KPH Hillcrest Site
Coast station KPH began life in in 1905 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. In those wild and wooly days of early radio there were no radio regulations. So when the station was completed and the operators realized they'd need a call sign one said, "We're in the Palace Hotel. How about PH?" "Good enough for me!" was the reply. And they were in business. But not for long. We had a little problem in San Francisco in 1906 - an earthquake and fire that destroyed most of the city. The Palace Hotel was burned. PH was rebuilt on Green Street at a location that is unknown to us today. The station didn't last long there either. Just as today, neighbors and radio stations don't mix, especially when that radio station uses a powerful rotary spark gap as a transmiter! PH moved to Hillcrest above Daly City south of San Francisco, by that time acquiring the prefix "K", forming KPH, one of the most famous call signs in the world. But where was Hillcrest? We set about finding out.
