| Simulcast ofKCBS, San Francisco | |
|---|---|
 | |
| |
| Broadcast area | San Francisco Bay Area |
| Frequency | 106.9MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | All News 106.9 and AM 740 KCBS |
| Programming | |
| Format | All-news radio |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KCBS,KGMZ-FM,KITS,KLLC,KRBQ | |
| History | |
First air date | September 10, 1959 (1959-09-10) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | sequentially assigned for KFRC (610 AM), nowKEAR |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 20897 |
| Class | B |
| ERP | 80,000 watts |
| HAAT | 305 meters (1,001 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 37°51′04″N122°29′53″W / 37.851°N 122.498°W /37.851; -122.498 |
| Repeater | See § FM Booster |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (via Audacy) |
| Website | www |
KFRC-FM (106.9MHz) is a commercialradio station inSan Francisco, California, serving theSan Francisco Bay Area. It currently simulcasts sister stationKCBS, which carries an all-news format. The station transmits its signal from Mount Beacon atop theMarin Headlands aboveSausalito, California, while studios were shared with formerly co-ownedCBSO&O stationKPIX-TV in downtown San Francisco.
On December 10, 1959, the station, owned by San Francisco businessman and futureSan Francisco/Golden State Warriors ownerFranklin Mieuli, signed on at 106.9 MHz with the KPUPcall letters. It was one of two Bay Area stations to sign on that day: three hours later,KWME inWalnut Creek began broadcasting.[3] In July 1960, thecall letters were changed to KHIP, and the station airedjazz music programming.[4]
Mieuli sold KHIP on July 1, 1962, to Leon Crosby, who had previously ownedKHYD inHayward. Under Crosby's ownership, the station began operating inmultiplex stereo, and the call letters were changed to KMPX, for "multiplex", the following month. Soon after, Crosby gained authorization by theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) to increase the station's power from the original 37,000 watts to 80,000 watts.[5]
By mid-1964, KMPX was airing amiddle of the road music format. As the money-strapped station struggled, the schedule became dominated by various brokered foreign language programs by 1966.
Though KMPX's daytime schedule was heavy with ethnic programming, the midnight-6 AM slot was open. On February 12, 1967, on-air personality Larry Miller was given the shift, where he played his preferredfolk rock music programming.[6] The popularity of what Larry Miller was doing caught on very rapidly and soon the daytime foreign language programming gave way to more rock music programming, due to the efforts of newly hiredTom Donahue. The rock music format expanded to full-time on August 6, 1967, as the last of the foreign-language program contracts expired.
The presentation of music on the station stood in stark contrast to most other stations of the day. Instead of a hit music-dominated playlist, KMPX played more album cuts, local, emerging and cutting-edge artists, and a wide mix of genres such as rock,blues,jazz andfolk music. Some of the music played in the spring of 1967 includedJefferson Airplane's albumSurrealistic Pillow, the firstGrateful Deadalbum,Jimi Hendrix'sAre You Experienced andThe Beatles'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which KMPX played uninterrupted in its entirety. Among the DJs wereHoward Hesseman, who used his experiences to inspire his later performance as Dr. Johnny Fever onWKRP in Cincinnati.[7]
In November 1967, Donahue was hired to bring theprogressive rock to KMPX's sister station in Southern California,KPPC-FM. The difficulties of managing two stations and friction between Donahue and Crosby led to Donahue's resignation, followed by astrike by the loyal Donahue-led KMPX and KPPC staff on March 18, 1968,[8] principally over the DJs wanting more freedom over the songs played on the stations.[9] The DJs organized as the Amalgamated Federation of International FM Workers of the World, operating out of a ferry boat.[10] Crosby hired replacements, negotiations broke down, and the former KMPX and KPPC staffers were eventually hired byMetromedia at their stationsKSAN in San Francisco andKMET in Los Angeles, both adopting thefreeform progressivealbum-oriented rock format pioneered at KMPX and KPPC.
In 1969, KMPX and KPPC-AM-FM were sold by the Crosby-Pacific Broadcasting Company to National Science Network, Inc. in a $1.2 million transaction.[11] They continued with the freeform format, though it was tweaked over the next several years. Crosby eventually purchased a local television station,KEMO, channel 20.[12]
In June 1972, KMPX dropped rock and switched to abig band/nostalgia format.[13]
When Ludwig Wolfgang Frohlich,[14] the owner ofNational Science Network died, his estate explored various opportunities to sell the station. In 1973, a sale to KMPX, Inc.—a subsidiary of the Burbank Broadcasting Company, which bought KPPC-FM[15]—failed. A 1975 offer from film directorFrancis Ford Coppola to purchase KMPX for $870,000 was not consummated[5] because of problems at one of Coppola's other businesses.[16]
The company finally found a buyer in 1976, whenFamily Radio, owner ofKEAR (97.3 FM), struck a deal to purchase the station for $1 million.[16] In accordance with FCC ownership guidelines at the time, Family Radio sold their station at 97.3 toCBS Inc. for $2 million, and CBS in turn sold their lower-powered station at98.9 MHz to a Black-owned local company, Golden Gate Radio, for $850,000. The sale, though, caused controversy among a group of dedicated KMPX listeners, organized as the KMPX Listeners Guild. Their objections, backed by petitions signed by more than 20,000 listeners, held up the sale at the FCC and ended in a 1978 settlement where Golden Gate would take over the KMPX call letters and format on its own station.[17] Golden Gate also would operate from the former KMPX studios.[16] The three-way switch occurred September 13, 1978, with 106.9 becoming the new location of KEAR's religious format.[18]
From October 4, 1978, to October 17, 2005, 106.9 served as Family Radio's flagshipChristian radio station. KEAR's programming was alsosyndicated to the company's other radio outlets across the country.
