Part of the reason KSFO was weaker than KFRC in Ukiah: KSFO's signal had to go through San Francisco's high-rises, then Marin County's rocky headlands & mountains on its way to Ukiah. However, KFRC's signal went straight up San Pablo Bay, then up the valley leading to Santa Rosa. Much better signal path.
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Emperor Gene Nelson 1260 KSFO/KYA
- Thread starter K108 Sacramento
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That makes total sense, because the best "ground" conductor is salt water, which also explains KSL 1160's antenna location
The major issue with salt water or salt flats ground systems is the difficulty and cost of maintaining them. I had a station in salt flats back in the 60's and we had to constantly be doing repairs on the solder connections between the base "plate" and the radials, particularly after seasonal high tides brought the brackish water up to about 30 cm deep at the tower base.
Just as an observation...It's been ages since I've seen the KGO facility next to the Dumbarton Bridge...I believe the towers are on pedestals, I wouldn't think radials would actually be necessary, am I wrong? Just curious.
One of KSFO's famous bits in the late 50s/early 60s was Don Sherwood staging an 'invasion' of Stockton, where the locals went along with the gag. Presumably, KSFO's 'weak' signal was strong enough to reach them.
It was. Stockton’s only about 70 air miles from SF.
…and Signal Geek’s mention of “weaker” was in comparison to KFRC and in the context of reception in Ukiah, which is 110 miles.
I remember visiting relatives in Stockton in 1960 and again in the late 80's. Stockton is a hole. I wonder if Sherwood's 'invasion' had something to do with that. I was a KYA listener in those days so didn't remember that gag. I do remember when one of the DJ's did a parody of baseball S.F. Giants manager Alvin Dark.
Here’s the story—-including Sherwood’s motivation:
Don Sherwood: The Raid On Stockton (Page 1) | Bay Area Radio Museum
Don Sherwood: The Raid On Stockton From "The Life and Times of The World's Greatest Disc
bayarearadio.org
Man, I'm sorry I was too late for that. Interesting that my relatives from Stockton never mentioned it.
KSFO wasn't the only S.F. station that either made fun of (or belitteled) any city that wasn't San Francisco. On KFRC in its 1970s heyday, Dr. Don Rose routinely called Sacramento "Sacra-tomato." He also called Fremont FLEA-mont, and San Jose became San Panty-Hose-aay.
Dr. Don only did that with places that had obvious goofball names. San Rafael was “San Raquel” (Ms.Welch was still a sex symbol). None of it was considered deprecating.
Dr. Don saved those jokes for Pacifica (partly because fellow KFRC jock Dave Sholin lived there). Samples:
“Burglars knocked over the mens room at Pacifica Police headquarters last night. Detectives have nothing to go on.”
“They don’t get our show in Pacifica. Oh, they can hear it—-they just don’t get it.”
And DDR actually did his show one morning from Stockton:
It has to have a ground, which might be a bunch of copper plates or screen surrounding the bases. Obviously, those would deteriorate rapidly and they must have a regular maintenance program for that system.
I remember one other Dr. Don line: "Did you hear what happened to the telephone lady? She got picked up! (Insert funny sound effect here).
Aaah, Dr. Don. Still making me laugh, all these decades later...
In the spirit of the season, here's an interview Dr. Don did with Father Miles Riley of the archdiocese of San Francisco about body and soul.
I had the pleasure and honor of meeting Dr. Don at Ben Fong-Torres’ book signing in 1998. A lovely, gentle, kind man.
KSFO's transmitter, though almost on the bay, is covered by concrete at Islais Creek. In fact, at one point KFRC was co-located with KSFO. Rumor has it that Gene Autry saw KSFO's ratings being challenged by KFRC and made them leave. KFRC then co-located with KRE (aka KPAT, KBLX, now KVTO) in the Berkeley Marina, literally right on the water. KVTO also puts out a good signal from that site, despite being on a local channel (1400). KFRC (now KEAR) puts a city grade signal into SF, Sacramento, Stockton, and Santa Rosa.
Ah, Ukiah. I visit there semi-regularly, and for the past 18 years or so, lived over the hills to the east near Clear Lake (I moved away last summer because the constant fire threat became too much to bear).
Ukiah has always felt to me somewhat like an overgrown truck stop, but it does have it's positive aspects. The local community college, for example, is decent. Not outstanding, but decent, and it covers the basics well.
