I personally think that 93.1 will simulcast KSTE after christmas
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My fm going bye -Bye
- Thread starter jasonharper2013
- Start date
BootB..
Sorry I am from a different era I guess. My love of radio was inherited from my father. He started on a station in northeast Nebraska in the 30's. A station which, by the way, is still owned by the original family who started the station in 1922. My passion continued with LA radio with the rise of the Boss Jocks of KHJ and later coming up here and listening to KROY. The importance of radio was brought home to me while a Davis student. Just the other day I found my FCC 3rd class license of the time and it brought back a flood of memories. It was a time of protest and KDVS was the method of communication. There were no cell phones and the radio was the connecting tie. Radio felt an obligation to serve. Here in Sacramento KFBK-FM was a classical station because Eleanor McClatchy thought Sacramento should have one. Later upon the death of John Lennon Plaza Park had a memorial led by the DJ's of KZAP. Local radio? With a very few exceptions that is a thing of the past. My sons, with the exception of live sports, never listen to radio. You could have the current KFBK on AM, FM, satellite, shortwave, or even internet streamed and my kids and most of their generation would never hear it. What we got from radio they get from podcasts. The connection myself and those of my generation felt to radio is gone and I feel pessimistic about radio's future.
Sorry I am from a different era I guess. My love of radio was inherited from my father. He started on a station in northeast Nebraska in the 30's. A station which, by the way, is still owned by the original family who started the station in 1922. My passion continued with LA radio with the rise of the Boss Jocks of KHJ and later coming up here and listening to KROY. The importance of radio was brought home to me while a Davis student. Just the other day I found my FCC 3rd class license of the time and it brought back a flood of memories. It was a time of protest and KDVS was the method of communication. There were no cell phones and the radio was the connecting tie. Radio felt an obligation to serve. Here in Sacramento KFBK-FM was a classical station because Eleanor McClatchy thought Sacramento should have one. Later upon the death of John Lennon Plaza Park had a memorial led by the DJ's of KZAP. Local radio? With a very few exceptions that is a thing of the past. My sons, with the exception of live sports, never listen to radio. You could have the current KFBK on AM, FM, satellite, shortwave, or even internet streamed and my kids and most of their generation would never hear it. What we got from radio they get from podcasts. The connection myself and those of my generation felt to radio is gone and I feel pessimistic about radio's future.
KFBK-FM returns, only this time, it's not classical music. If you've read any of David Eduardo's posts you'll get this. They will have to sell it good, it has to at least bill what it did as a stand alone format. But at first that may not matter as I believe CC will want to just get the thing established. Time will tell if they can get listeners to migrate or at least sample the FM version. In time you may see some split of the simulcast, but that's doubtful in the early stages. What CC really wants is to hold off any new FM Talk competition and to grow new listeners, younger ones at that. Time will tell...
KFBK and KFBK-FM! Full Circle--Some history and some thoughts on why
This is a full-circle for the two frequencies and calls involved.
McClatchy Broadcasting (McClatchy Newspapers) owned the pair and they were for a long time located in the Sacramento Bee building.
KFBK 1530 was very news-centric, with local talk shows, a long-time CBS Radio affiliation and carried NBC's News and Information programming. Remember Cameron Swaze?
KFBK-FM on 92.5 was a grandfathered 100KW from a relatively short tower next to the building... and played classical music until the pair moved to its current location near the California State Fairgrounds (CalExpo) in the late 1970s.
At the time of the move, the Classical library went to Sac State and helped start KXPR on 88.9.
KFBK-FM became KAER-FM, with a Bonneville beautiful music format played from a Harris 9000 system I operated at night and later inherited for a high school ROP broadcasting program I taught in the 1990s.
A format change while I worked at the combo brought in Radio Arts' country reels... and a third change several years later ushered in the KGBY calls, an AC format and Paul and Phil in the morning. A long run for the format and morning team ended when the pair decided to move on to separate things.
The jockless music format that followed was an underperformer in the Clear Channel cluster of five stations in the cluster.
That leads into why simulcast and why now:
Profit. Protecting the the format. Protecting the cluster.
Simulcasting successful news formats (or moving them to FM only) is happening across the country.
http://timeoutchicago.com/arts-culture/chicago-media-blog/14850277/it’s-official-cbs-to-expand-newsradio-brand-with-fm-simulca offers a good explanation from WBBM's big cheese.
Why now with 'BK?
