KDON FM 102.5

A commercial FM radio station licensed to Salinas, California, broadcasting a rhythmic contemporary format to the Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz radio market and the broader Central California Coast. Operating at 102.5 MHz with an effective radiated power of 15,000 watts, the station transmits from a tower atop Fremont Peak in Prunedale, with studios located on Moffett Street in Salinas. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The station's origins trace to 1960, when it signed on as KSBW-FM, the FM counterpart to KSBW 1380 AM and television station KSBW-TV Channel 8. In its early years KSBW-FM simulcast its AM sibling before transitioning to an automated beautiful music format featuring soft instrumental programming with limited commercial interruption. The station rebranded as KDON-FM in the early 1980s, adopting a Top 40 format. The KDON call sign itself carried historical weight in the market, having previously been used on 1460 AM since the mid-1960s before that station shifted to a talk format and relinquished the letters. The format evolved into rhythmic contemporary by 1988, and the station has since maintained a consistently high rating position within the Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz market. In the early 1990s, Mancow Muller hosted a local morning program on the station before achieving wider recognition as a morning personality in Chicago and eventually in national syndication. Current programming includes the Bootleg Kev Show among its personality-driven dayparts.