Anyway, I remember KFRC came in somewhat well, but it was spotty at best (the FM simulcast on 99.7 was a bit better, I think, but it's been so long, I don't remember anymore). Of course, I'd only lived there a few months when KFRC became the Christian-oriented KEAR (I respect that there are many people who like religious programming such as that provided by KEAR, but I don't).
For comparison, KABL, another station I listened to at the time, came in just barely if I held the radio just right, but of course, it, too went off-air right about then (I moved up there in 2004, and after briefly experimenting with an FM simulcast (I think it was 92.1 out of the Concord/Walnut Creek area), which was nonexistent pretty much everywhere, they went off air in '05 or so, if I recall).
Anyone heard of KXBX, though? At the time, their AM feed had a format (America's Best Music, I think) which was very similar to KABL (basically, they were KABL without the old-time San Francisco ambiance), but at night, they were only a 100 watt station, which meant I couldn't pick it up very well, despite the tower being only about 10 miles away as the crow flies. Eventually, they switched to a classic hits format which is more heavily 70s and 80s, with a few 60s and 90s, but by then, I wasn't listening much because I got tired of the bad reception.
Anyway, I'm back in a place where in the past, these stations would've roared in no problem, except they no longer exist in the present. KYNO 940 comes in out of the Fresno area at night, and it's a decent approximation of what KFRC had been.
Sometimes I wish I could invent a time machine....
c
Ukiah has always felt to me somewhat like an overgrown truck stop, but it does have it's positive aspects. The local community college, for example, is decent. Not outstanding, but decent, and it covers the basics well.
Anyway, I remember KFRC came in somewhat well, but it was spotty at best (the FM simulcast on 99.7 was a bit better, I think, but it's been so long, I don't remember anymore). Of course, I'd only lived there a few months when KFRC became the Christian-oriented KEAR (I respect that there are many people who like religious programming such as that provided by KEAR, but I don't).
For comparison, KABL, another station I listened to at the time, came in just barely if I held the radio just right, but of course, it, too went off-air right about then (I moved up there in 2004, and after briefly experimenting with an FM simulcast (I think it was 92.1 out of the Concord/Walnut Creek area), which was nonexistent pretty much everywhere, they went off air in '05 or so, if I recall).
Anyone heard of KXBX, though? At the time, their AM feed had a format (America's Best Music, I think) which was very similar to KABL (basically, they were KABL without the old-time San Francisco ambiance), but at night, they were only a 100 watt station, which meant I couldn't pick it up very well, despite the tower being only about 10 miles away as the crow flies. Eventually, they switched to a classic hits format which is more heavily 70s and 80s, with a few 60s and 90s, but by then, I wasn't listening much because I got tired of the bad reception.
Anyway, I'm back in a place where in the past, these stations would've roared in no problem, except they no longer exist in the present. KYNO 940 comes in out of the Fresno area at night, and it's a decent approximation of what KFRC had been.
Sometimes I wish I could invent a time machine....
c
As long as the ground wires are intact, you can put concrete, asphalt or even buildings on top of a ground system. In fact, pavement over the ground prevents damage and theft of the copper... a popular salvage commodity among thieves today.
I was living in Ukiah a little less than 30 years ahead of you (1976 and 1977). Things were different.
If you strip out the town and just look at the natural surroundings, it's not much different from the upper Napa Valley---St. Helena, for example.
But when the area developed, its proximity to lumber was what stood out. Masonite was the town's largest employer when I was there. So it grew up on labor, not leisure.
It was a town of about 10,000 people, and there were no Walmarts or Kmarts or Costcos at the time, so State Street and School Street were part of a thriving downtown with dozens of local businesses that supplied the town's needs. Need something from a bigger department store? That's a drive to Santa Rosa (which at that time was 50,000 people, not 500,000).
Regular employment and solid local business meant a thriving middle class and three local radio stations that could afford to hire people to be on the radio---including me.
The strongest San Francisco AMs (KSFO, KFRC, KNBR, KCBS, KGO) came in like locals in Ukiah, because the noise floor was lower. Interference from electronic devices and fluorescent lights pretty well ate the AM band between the time I was there and the time you were.
And, as for KXBX, it's a 500-watt station at 1270. It was KBLC when I was there, and a daytimer. They now have night power of 97 watts. The reason it sounded like KABL was that KABL's morning man from 1960-1993, Bill Moen, retired to Lakeport, where he had a second home and helped them create that sound there.
As I think I mentioned above, I go back occasionally, having married a Ukiah girl. Masonite closed decades ago, there's more winegrowing, less local business, and a much bigger divide between rich and poor.
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