If we include "Americana" while bringing up former Country outlets in the SFBA... let's not forget the 5 year run of the KPIG simulcast on 1510 AM. 😉
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
KFOX To HD
- Thread starter lanceventa
- Start date
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channelâ„¢
KBAY will also be on 96.5 HD3.
Bay Country 94.5 is moving to 98.5! - Bay Country 94.5/92.1
Bay Country 94.5 is moving to 98.5 on Wednesday, July 22nd at 12pm PT. HERE’S HOW...www.kbaycountry.com
Sounds like they had a slight change in strategy there. The HD3 channel of KMVQ is apparently not part of the plan now. But, as Lance has said, there may be more shuffling going on as this progresses ...
Not that I want to play the speculation game, or radio-station deadpool, but it does make me wonder about the future of KOIT-HD2, "Highway 1 Radio", that curious creature of a jockless AAA format. I've actually wondered about its future since KEXC came on the scene.
While I haven't been to the Bay Area yet this year, the last time I was there, if I recall correctly, KOIT-HD3 was simulcasting KUFX. (Need to find my notes from last year's trips.) So this may be a simple matter of riding along with whatever 98.5 does. What little audience an HD subchannel would bring in is gravy at best.
Highway 1 quietly disappeared awhile back.
Well, that answers that question! I can't say I'm surprised.
For a moment I thought you were referring to the coastal road that had sections collapse into the Pacific Ocean…😱🤪
Round #2 (95.7 The Wolf) seemed to be reasonably successful until a new PD came in, upset the apple cart, and drove the ratings into the ground.
Round #1 (95.7 The Bear) was definitely a dud. The stationality missed the mark in a major way. Z95.7 didn't deserve to die, in my opinion. That ultimately led to a great opportunity for 99.7! The Adult Hits format on 95.7 that was sandwiched between the two country runs was also a dud.
What are you talking about? It is still around; you can find it on the KOIT website.
K-Love just makes me barf. In my area there are 5 station owned by them and 4 has the main format, and the last one has their Air 1 stuff.
I stand corrected, and happy to have egg on my face. 🙂
Each time I've tried accessing it, it kept redirecting me to KOIT's site and isn't as easily accessible as it used to be.
Last edited:
Am I correct that only 2 English language commercial FM music stations with a South Bay focus will remain? 98.5 and 106.5 are the only ones that come to mind.
Not terribly long ago, there was 92.3, 94.5, 95.3, 97.7, 98.5, 104.9 and 106.5.
That is such a dramatic pruning of local commercial FM stations!
I realize a number of San Francisco based stations deliver good FM signal strength to much of Santa Clara county.
Not terribly long ago, there was 92.3, 94.5, 95.3, 97.7, 98.5, 104.9 and 106.5.
That is such a dramatic pruning of local commercial FM stations!
I realize a number of San Francisco based stations deliver good FM signal strength to much of Santa Clara county.
Gee what happened?
92.3 is Bolly
94.5 K-Love
95.3 K Love
97.7 Air1
104.9 classical
Did you see the billings for radio stations in San Francisco? Did you see that Bonneville sold their entire cluster?
What changed? People stopped listening. Advertisers stopped buying spots. Companies sold their stations. The end.
You're going to see this pattern more and more because listener behavior isn't improving for broadcast radio.
That leads to a drop in advertiser interest. That leads to companies saying it's time to sell.
I disagree. The Live 105 brand had been discarded in 2017 in favor of "Alt 105.3", another boneheaded move on the part of Audacy...or was it Entercom then... which was trying to centralize alternative formats across markets, iHeart cookie-cutter style. That move was made without regard to ratings. Dumping 30 years of brand equity turned out not to be such a smart move. You can tell by the success that Live 105 (version 3) has had since Audacy brought back the brand in 2023. The one thing "Dave" did accomplish was a vast improvement in the station's audio quality, which wasn't good during Live 105 version 2, a/k/a CBS Moves KOME North.
By the way, if you watch this year's Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame's ceremony honoring KITS as the Legendary Station of the Year, you'll hear stories, particularly from Ed Krampf, about how they slipped the original format change to alternative in 1986 past Joseph Field. That was an amazing ceremony...I wish I had been there, but I no longer live in the Bay Area...demonstrating what a special station Live 105 has been, even in its down moments.
(It appears that the video of the ceremony is no longer available. What's up with that, @BossRadioDJ ?)
I don't recall it that way, and I lived in the Bay Area at the time. Entercom tried to bring a Kansas City format to San Francisco. Wasn't gonna work. It was more thoughtfully done than Bonneville's "Bear", I'll give you that.
I agree with you there. KZQZ arrived about the same time I did in San Francisco. It was fresh and energetic. It also had an openly gay morning team, which was groundbreaking in 1999. I wonder if someone in the Bonneville hierarchy at some point raised objections to the station because of that.
The only thing I could criticize KZQZ for was playing the Vengaboys constantly. It also seemed as if every business in the Castro was playing their hit tune all day. If I hear two notes of that thing, it will stick in my head all day.
"Max" was rushed to air on 95.7 because the rumor was afloat that CBS was going to put a "Jack" format on 106.9, which it had just traded with Family Radio. Reportedly, a disk drive was rushed from Phoenix to San Francisco with all the songs of the new format on 95.7.
"Movin'"on 99.7 was something of a Hail Mary move, since KFRC-FM (at 99.7) was kind of stuck at the time. I was told CBS management was actually pleasantly surprised at how well it did. The TV ads were dreadful, though.
I agree that the switch to the Alt branding was stupid, stupid, stupid. That said, Live 105 had already experienced an extended period of mediocre ratings prior to that move.
I assume Michael Martin and Mike Kaplan were the brainiacs behind the rebrand decision, but I could be mistaken.
I do remember unimpressive audio quality in the early/mid 2000s when listening to 105.3.