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KVTO (1400 AM broadcasting) is a radio station broadcasting a Chinese language format. Licensed to Berkeley, California, United States, the station serves the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is currently owned by Phuong Pham, through licensee Pham Radio Communication LLC. Its tower is located in Berkeley, California, and is shared with KEAR.
It is an affiliate of Cantonese-language Sing Tao Chinese Radio, and leases additional programming from other groups.
KRE-FM went on the air on February 14, 1949, with a transmitter on Round Top, a peak in the hills above Berkeley and Oakland in Contra Costa County. In 1950 the transmitter was moved to the site of KRE (AM) in Berkeley.
In March 1963, KRE was taken over by the Wright Broadcasting Company of Paterson, New Jersey. The new principal owner, Dickens J. Wright, had previously been the principal owner of WPAT in Paterson, "Changing Hands" (KRE-AM-FM entry), Broadcasting, February 25, 1963, page 65. and on April 14, 1963 KRE's call letters were changed to KPAT. Later programming was simulcast on KRE-FM and there were occasional AM/FM stereo broadcasts, including some classical music programming. The call sign was changed back to KRE in 1972. The call letters KBLX were adopted in 1986, then changed to KBFN in 1989 and back to KBLX in 1990. The current call letters, KVTO, were adopted in 1994; the 1400 AM frequency was a simulcast of KBLX-FM, which was a sister station of KVTO until May 1, 2012, when Entercom Communications officially took over KBLX-FM.
In the summer of 1972, George Lucas filmed radio legend Wolfman Jack at the KRE studios for the film, American Graffiti. (Some artistic license was employed for the movie: the Wolfman is shown doing his program live from California, although the Brinkley Act made such broadcasting illegal.)
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