KFBK-AM's ratings have slipped in recent years from being the consistent top dog in the market with 8-8.5's—and spot prices to match— down to a 6.5, 5.7, 5.5 AQH August-Oct., 2011... and a cume that's way below the top four other stations.
http://www.radio-info.com/markets/sacramento
CBS, Entercom, Clear Channel and Entravision are the big players in the Sacramento market.
Within that group, CBS has four of the top ten AQH stations, Entercom has three and Clear Channel, only one, KFBK-AM, at number five. That can't be sitting well with Clear Channel bosses, and doesn't make cluster boss Jeff Holden happy or look good.
NPR member station KXJZ, which carries NPR's news blocks and long form talk programming during the day and Jazz during the evening/night hours is tenth ranked in the latest Arbitrons.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few months, particularly if the news format on the KFBK-FM (92.5) signal remains broken out in the Arbitron stats.
Clear Channel has five stations in the Sacramento cluster.
Two—KFBK (1530) and KFBK-FM (92.5)—are licensed to serve Sacramento. The others are licensed to serve other communities nearby.
KFBK 1530's 50KW figure-8 signal up and down the Sacramento valley has long been the best AM signal in the market:
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?state=&call=KFBK
The news format on FM gets a good signal, too... 50KW from a 500' stick not too far north of downtown:
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=KGBY
At 21KW, KSTE (AM), 650, Rancho Cordova is less than half the power of KFBK (AM) and works a two-tower directional pattern daytimes, and has 920 watts into a three-tower system at night:
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?state=&call=KSTE
KSTE was at one time a Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting Sacramento area property. Sold to American Radio Systems at one point, it wound up in the Chancellor Sacramento cluster, (which through various mergers and acquisitions became AM/FM, and then Clear Channel.)
The Fuller-Jeffery stable also included what's now 25KW "Jack" formatted KQJK, 93.7, Roseville, which through sales to American Radio Systems (later Infinity/CBS) and a station swap with CBS became part of Clear Channel's Sacramento cluster.
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=KQJK
Roseville is about 18 miles northeast of Sacramento on I-80.
Another 17-miles up the interstate, 36KW Urban AC KHYL (FM), Auburn, could likely be called the region's first successful rim-shot FM. It featured a successful Oldies format for much of its life, and owes much of that to lack of format competition AND transmitting from a high stick near its foothill community of license about 30 miles east of Sacramento. The location puts a good signal over most of the market:
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=KHYL
The hard-luck case in the CC/Sac cluster is a move-in from a town three hours drive from the Capital City.
KHLX, 93.1, Pollock Pines, started life as KSUE-FM in Susanville... which is closer to Reno, NV than Sacramento. To facilitate the sale to CC, the then-owners moved the community of license to Pollock Pines, a tiny place 58 miles east of Sacramento on US Hwy 50. You pass through on the way to Lake Tahoe.
The 20.5KW signal may have a high perch in the Sierra mountains, but the signal contour has trouble reaching Sacramento's eastern suburbs.
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=KHLX
With this group of signals to work with, putting the most successful format in the cluster on the most powerful in-market signal seems to make sense... IF people will tune in.
Seems as though there are some audio problems to resolve... and then a wait to see whether the hoped-for results occur.
Will CC promote the new FM option? How? Where? When and for how long?
If one wanted to extend the digital FM channel's potential for news coverage of breaking or long-form events, one could use one of the digi-channels to carry the content... much like networks offer them to stations on auxiliary satellite channels.
So... lets see what the ARB Oracle produces.
I can't help but remember growing up with KCBS, 740, San Francisco during the Dave McElhatton era, and finding there was a simulcast on ... KCBS-FM (which became Alice). Now there's a KCBS AM/FM simulcast. How is it doing?
How are the other News or News/Talk simulcasts or FM only versions doing?
That might offer some clues as to how KFBK AM/FM will fare.
And it might rankle some folks who remember when AM/FM simulcasts were outlawed in order to develop more programming on the FM dial.
Ted
This is a full-circle for the two frequencies and calls involved.
McClatchy Broadcasting (McClatchy Newspapers) owned the pair and they were for a long time located in the Sacramento Bee building.
KFBK 1530 was very news-centric, with local talk shows, a long-time CBS Radio affiliation and carried NBC's News and Information programming. Remember Cameron Swaze?
KFBK-FM on 92.5 was a grandfathered 100KW from a relatively short tower next to the building... and played classical music until the pair moved to its current location near the California State Fairgrounds (CalExpo) in the late 1970s.
At the time of the move, the Classical library went to Sac State and helped start KXPR on 88.9.
KFBK-FM became KAER-FM, with a Bonneville beautiful music format played from a Harris 9000 system I operated at night and later inherited for a high school ROP broadcasting program I taught in the 1990s.
