competition from KMEL, then a Top 40 station which was slowly evolving in a rhythmic-turned-mainstream urban direction. Eventually, the decision was made to end KSOL 107.7 and its format. The DJs were notified beforehand and held a goodbye show to send off KSOL on February 10, 1992. The final song on KSOL was "Miss You Much" by Janet Jackson. After a very brief stunt of country music, KSOL segued into a 72-hour loop of "Wild Thing" by Tone Lōc.
KYLD
On February 13, 1992, at 3 p.m., 107.7 FM flipped to Rhythmic Contemporary, branded as "WiLD 107." The first song on "WiLD" was "D.M.S.R" by Prince. For the first year and a half, the station retained the old KSOL call letters. Allen Shaw's Crescent Communications bought the station in December 1993 and changed KSOL's call letters to KYLD the following year. They also purchased 99.1 in San Jose from Viacom, and began simulcasting 107.7's programming in the South Bay, in order to help fill 107.7's signal limitations. Program Director Rick Thomas and Music Director Michael Martin were the original team that set a plan in motion that was the beginning of the end for the then dominant KMEL. They came with a strategy of playing "old school" and up tempo freestyle/dance songs like those heard on heritage San Jose radio station HOT 97.7. Of course, KMEL finally settled in on the urban contemporary format at the same time, and that station and KYLD battled with each other throughout the mid-1990s.
KSAN
At 12:01 a.m. on July 2, 1997, KYLD moved to 94.9 FM. 107.7 and 94.9 would simulcast until Midnight on July 7th, when 107.7 FM, now with the KSAN call letters, began stunting with construction noises and song clips as a prelude to a flip to classic rock at Noon on July 11th.
On March 13, 2000, at 3 p.m., after playing "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" by Elton John, the station relaunched as "The Bone," playing classic rock with a harder edge. To initiate this change, the station played AC/DC "A to Z," all 154 songs by the band in alphabetical order.
Currently
Since the demise of rival station KSJO in 2004, the station has adopted a mainstream rock format. Bands in their playlist range from classic rock such as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, and Led Zeppelin, southern rock such as Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Eagles, alternative rock, punk rock, or grunge like Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, The Offspring and Green Day, and hard rock and heavy metal music such as Rush, Van Halen, Metallica, Black Sabbath, and AC/DC. The weekday on-air staff at The Bone consists of Lamont & Tonelli (with "Super Producer" Sully, Baby Huey & Chasta), Steven Seaweed, and Zakk.
Since 2015, the Bone's playlist has grown increasingly repetitive. In early 2016, Steven Seaweed's fan favorite "All Request Hot Lunch" was cancelled by the program director. In August, Lejf Jaeger left the Bone to pursue other interests. He had been part time weekends only for ten years, and felt his career was not going anywhere. With his departure, "Local Licks" was also removed from the programming. Some listeners feel the station has grown too "corporate" and that there is barely any "local feel" left. Despite being an SF Bay Area classic rock station, the Bone plays no Credence Clearwater Revival, Grateful Dead, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Doobie Brothers, or Night Ranger on their regular playlist. They play little Journey, Steve Miller Band, and Faith No More. The Bone does include many Green Day and Metallica songs on their playlist (Including Mandatory Metallica). All of the previous bands are from the Bay Area.
The weekend on-air staff at The Bone consists of: Lamont & Tonelli – highlights of the week (hosted by Chasta), Lejf Jaeger, Baby Huey, Chris Gee, Bone Over Easy, Local Licks.
Sports
Throughout the NFL season, the station broadcasts San Francisco 49ers games. In April 2007, the station broadcast two away games of the Golden State Warriors basketball team - April 6 at the Memphis Grizzlies and the next being April 13 at the Sacramento Kings.
HD radio
KSAN also broadcasts in HD with the following stations:
Despite FCC requirements, their legal IDs (which often play well past or before the allotted 2 minutes within the top of the hour) fail to mention the Bone's HD1 component.