CBS entered the picture once again in April 2005, when parent companyViacom struck a deal with Family Radio to trade their strong-signaled AM facility,KFRC (610 AM), for the 106.9 MHz facility. Until CBS was able to install their own programming on 106.9 FM, KEAR simulcast on both frequencies. TheOakland Athleticsbaseball team had a contract with KFRC to carry its games; therefore, Family Radio carried the games on 610 AM until the end of the team's 2005 season. After the baseball broadcasts concluded in October 2005, 610 AM dropped the KFRC call sign and becameKEAR, while 106.9 FM became KIFR, with a new format to follow after a period of stunting.
On October 25, 2005, theFree FMtalk radio format was launched, as the station began carrying theTom Leykis andJohn and Jeff shows. In addition, KIFR added locally based talk shows fromThe Dog House, John London, Darien O'Toole, Turi Ryder, Johnny Wendell and Scott and Casey.
When CBS' post-Howard Stern morning show strategy began in January 2006, KIFR picked up the new The Adam Carolla Show fromAdam Carolla.
Weekday evenings, then middays were hosted by Chris Daniel andBrad Giese, who came together on air as the topical call-in showThe Gray Area. Documentary filmmaker and San Francisco socialiteEmily Morse hostedSex With Emily, a show that started as a podcast, late Saturday nights.[19]
"On The Couch with Drew and Marcus" was a weekend show on Free FM. It was a college show at San Francisco State and became a weekend staple for Free FM. All the shows can be found online at www.drewandmarcus.com.
"Gamer!" was a one-hour weekend radio show that aired on Saturday mornings on KIFR that highlighted the world of video gaming. Hosted by Karlenea B and Keith Williams, they had interviews with video game makers, players, and other people of interest to the video gaming world.
On August 1, 2006,Opie and Anthony started airing on the station on a tape delay basis from 10 AM-1 PM.
KIFR and the Free FM format included a strong online emphasis via the 106.9 Free FM website.[20] Podcasting, online streaming, and interactive features provides a bridge between the traditional talk radio format and the "on-demand" features of developing new media.
On October 30, 2006,CBS Radio and the Oakland Athletics agreed to a three-year contract to broadcast Oakland Athletics baseball games, 162 regular season games and 15 spring training games, and all playoff games. The contract lasted through 2009 and noted 106.9 as the "official radio home of the Oakland A's."[21]
On May 17, 2007, following that day's game between the Oakland A's and the Kansas City Royals, CBS Radio moved the KFRC call letters from 99.7 FM to 106.9 FM, and changed 106.9 FM's format toclassic hits. At the time of 610 KFRC's sale to Family Radio, 99.7 FM and 610 AM had been simulcasting a similar format, also under the KFRC call letters. 106.9 FM's format change served as a revival of this format. Local management announced that some of the Free FM shows and hosts, such as Carolla, Leykis, and Opie and Anthony, would move to KYCY 1550 AM. 99.7 FM would receive the new call lettersKMVQ. (KYCY would subsequently be replaced on January 1, 2009, with a version of KFRC affiliated withThe True Oldies Channel, which was itself discontinued on August 31, 2011, in favor of Indian programming asKZDG.)
On October 27, 2008, at 7:40 a.m., after playing "Don't Stop Believin'" byJourney, and a6+1⁄2-minute montage of famous events and songs from the 20th century, CBS Radio replaced KFRC's Classic Hits format with a simulcast of its all news AM station, KCBS.[22] KFRC continued to broadcast classic hits on KFRC-FM HD2. The station's calls were not converted to KCBS-FM, because itsLos Angeles sisteradult hits station on93.1 holds those calls, andNielsen Audio's Portable People Meter ratings system does not require call letter verification by panelists. Additionally, CBS Radio opted to keep control of the historic callsign rather than risk having another Bay Area station take them and trade on their nine-decade heritage in the area. KFRC's existence is only acknowledged in form of hourlylegal IDs as "KCBS-AM, KFRC-FM and HD1, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose" at :59 past the hour.
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge withEntercom.[23] KFRC-FM, along with KCBS,KITS,KLLC and KZDG were retained by Entercom, while KMVQ was placed in a divestiture trust (along with Entercom'sKOIT,KBLX andKUFX) in preparation of a sale to a permanent owner. The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on November 17.[24][25]
KFRC-FM is rebroadcast on the following FM Booster:
| Call sign | Frequency | City of license | FID | ERP (W) | HAAT | Class | FCC info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KFRC-FM1 | 106.9FM | Pleasanton, California | 178412 | 4,800 (Vert.) | −55 m (−180 ft) | D | LMS |