HIP-HOP AT 50: KDAY'S DAYS AND NIGHTS

L.A.'s KDAY has a rich history built on trailblazing moments. After hitting the airwaves in 1948 at 1580-AM, it evolved into the first radio station to host a hip-hop show, a clear signal that the times, they were a-changin'.

In 1979 DJ Steve Woods played "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang, a candy-coated introduction to the musical revolution then brewing in the Bronx. By January 1980, the song had climbed to #36, becoming the first rap song to crack the Top 40.

With hip-hop blaring from boomboxes all over America, KDAY hired Greg Mack from Houston's KMJQ as its music director in 1983. Mack (pictured here with Eazy-E) soon added hip-hop to the rotation in an effort to attract young Black and Latino listeners. Dr. Dre and DJ Yella Boy (aka DJ Yella) became the first mixer DJs at the station. KDAY would go on to help launch the careers of such pioneering artists as Ice Cube, Ice-T, LL COOL J, JAY-Z and Queen Latifah.

But the station didn't just spin hip-hop records; it made a sizable impact on the culture itself. As gang violence in L.A. reached horrific heights, KDAY organized a "day of peace" on Oct. 9, 1986. With the help of Run-DMC, Barry White and boxer Paul Gonzales, the station fielded phone calls from people eager to talk about the negative impact gang violence was having on their communities. Not a single gang-related incident was reported that day and within two weeks, two of the city's most feared criminal enterprises—the Bloods and the Crips—had signed a peace treaty.

But after Mack's exit in 1990, KDAY was rudderless. It was bought a year later by real-estate investor Fred Sands and turned into a business-talk station. With all the flavor sucked out of its call letters (now KBLA, as in "blah"), it would be 15 years before the outlet returned to its hip-hop roots; in 2004, KDAY was resurrected at 93.5-FM with a return to classic hip-hop programming—but that proved fleeting.

By 2006, the station had moved toward the Urban Contemporary format in an attempt to increase its ratings and ultimately adopted the name "The Beat." After struggling to find its footing, it finally (and fully) embraced its hip-hop identity by dropping "The Beat" branding and reverting to KDAY in 2009. The first song it played? Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice," a celebratory offering from the D-O-double-G's 1993 solo debut, Doggystyle (Interscope).

Hearing hip-hop on the radio is now as common as Run-DMC's rocking shelltoes and dookie chains, but in the early '80s, it was a bold move, one that unequivocally paid off.