The Big 86 KONO-AM Comes Back to San Diego

RADIO ONLINE | Tuesday, January 17, 2017 | 9:02am CT

The greatest hits of the '60s and '70s are back! The Big 86, KONO-AM, returns to the airwaves as Cox Media Group reunites San Antonio and South Texas listeners with the music they grew up with. The Beatles, Santana, The Doobie Brothers, The Rolling Stones, Tommy James and the Shondells, The Supremes, Chicago, Sugarloaf, Marvin Gaye and The Spinners are among the artists who will be around, at 860 on the AM dial.

KONO Radio began broadcasting in San Antonio in 1927 as KGRC (for Gene Roth Company) when Eugene Roth launched a radio station above his bicycle shop and garage in downtown San Antonio. He later changed the call letters to KONO and by the late 1950s the station became famous for playing rock and roll and pioneering the Top 40 format. Through the 1960s and into the 1970s the Big 86 led the ratings and became known as the Top Dog among radio stations.

"This is the radio station three decades of San Antonians and South Texas residents grew up with when Rock and Roll was just beginning," said Roger Allen, Director of Branding and Programming. "It's an honor to bring a historic era of radio and music back into service."