KNBR-FM

Last updated

KNBR-FM
Broadcast area San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose
Frequency 104.5 MHz
BrandingKNBR 104.5 and 680
Programming
Format Sports
Network Infinity Sports Network
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
KNBR, KGO, KSAN, KSFO, KTCT
History
First air date
February 4, 1960
(64 years ago) (1960-02-04)
Former call signs
  • KBAY-FM (1960–1963)
  • KFOG (1963–2019)
Call sign meaning
carried over from KNBR, once owned by NBC
Technical information [1]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID 54770
Class B
ERP 7,100 watts
HAAT 459 meters (1,506 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
 37°45′18″N122°27′11″W / 37.755°N 122.453°W / 37.755; -122.453
Repeater(s) See § Booster
Links
Public license information
Webcast
Website www.knbr.com

KNBR-FM (104.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, serving the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Owned by Cumulus Media, KNBR-FM features a sports radio format in a simulcast with co-owned KNBR. Both stations are the San Francisco affiliates for Infinity Sports Network, the flagship stations for the San Francisco Giants Radio Network and co-flagship stations for the San Francisco 49ers Radio Network (along with KSAN and KGO). KNBR-AM-FM are the radio home of Greg Papa and Tom Tolbert.

Contents

KNBR maintains studios on Battery Street in San Francisco, while the transmitter is located on Mount Sutro. In addition to a standard analog transmission, KNBR simulcasts over low-power analog Pleasanton booster KNBR-FM3 (104.5 FM), and is available online.

History

Beautiful music

The station signed on the air on February 4, 1960, as KBAY-FM. [2] It was owned by Kaiser Broadcasting, a company started by local industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. It aired a "good music" format, mostly instrumental easy listening with some middle of the road songs and soft pop vocals.

In 1963, [3] the call sign switched to KFOG in honor of the city's fog layer, and the station aired a beautiful music format, again largely instrumental music, cover versions of popular songs with some Broadway and Hollywood show tunes. Within a few years, KFOG got competition from other beautiful music stations: KABL-AM-FM (now KNEW and KISQ) and from KOIT, as well as San Jose-based KBAY (now KBRG). For the next two decades, beautiful music was popular in the Bay Area. By the early 1980s, the format was showing signs of aging. [4] KFOG was acquired by General Electric in 1974. [5]

"Timeless Rock"

On September 16, 1982, with studios still at Ghirardelli Square, KFOG dropped the easy listening format for a blend of album-oriented rock (AOR) and classic rock, which the station called "Timeless Rock". The first song on the new format was "Rock This Town" by The Stray Cats. [6] [7] The station featured a wide range of music, from the psychedelic sounds of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane to newer artists such as Prince, the Eurythmics, and the Thompson Twins.

KFOG avoided commercial-sounding bands such as Loverboy and REO Speedwagon, which were widely played on more mass-appeal AOR stations at the time. KFOG was inspired by San Francisco's freeform rock radio heritage, dating back to KSAN, a pioneering progressive rock station (now KYLD).

A variation of KFOG's original logo KFOG1988.jpg
A variation of KFOG's original logo
Logo, 2006-2016 KFOG2006.jpg
Logo, 2006-2016
Logo used from 2016 to 2019 KFOG FM 2016 Logo.png
Logo used from 2016 to 2019

When KFOG changed to rock in the early 1980s, the Bay Area already had numerous competing rock stations; KMEL was the established, tightly-formatted AOR station that had been playing rock music since 1977. KRQR was the hard rock station and KQAK was a new station with a friendly, loosely programmed, personality-driven alternative rock/new wave format. There were two other rock stations in the South Bay - KSJO and KOME. One other San Francisco rock station, KSFX, switched to talk radio in May of that year. Of the six Bay Area rock stations that were on the air in late 1982, KFOG had been the last of the heritage rock stations.

In 1989, KFOG was acquired by the Susquehanna Radio Corporation, along with KNBR, for $17.5 million. [8] Susquehanna later merged into Cumulus Media, the current owner.

