The story of 1490 in Burbank goes back to 1947. The 1490 channel in the L.A. area was left open when KVOE-Santa Ana moved from 1490 to 1480 in 1945.

A new station was licensed to Burbank on 1490 by the FCC on May 8, 1947, with the call letter KWIK. KWIK was 250 watts day and night, the maximum allowed in those days on a Class IV or local channel.

On December 12, 1949, the FCC ruled that KWIK should lose its license for repeated technical violations of FCC rules. But, KWIK stayed on the air for two more years, while they appealed the FCC ruling through the courts. KWIK in 1950 had its studios at 20 West Burbank Blvd. KWIK was known as The Voice of the San Fernando Valley, per the letterhead.

A new license was issued for 1490 kilocycles (kiloHertz today) on May 9, 1951 with the calls KSFV assigned. (For San Fernando Valley?)...But those call letters were never used. KWIK stayed on 1 year and 5 months after the FCC tried to take away their license for repeated technical violations. It was finally taken off the air and its license was deleted by the FCC May 15, 1951.

On October 10, 1951, the FCC assigned the new 1490 license for Burbank the calls KBLA. Again, the power was 250 watts day and night, with tower and studios in McCambridge Park in Burbank. Very early in the 1960s, the FCC allowed local Class IV stations to use 1,000 watts power, with 250 watts at night.

The shift from 1490 to 1500 kHz. on the AM dial took place in 1964. The call letter change from KBLA to KBBQ (K-Bar-B-Q) was approved by the FCC on June 17, 1967. The station became KROQ on Sept. 2, 1972.

The 1490 frequency remains in the Banning/Palm Springs area. The station that resides there today was fortunate enough to get some rather choice call letters: KMET.