KLOK (AM)

KLOK (1170 kHz "Radio Zindagi 1170 AM") is a commercial AM radio station broadcasting a radio format of Hindi language talk and Bollywood music. Licensed to San Jose, California, the station serves the San Francisco Bay Area. Since June 2009, KLOK 1170 AM has served the South Asian community. 
By day, KLOK is powered at 50,000 watts, the maximum for American AM stations. But at night, to protect other stations on 1170 AM, it reduces power to 9,000 watts. It uses a directional antenna in the daytime, helping it cover most of the Bay Area.
History.
E. L. Barker founded KLOK and began broadcasting on October 13, 1946. Initially the station broadcast with a 5,000 watt daytime signal, later adding a 1,000 watt night time signal in 1952. The power increased to 10,000 watts daytime and 5,000 watts night time on June 29, 1964. Mr. Barker sold KLOK Radio to Davis Broadcasting (which later became the Weaver Davis Fowler Corporation) in 1967. On August 10, 1969, KLOK increased the daytime power to its current 50,000 watts. These historical dates are listed on a plaque near the entrance of the station's former studios (and current transmitter site) in San Jose.
In the late sixties and seventies, the station broadcast "oldies" pop music eventually changing into Adult Contemporary. One of the popular DJs in the late 1960s was Jon Badeaux. By the early 1980s, KLOK's parent company also owned KLOK-FM (San Francisco), KWIZ (Santa Ana) and KFIG (Fresno). According to Ad Week, all five stations eventually shared the "Yes/No Radio" format which was developed by KLOK Executive VP and GM, Bill Weaver. This allowed the station to leverage branding, advertising, and jingles by JAM Creative Productions before the switchover in August 1988. In this format, listeners would respond to the "KLOK Yes/No Music Poll" by calling into the station and voting "Yes" if they would like the song added to the playlist or "No" to have a certain song removed from the playlist.
KLOK was purchased by EXCL Communications switched to a Spanish language format called Radio Bahia on August 9, 1988 after its days of AC. In the early 1990s, EXCL flipped to a Regional Mexican format under the name Tricolor. In 2000, Entravision acquired both KLOK and KBRG from EXCL. The station was flipped to a Cumbia format. On January 1, 2006, Univision purchased both KLOK and KBRG from Entravision and switched it to a Spanish Talk format. The station maintained this format until 2009, when its sale by Univision Radio to Principle Broadcasting Network was followed by a change to a format billed as "New International Community Radio" generally consisting of South Asian music.
On May 1, 2018, KLOK switched to the "Radio Zindagi" Indian talk and music format after KZDG (1550 AM) in San Francisco dropped it in favor of a simulcast with KGMZ-FM.
Current programming.
KLOK uses a community radio format featuring brokered programming, largely serving the local Indian community.