A format change while I worked at the combo brought in Radio Arts' country reels... and a third change several years later ushered in the KGBY calls, an AC format and Paul and Phil in the morning. A long run for the format and morning team ended when the pair decided to move on to separate things.
The jockless music format that followed was an underperformer in the Clear Channel cluster of five stations in the cluster.
That leads into why simulcast and why now:
Profit. Protecting the the format. Protecting the cluster.
Simulcasting successful news formats (or moving them to FM only) is happening across the country.
http://timeoutchicago.com/arts-culture/chicago-media-blog/14850277/it’s-official-cbs-to-expand-newsradio-brand-with-fm-simulca offers a good explanation from WBBM's big cheese.
Why now with 'BK?
KFBK-AM's ratings have slipped in recent years from being the consistent top dog in the market with 8-8.5's—and spot prices to match— down to a 6.5, 5.7, 5.5 AQH August-Oct., 2011... and a cume that's way below the top four other stations.
http://www.radio-info.com/markets/sacramento
CBS, Entercom, Clear Channel and Entravision are the big players in the Sacramento market.
Within that group, CBS has four of the top ten AQH stations, Entercom has three and Clear Channel, only one, KFBK-AM, at number five. That can't be sitting well with Clear Channel bosses, and doesn't make cluster boss Jeff Holden happy or look good.
NPR member station KXJZ, which carries NPR's news blocks and long form talk programming during the day and Jazz during the evening/night hours is tenth ranked in the latest Arbitrons.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few months, particularly if the news format on the KFBK-FM (92.5) signal remains broken out in the Arbitron stats.
- Will there be an increased appetite for KFBK's AM news format on FM?
- Will that affect the market's AQH or Cume in any significant way?
- Will the upcoming election year make any difference in the format's ratings?
- And, will advertisers pay more for spots on the news format with the additional signal?
Clear Channel has five stations in the Sacramento cluster.
Two—KFBK (1530) and KFBK-FM (92.5)—are licensed to serve Sacramento. The others are licensed to serve other communities nearby.
KFBK 1530's 50KW figure-8 signal up and down the Sacramento valley has long been the best AM signal in the market:
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?state=&call=KFBK
The news format on FM gets a good signal, too... 50KW from a 500' stick not too far north of downtown:
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=KGBY
At 21KW, KSTE (AM), 650, Rancho Cordova is less than half the power of KFBK (AM) and works a two-tower directional pattern daytimes, and has 920 watts into a three-tower system at night:
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?state=&call=KSTE
KSTE was at one time a Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting Sacramento area property. Sold to American Radio Systems at one point, it wound up in the Chancellor Sacramento cluster, (which through various mergers and acquisitions became AM/FM, and then Clear Channel.)
The Fuller-Jeffery stable also included what's now 25KW "Jack" formatted KQJK, 93.7, Roseville, which through sales to American Radio Systems (later Infinity/CBS) and a station swap with CBS became part of Clear Channel's Sacramento cluster.
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=KQJK
Roseville is about 18 miles northeast of Sacramento on I-80.
Another 17-miles up the interstate, 36KW Urban AC KHYL (FM), Auburn, could likely be called the region's first successful rim-shot FM. It featured a successful Oldies format for much of its life, and owes much of that to lack of format competition AND transmitting from a high stick near its foothill community of license about 30 miles east of Sacramento. The location puts a good signal over most of the market:
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=KHYL
The hard-luck case in the CC/Sac cluster is a move-in from a town three hours drive from the Capital City.
KHLX, 93.1, Pollock Pines, started life as KSUE-FM in Susanville... which is closer to Reno, NV than Sacramento. To facilitate the sale to CC, the then-owners moved the community of license to Pollock Pines, a tiny place 58 miles east of Sacramento on US Hwy 50. You pass through on the way to Lake Tahoe.
The 20.5KW signal may have a high perch in the Sierra mountains, but the signal contour has trouble reaching Sacramento's eastern suburbs.
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=KHLX
With this group of signals to work with, putting the most successful format in the cluster on the most powerful in-market signal seems to make sense... IF people will tune in.
Seems as though there are some audio problems to resolve... and then a wait to see whether the hoped-for results occur.
Will CC promote the new FM option? How? Where? When and for how long?
If one wanted to extend the digital FM channel's potential for news coverage of breaking or long-form events, one could use one of the digi-channels to carry the content... much like networks offer them to stations on auxiliary satellite channels.
So... lets see what the ARB Oracle produces.
