 | |
| Frequency | 970kHz |
|---|---|
| Branding | NewsRadio 970 KFBX |
| Programming | |
| Format | Talk Radio |
| Network | iHeart 24/7 News |
| Affiliations | Premiere Networks Compass Media Networks Westwood One |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KAKQ-FM,KIAK-FM,KKED | |
| History | |
First air date | September 18, 1972; 53 years ago (1972-09-18) |
Former call signs | KIAK (1972–2004) |
Call sign meaning | A common abbreviation for Fairbanks |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 12518 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 10,000watts |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | 970kfbx.iheart.com |
KFBX (970kHz) is acommercialAMradio station inFairbanks, Alaska. It airs atalk radioformat and is owned and operated byiHeartMedia, Inc. Thestudios and offices are on 9th Avenue off Cushman Street in Fairbanks.
KFBX is powered at 10,000watts using anon-directional antenna. Thetransmitter is off Farmer's Loop Road in Fairbanks.[2]
Most programs on KFBX arenationally syndicated. Weekdays start withThis Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal. That's followed byArmstrong & Getty,The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,The Chris Plante Show,The Jesse Kelly Show,The Joe Pags Show andCoast to Coast AM withGeorge Noory. Some shows are time-shifted due totime zone differences.
Weekends featureThe Kim Komando Show,The Weekend with Michael Brown,Bill Handel on the Law,At Home with Gary Sullivan andSomewhere in Time with Art Bell as well as replays of weekday shows. Most hours begin with an update from iHeart's 24/7 News.
On July 24, 1970, Big Country Radio, Inc., owner ofKYAK inAnchorage, applied for aconstruction permit to build a new radio station on 970 kHz in Fairbanks. It was approved on January 13, 1971.[3] The station began broadcasting as KIAK on September 18, 1972. It aired acountry music format.[4]
In 1978, Big Country Radio decided to sell its three Alaska radio properties, KIAK, KYAK andKGOT, an FM station in Anchorage. The new owner was Prime Time of Alaska, a company owned by business people inWashington state. The price tag was more than $3 million.[5] Prime Time owned a country music station inEverett, Washington,KWYZ.[6]
1983 was an eventful year for KIAK. Prime Time sold the station to Bingham Broadcasting, controlled by a minority owner of a Seattle station. The sales price was $4.5 million.[7] The sale included KIAK's FM construction permit,KQRZ (102.5 FM), which launched that July and originally playedTop 40 hits.[8]
At the end of that month, a 28-year-old man threatened to blow up the station if he did not get air time. He was startled to find that the station was actually anautomated operation. The man ultimately surrendered.[9] In fact, KIAK had been automated since 1975, using asyndicated format fromDrake-Chenault. The automation equipment was dubbed by the station as the "Big Country Machine".[10]
Bingham sold all four of its stations in Anchorage and Fairbanks to Olympia Broadcasting at the end of 1985. The price was about $12 million.[11] In January 1990, the country music format on KIAK moved to the former KQRZ, which becameKIAK-FM. KIAK 970 AM began to focus more onclassic country hits and added several new talk programs.[12]
Olympia filed forChapter 11bankruptcy protection in June 1990.[13] That set off a lengthy process that included three different abortive sale attempts of the company's four Alaska properties. A deal with Harbor Broadcasting was doomed by a license challenge by theNAACP. While a settlement was reached, the FCC conditioned the sale on the license renewals, and Olympia was anxious to sell the stations to satisfy its creditors.[14]
The next sale attempt, to Alpha & Beta Broadcasting, was canceled by the company's receiver in early 1992 due to a conflict between creditorBarclays and lender Greyhound Financial. Greyhound felt that the stations had sold for too little money.[15] In January 1993, the receiver proposed to sell the stations to Community Pacific Broadcasting for $1.2 million.[16] But this was superseded by a $1.45 million offer fromCraig McCaw's COMCO Broadcasting.[17] By this time, KIAK had largely become asports talk outlet.[18]
In 1997, Comco sold its entire station portfolio, including KIAK-AM-FM andKAKQ-FM in Fairbanks, to Capstar Broadcasting Partners. Capstar was a forerunner to present owneriHeartMedia.[19] The call letters were changed from KIAK to KFBX in October 2004.[20] KFBX began to concentrate on airing syndicated talk shows fromPremiere Networks, also owned by iHeartMedia.
64°52′48″N147°40′29″W / 64.88000°N 147.67472°W /64.88000; -147.67472