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|---|---|
| Broadcast area | San Francisco Bay Area |
| Frequency | 610kHz |
| Branding | Family Radio |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | Christian radio |
| Affiliations | Family Radio |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | September 24, 1924 (1924-09-24)[1] |
Former call signs | KFRC (1924–2005) |
Call sign meaning | Thehuman ear; theoriginal KEAR was the station on which Family Radio began broadcasting in 1959 |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 1082 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 5,000 watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 37°50′57.73″N122°17′47.89″W / 37.8493694°N 122.2966361°W /37.8493694; -122.2966361 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | www |
KEAR (610 kHz), is a non-commercialChristianAM radio station inSan Francisco, California, and is the flagship station of theFamily Radio network. KEAR's transmitter facilities are diplexed at theKVTO tower located inBerkeley, California. Until 2005, KEAR was broadcasting on106.9MHzFM. The station's format containsChristian music as well asCalvinist religious teaching.
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The frequency of 610kHz had been home to the originalKFRC for over eight decades, from September 24,1924 until April 29,2005. In the 1960s and 1970s, KFRC was a legendaryTop 40 rock-music station in San Francisco, but on August 11,1986, KFRC had changed to anAdult Standards format. On August 12, 1993, it began simulcasting its sister station KFRC-FM'sOldies format.
The call letters KEAR were first adopted in the Bay Area by an AM station at 1550 kHz inSan Mateo—the former KSMO (nowKZDG)—on January 1, 1952. The station, which signed on in 1947, was the firstclassical music station in San Francisco. When KEAR stopped broadcasting classical music in 1956—as the result of financial difficulties—many San Francisco classical music lovers needed to becomeearly adopters and purchase recently introducedFM radios so they could listen to classical music broadcasts onKDFC or onKEAR's co-owned FM station, formerly KXKX; the KEAR call letters moved from AM to FM when the AM station was sold. Family Stations Inc. bought the station in1959, and aired its first Family Radio broadcast on KEAR on February 4 of that year.
In September1978, Family Stations Inc. sold its station at 97.3 toCBS (becoming KCBS-FM, and subsequentlyKLLC), and acquired KMPX (106.9 FM) from National Science Network, Inc. At this time, the KEAR call letters and Family Radio programming were transferred to the new frequency, where it broadcast for 27 years.
In 2005, Family Stations acquired KFRC's AM frequency fromInfinity Broadcasting.Viacom, the parent company of Infinity Broadcasting, was in the process of acquiring television stationKOVR inStockton, California, and needed to sell the AM station to meetFederal Communications Commission ownership limitations. KFRC's city-grade signal easily reachedSacramento, and the FCC required Viacom to sell either a Sacramento station or a Bay Area station that could be heard at city-grade strength in Sacramento. On April 29, 2005, 610 AM began simulcasting Family Radio programming. Shortly thereafter, Family Stations sold its 106.9 FM frequency to Infinity Broadcasting.
TheOakland Athletics baseball team, which had a contract with KFRC to carry its games, continued to broadcast on 610 AM through the end of the team's2005 season. On October 17, 2005, after the season ended, the KEAR call letters were transferred to the AM station and 106.9 became KIFR, later to becomeKFRC-FM.