AAA and alternative rock

The station evolved over the years, but KFOG aired an eclectic rock format for more than a quarter century. In the 1990s, it adjusted its playlist to an adult album alternative (AAA) direction. In August 1995, it became "KFOG 97.7 and 104.5", when Susquehanna acquired San Jose station KHQT (97.7 FM) and turned it into KFFG, simulcasting KFOG on a full-time basis. [9] [10]

On March 31, 2016, KFOG took all of its DJs off the air and began promoting an "evolution" to take place on April 20. On that day, at 6 a.m., KFOG relaunched its AAA format under the new slogan "Music Matters", and shifted its playlist to focus on songs from the 1990s to the present day. The first song under the "Music Matters" branding was "Times Like These" by Foo Fighters.

As part of the change, former New York City rock DJ Bryan Schock was hired as Operations Manager/Program Director for KFOG and classic rock sister station KSAN. Most of the KFOG airstaff, including morning hosts Irish Greg McQuade and Renee Richardson, midday host Annalisa, afternoon host Bill Webster, night host Dred Scott, and weekend host Rosalie Howarth, were let go from the station. [11] [12] [13] By 2018, the station gradually transitioned to a more mainstream alternative format. It then directly competed with KITS.

At 9:00 p.m. on May 31, 2019, KFOG slightly re-branded as "KFOG 104.5", as KFFG was sold off to EMF and became K-Love affiliate KJLV; the station adopted a new logo to reflect the sale of the repeater. The last song before the simulcast broke was "High Hopes" by Panic! At The Disco.

Switch to KNBR-FM

On August 26, 2019, Cumulus announced that KFOG would drop its rock format on September 6 to simulcast sister station KNBR. [14]

On its final day as a music station, starting at 6 a.m., KFOG aired a tribute to its long run as a rock station with a day-long marathon of old "10@10" broadcasts and recordings taken from the station's "Live From the Archives" CD series. The exception was the 8 a.m. hour, a repeat of Dave Morey's final morning show before his retirement in 2008, and the 5 p.m. hour, in which KFOG paid tribute to longtime DJ Mike 'M Dung' Slavko's Sunday night freeform radio program "The Idiot Show". In addition, the station identifications for that day were taken from the pre-1982 beautiful music format. [15]

In the station's final hour as KFOG, they rebroadcast the audio of its 1982 flip to AAA, followed by a "10@10" broadcast of "666 - Day of Doom Devil Music" which originally aired June 6, 2006, and ended with a short set of songs, finishing with "Brokedown Palace" by the Grateful Dead. After a final sign-off consisting of an eight-minute-long loop of ocean wave, seagull, and foghorn sound effects that were the station's longtime audio trademark, and a minute of silence, KFOG officially flipped to the simulcast. There was no official acknowledgement on-air when the station made the switch; rather, the station joined during a rebroadcast of that night's San Francisco Giants game already in progress. On the same day, the call sign KNBR-FM was adopted; the KFOG call letters have since been warehoused on an AM station in Little Rock, Arkansas, the former KPZK. [16] [17]

Booster

The station is rebroadcast on the following FM booster:

Call sign Frequency City of license FID ERP (W) HAAT Class FCC info
KNBR-FM3104.5 FM Pleasanton, California 54773185 (Horiz.)922.41  m (3,026  ft)D LMS

HD Radio

As KFOG, it broadcast two feeds in HD Radio, the first was a simulcast of the analog feed and the second carried "All-10@10-All-The-Time". The HD2 feed was taken off air in 2015. The HD1 feed returned when the station became KNBR-FM. It has since been turned off.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WAKL (FM)</span> Radio station in Gainesville, Georgia

WAKL is a non-commercial FM Christian contemporary radio station licensed to Gainesville, Georgia. Owned by the Educational Media Foundation, WAKL serves the Atlanta metropolitan area as the local affiliate for the national K-Love network. Besides a standard analog transmission, WAKL broadcasts in the HD Radio hybrid format.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KXXR</span> Radio station in Minneapolis, Minnesota

KXXR is an active rock/mainstream rock radio station broadcasting to the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. It is owned by Cumulus Media, which also owns KQRS-FM. Its transmitter is located in Shoreview, Minnesota. Its studios are in Northeast Minneapolis in the Como district.

