The KRLA call letters entered the market in 1959 when Canadian millionaire Jack Kent Cooke's Eleven-Ten Broadcasting purchased the station. The 1110 AM frequency was originally held by KPAS, which launched in 1942. Three years later the call letters changed to KXLA in which air personalities included Tennessee Ernie Ford, Cal Worthington and Jim Hawthorne.
During the rise of the British Invasion of 1964, KRLA was the first Southern California station to play The Beatles. The KRLA call letters ended up on the album cover in 1977 for Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl, shown on concert tickets. Some of the station's most legendary personalities include Wink Martindale, Dick Biondi, Emperor Bob Hudson, Casey Kasem, Art Laboe and Shadoe Stevens.
KRLA continued to play current hits through the mid-seventies, when it started to feature more oldies in the mix. Station billboards promoted "Elvis-to-Elton." The format shifted completely to oldies in 1984. It stopped playing eighties music and mainly focused on the sixties at first. During the 90s the programming began to include more r&b classics such as doo-wop and Motown hits.
The station went jockless on November 10, 1998 except for morning host Huggy Boy. He did his final show on the 27th and then the station stopped playing music after the 29th, becoming a talk station. It also became the play-by-play broadcaster for the Los Angeles Kings and the California Angels.
Station owner Infinity sold KRLA in 2000 to Disney to comply with FCC ownership limits. It became ESPN Radio as KSPN in December, four months before Disney completed the acquisition. In 2003 Disney reshuffled its stations in the Los Angeles market, as Radio Disney station KDIS moved to 1110 AM and KSPN migrated to 710 AM. The KRLA call letters reappeared in the market on January 1, 2001 at Salem Media Group's 870 AM as "The Answer."
1959-1959 Hal Goodwin
1959-1962 Jimmy O'Neill, also 1984-1985, 1990-1993
1959-1963 Frosty Bruce Harris
1959-1960 Perry Allen
1959-1970 Richard Beebe, also 1981-1985, 1991-1994
1960-1960 Roger Christian
1960-1963 Sam Riddle
1960-1961 Wink Martindale
1961-1961 Ed Perry
1962-1964 Ted Quillin
1962-1976 Sie Holliday
1963-1963 Dick Biondi, also 1965-1967
1963-1966 Emperor Bob Hudson
1963-1969 Dave Hull
1963-1969 Casey Kasem
1963-1968 Cecil Tuck
1964-1964 Bobby "Boris" Pickett
1964-1964 Carson Schreiber
1964-1967 Charlie O'Donnell
1964-1967 Jim Steck
1964-1965 Adam DeMarais, also 1968-1969, 1988-1991
1964-1965 Gary Mack
1964-1969 Lew Irwin
1965-1967 Mel Hall
1965-1967 Bill Slater
1965-1970 Cliff Hill Gilliland
1965-1970 Harry Shearer
1965-1968 Johnny Hayes, also 1971-1992
1966-1966 Jon Silvius, also 1969-1974
1966-1970 Thom Beck, also 1974-1976
1967-1969 Reb Foster, also 1973, 1982-1983, 1985-1987
1968-1968 Len Chandler
1969-1969 Mike Ambrose
1969-1972 Jay Stevens, also 1986-1987
1969-1970 Jimmy Rabbitt
1969-1972 Russ O'Hara, also 1993
1969-1971 Leo McElroy
1969-1971 Dick Sainte (PD)
1970-1971 Jim Meeker
1970-1971 Paul Oscar Anderson
1970-1973 Shadoe Stevens (PD)
1971-1972 B. Mitchell Reed
1971-1972 Mikel Hunter
1971-1972 Bill Browning
1971-1972 Ed Ziel
1971-1972 Gene Thayer
1971-1972 Dave Diamond
1972-1973 Lee "Baby" Simms, also 1975
1972-1973 China Smith
1972-1974 Roger Aldi
1972-1973 Christopher Ames
1974-1976 Matthew (Doc) Frail aka Lee Simms
1975-1975 Robert Lewis
1975-1975 Les Perry, also 1983-1984
1976-1977 Sherman Cohen, also 1980-1982 PD
1976-1977 Tom Greenleight
1976-1983 Jack Roth
1978-1978 Birdie Bush
1978-1982 Bob Forward (GM)
1978-1982 Laura Gross
1980-1981 Manny Pacheco, also 1985-1989, 1993-1998
1981-1983 Mario Machado, also 1985-1987
1981-1985 Jane Platt
1983-1983 Sonny Melendrez
1983-1985 Jim Pewter (PD)
1984-1993 Val Valentine
1984-1987 Wolfman Jack
1985-1989 Real Don Steele
1986-1990 Charlie Tuna
1986-1986 Mark Denis
1987-1990 Shaune McNamara
1999-2000 Jamie Osborn
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