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KYSR (98.7 FM broadcasting) is a commercial radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, and owned by iHeartMedia. KYSR broadcasts an alternative rock format and is the flagship station of The Woody Show. KYSR's studios are located in Burbank, while the transmitter resides in the Santa Monica Mountains on Briarcrest Peak in Beverly Hills. KYSR broadcasts using HD Radio technology; its HD-2 digital subchannel airs the sports radio programming of KLAC. List of U.S. HD Radio Stations ibiquity.com KYSR is also heard in the Antelope Valley on KSRY (103.1 FM) in Tehachapi.
The film studio sold KMGM's studio and transmitter to Art and Jean Crawford. They relaunched 98.7 FM on June 30, 1954, using the call letters KCBH. The couple owned Crawford's of Beverly Hills Record & Hi-Fi Store, and used their store's inventory as a record library for the station.
By 1989, KJOI began playing fewer instrumental of popular songs and added more vocalists to the playlist, eschewing middle of the road songs in favor of soft adult contemporary. Instrumentals were dropped altogether in November 1989, when the station became known as "Touch 98.7," positioned between Smooth Jazz-formatted KTWV and Soft AC-formatted KOST.
On February 12, 1990, the call sign was changed to KXEZ. The format was altered to "Easy Oldies."
MTV VJ Mark Goodman was heard on KYSR from 1996 to 1997; no official reason for his departure was given, but his father died shortly before his departure. Ryan Seacrest co-hosted KYSR's afternoon drive program with Lisa Foxx from 1995 to 2003; both hosts were among the top rated afternoon drive shows in Los Angeles for seven years.
In 2000, AMFM Inc. merged with its current owner, Clear Channel Communications, now known as iHeartMedia, Inc. Coincidentally, around this time, Viacom became the owners of KROQ when that station's parent company, CBS, merged with Viacom.
Jamie, Frosty & Frank were hired as hosts for KYSR's morning drive program in 1998; Frosty Stilwell and Frank Kramer were fired on September 15, 1999, and Jamie White was paired with Danny Bonaduce. Bonaduce departed on July 1, 2005; his vacancy was filled by board-op Jack Heine and producer Mike "Stench" Roberts.
Starting in 2002, KYSR began to experience a drop in its ratings due to a combination of factors, including the decline of hit music product in the modern adult contemporary genre. The ratings loss was compounded later by KCBS-FM's switch to an adult hits format known as "JACK-FM." In September 2005, KYSR adjusted its playlist to focus on 1980s and 1990s hot adult contemporary music, supervised by sister station KRRL program director Mike Marino.
By April 2006, KYSR moved back to a modern adult contemporary music format with the tag line of "Today's Music Alternative." In addition, all on air personalities, including the morning show Jamie, Jack, and Stench, were temporarily pulled off the station. Fans of the morning show were upset by this move, which included a public protest outside the station. Shortly afterwards, a poll was offered on the KYSR website asking if the listeners wanted Jamie, Jack and Stench to return. Ninety-seven percent said yes, and a week later, they returned to the air. However, Jamie, Jack and Stench were replaced a year later by the morning team of Sean Valentine and Lisa Foxx in 2007.
KYSR officially changed positioning from Modern AC to Alternative in 2008 to compete with 106.7 KROQ. While the core artists largely remained the same and leaned more in a pop direction than most alternative rock stations, the station's imaging was changed, along with a new logo holding the numbers 98 and 7 in Blackletter typeface with a metallic star between the numerals. Both R&R/Nielsen BDS and Mediabase concurrently added KYSR as an alternative/modern rock reporter. From Mediabase 24/7
The Woody Show began airing in mornings on April 21, 2014. The cast includes the host "Woody" Fife, Greg Gory, Morgan Cook (associate Producer), Sammi Marino (executive producer), Renae Ravey (former), Sebastian "Sebas", Bort, Randy and Jason "Menace" McMurry, who had all last worked together at KITS, an alternative rock station in San Francisco. The show proved so popular that the show began national syndication through Premiere Networks in 2016.
"Damn Julianne" Miller was both a phone screener for The Woody Show and a weekend host on KYSR. She was one of several hundred employees fired by iHeart in a company-wide cut back, along with evening host Jake Dill, on January 20, 2020.
On March 9, 2020, iHeart announced that KYSR will air Los Angeles Chargers NFL games as the team's new flagship station beginning with the 2020 season. In addition to carrying the games, KYSR also runs Chargers contests and sweepstakes, with prizes including game tickets and official merchandise. The Chargers broadcasts will only be heard on FM radio, whilst listeners on the iHeartRadio app (including Los Angeles) will get normal music programming.
In October 2020, afternoon DJ Andrew Harms left the station. He was replaced by Chris Booker and Ted Stryker, who previously worked at rival station KROQ.
The HD-2 subchannel later aired an active rock iHeartRadio channel known as "Rock Nation." eRockster Radio on YouTube (accessed December 27, 2012) KYSR-HD2 currently simulcasts co-owned sports radio KLAC 570 AM.
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