KNBR is an AM radio station in San Francisco, California, broadcasting on a clear channel from transmitting facilities in Redwood City, California. KNBR's non-directional 50,000-watt class-A signal can be heard throughout much of the western United States and as far west as the Hawaiian Islands at night. For several decades, KNBR enjoyed a long history as the flagship station of NBC's West Coast radio operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WPLJ</span> K-Love radio station in New York City

WPLJ is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York, New York. It carries a Christian adult contemporary radio format and is owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), based in Franklin, Tennessee. It broadcasts EMF's flagship programming service, "K-Love." The station seeks donations on the air and on its website.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KSAN (FM)</span> Classic rock radio station in San Mateo, California

KSAN is a commercial FM radio station licensed to San Mateo, California, and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by Cumulus Media and it airs a classic rock radio format. It also serves as the FM flagship station for the San Francisco 49ers Radio Network. KSAN's studios and offices are located on Battery Street in San Francisco's SoMa district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KLLC</span> Hot adult contemporary radio station in San Francisco

KLLC is a commercial radio station located in San Francisco, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. Its transmitter is off Wolfback Ridge Road on Mount Beacon in the Marin Headlands near Sausalito, California. The studios and offices are co-located with formerly co-owned KPIX-TV on Battery Street in downtown San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KSJO</span> Bollywood music radio station in San Jose, California

KSJO is a commercial radio station licensed to San Jose, California, and broadcasts to the San Francisco Bay Area. KSJO airs a Bollywood music radio format branded as Bolly 92.3. It is owned by Silicon Valley Asian Media Group. The studios and offices are on Hellyer Avenue in San Jose.

KSOL is a Spanish language radio station in San Francisco, California. KSQL simulcasts the station in Santa Cruz. KSOL and KSQL program a format consisting of regional Mexican music and talk shows. Both stations are owned by TelevisaUnivision USA. Its studios are located at 1940 Zanker Road in San Jose, and the KSOL transmitter is on Mount Sutro.

KTCT is a commercial radio station licensed to San Mateo, California, and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a sports radio format as KNBR 1050, a sister station to KNBR and KNBR-FM. In contrast to KNBR-AM-FM having local sports talk and play-by-play most of the day, KTCT emphasizes nationally syndicated programming from ESPN Radio. KTCT is also the radio home for San Jose Earthquakes soccer, Stanford University football, and University of San Francisco men's basketball.

KUFX is a classic rock radio station licensed to San Jose, California. Its studios are located along Junipero Serra Boulevard in Daly City, and the transmitter is located on Blackberry Hill above Los Gatos.

KBAY is a commercial radio station licensed to Gilroy, California, serving San Jose and the San Francisco Bay Area, and broadcasting a country music radio format. KBAY is owned by Alpha Media, along with sister station 106.5 KEZR. The radio studios and offices are located off U.S. Route 101 and Hellyer Ave in South San Jose.

KFNC is a commercial radio station licensed to Mont Belvieu, Texas. KFNC is paired with a translator, K223CW, licensed to Houston. The facilities serve the Greater Houston and Golden Triangle areas of southeast Texas. The station is owned by David Gow, through licensee Gow Media, LLC, with studios and offices in Uptown Houston one block from The Galleria. KFNC is a network affiliate of ESPN Radio, carried late nights and weekends. Local sports shows are heard weekdays from 7 a.m. to midnight and on weekend mornings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KGMZ-FM</span> Sports radio station in San Francisco

KGMZ-FM is a sports radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc., and broadcasts from studios on Battery Street in the North Beach section of San Francisco. KGMZ-FM serves as the flagship station for the Golden State Warriors basketball team. The station also broadcasts games of the Bay Area Panthers indoor football team.

KMVQ-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to San Francisco, California. It is owned by Salt Lake City–based Bonneville International, and broadcasts a contemporary hit radio format branded 99.7 Now. KMVQ-FM's studios are located in Daly City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KFRC (610 AM)</span> Radio station in San Francisco (1924–2005)

KFRC was a radio station in San Francisco, California, United States, which made its first broadcast on Wednesday, September 24, 1924, from studios in the Hotel Whitcomb, at 1231 Market Street. KFRC originally broadcast with 50 watts on the 270 meter wavelength, then moved to 660 kHz in April 1927. As part of nationwide frequency reallocations on November 11, 1928, KFRC was moved to 610 kHz, where the call letters remained until 2005.

KFOG is a commercial AM radio station located in Little Rock, Arkansas. It simulcasts the urban contemporary radio format of sister station 92.3 KIPR and is owned by Cumulus Media. The station's studios are located in West Little Rock and the transmitter is located in College Station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KYLD</span> Radio station in San Francisco

KYLD is a commercial radio station in San Francisco, California, serving the San Francisco Bay Area and owned by San Antonio–based iHeartMedia. The station airs a Top 40 (CHR) format on its analog primary signal. The station has studios located in the SoMa district of San Francisco, and the transmitter is located atop the San Bruno Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KMEL</span> Urban contemporary radio station in San Francisco

KMEL is an urban contemporary radio station that is licensed to San Francisco, California, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by iHeartMedia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nash (brand)</span> Media brand and network owned by Cumulus Media in the United States

Nash is a media brand owned by Cumulus Media. It covers country music-related properties owned by Cumulus, including radio stations, digital properties and publications, Nash TV, concerts promoted by Nash FM stations, and associated programming syndicated by Westwood One—including The Ty Bentli Show, Nash Nights Live with Shawn Parr and The Blair Garner Show. The Lia Show, which has been separately syndicated by Westwood One in the evening hours, will replace Garner in August 2020. Its name comes from Nashville, Tennessee, the center of the commercial country music industry in the United States, which in turn was named for colonial-era politician and Continental Army General Francis Nash. The Nash FM branding is similar to the Hank FM branding in that these stations play over 1000 songs as opposed to other stations which play 300 to 600 songs.

References

  1. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for KNBR-FM". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1961-62 page B-24
  3. ↑ "History Cards for KNBR-FM". Federal Communications Commission. (Guide to reading History Cards)
  4. ↑ https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1980s/1982/RR-1982-08-13.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  5. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1975 page C-24
  6. ↑ "KFOG 104.5 San Francisco - Format Flip from Beautiful Music to Rock - Dave Morey Sept. 16 1982 - YouTube". YouTube .
  7. ↑ https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1980s/1982/RR-1982-09-17.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  8. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1991 page B-45
  9. ↑ "Vox Jox". Billboard . Vol. 107, no. 30. July 29, 1995. p. 114.
  10. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1995/RR-1995-07-21.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  11. ↑ Venta, Lance (March 21, 2016). "Bryan Schock To Program KFOG/KSAN; Evolution Coming To KFOG 4/20". Radio Insight.
  12. ↑ Whiting, Sam (April 4, 2016). "KFOG axes DJs; station's future up in the air". San Francisco Chronicle .
  13. ↑ Venta, Lance (April 20, 2016). "KFOG Completes Relaunch". Radio Insight.
  14. ↑ "Bay Area radio station KFOG pronounced dead". The Mercury News. August 26, 2019. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  15. ↑ "KFOG San Francisco Last Day 2019 Sept 5".
  16. ↑ Venta, Lance (September 5, 2019). "KFOG Celebrates Final Day With Trip To Archives". Radio Insight. Retrieved September 5, 2019.
  17. ↑ "KFOG 104.5 San Francisco - End of KFOG - Final Sign off - September 5 2019 - YouTube". YouTube .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.