I can't help but remember growing up with KCBS, 740, San Francisco during the Dave McElhatton era, and finding there was a simulcast on ... KCBS-FM (which became Alice). Now there's a KCBS AM/FM simulcast. How is it doing?
How are the other News or News/Talk simulcasts or FM only versions doing?
That might offer some clues as to how KFBK AM/FM will fare.
And it might rankle some folks who remember when AM/FM simulcasts were outlawed in order to develop more programming on the FM dial.
Ted
Not sure how this may impact KFBK but KGO is changing focus and is heard here..
KGO's shifting focus and axing people:
http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=202404.0
http://feedback.pdxradio.com/topic/kgo
Ted
KGO's shifting focus and axing people:
http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=202404.0
http://feedback.pdxradio.com/topic/kgo
Ted
Re: KFBK and KFBK-FM! Full Circle--Some history and some thoughts on why
Well, there was that story about Clear Channel regional managers going to corporate headquarters and returning with thumb drives to analyze stations and take appropriate actions. Apparently true thus far, while KGO has its own coincidental thumbs-down day.
You can really hear this decline of signal from 21kW to 920W at 4:45PM lately when Michael Savage sometimes brings his show to a climax. Then again, maybe this is okay because for the past 3+ years, Savage's next hour is pre-recorded and excerpts of past shows.
It's funny that Savage on his own site tells Bay Area listeners to tune in on KSTE 650 since he's not on an actual San Francisco station despite his living there. After 4:45PM if I'm driving in the Bay Area, KSTE is pretty much gone. Let's see what becomes of KFBK-FM.
And if the people who are arranging all this coordinate it right. I seem to recall an All Access read of shifting of programming types between Sacramento and San Francisco (name Ricci comes to mind.)
TedL said:
Well, there was that story about Clear Channel regional managers going to corporate headquarters and returning with thumb drives to analyze stations and take appropriate actions. Apparently true thus far, while KGO has its own coincidental thumbs-down day.
You can really hear this decline of signal from 21kW to 920W at 4:45PM lately when Michael Savage sometimes brings his show to a climax. Then again, maybe this is okay because for the past 3+ years, Savage's next hour is pre-recorded and excerpts of past shows.
It's funny that Savage on his own site tells Bay Area listeners to tune in on KSTE 650 since he's not on an actual San Francisco station despite his living there. After 4:45PM if I'm driving in the Bay Area, KSTE is pretty much gone. Let's see what becomes of KFBK-FM.
And if the people who are arranging all this coordinate it right. I seem to recall an All Access read of shifting of programming types between Sacramento and San Francisco (name Ricci comes to mind.)
B
Bob Whitten
Guest
One thing for certain: 1240 and 96.9 will never reunite again. 
Nor 1470 and 107.9 - Twice actually
1140 and 105.1 are still kinda sorta, but it's not the same anymore! ;D
1140 and 105.1 are still kinda sorta, but it's not the same anymore! ;D
Never say never in the radio biz.
Bobsacto said:
Speaking of FM vs. AM, I did experience one benefit by accident today.
I was curious to hear the difference on a car radio. Yeah, some of the tinniness takes getting used to. Yet surprisingly when on 92.5 FM, no sudden disappearance of signal when entering garages or going under freeway overpasses.
I was listening to Rush at the time explaining why not to take Trump too seriously.
I'm tempted to do like those dudes with the booming big bass and crank 92.5FM full blast -- in Rio Linda!
Re: KFBK and KFBK-FM! Full Circle--Some history and some thoughts on why
KSTE really does fade during the 5 o'clock hour, obviously in night mode. I listen in the Foothills on the way home. When it is fades out, I listen to KFI or 98Rock (for Dog & Joe more than the music).
Whether Dr. Savage is live or replayed is pretty random. When it's a replay, there's usually a "the best of" liner at the top O the hour.
KSTE beats many SFO stations, as I posted earlier. No doubt because of The Savage Nation. Armstrong & Getty are simulcasted in both markets.
Questor said:
KSTE really does fade during the 5 o'clock hour, obviously in night mode. I listen in the Foothills on the way home. When it is fades out, I listen to KFI or 98Rock (for Dog & Joe more than the music).
Whether Dr. Savage is live or replayed is pretty random. When it's a replay, there's usually a "the best of" liner at the top O the hour.
KSTE beats many SFO stations, as I posted earlier. No doubt because of The Savage Nation. Armstrong & Getty are simulcasted in both markets.
The issue that has annoyed me most is the audio bleed-through from 101.1 KHYL Auburn (V-101.1). I assume it is leaking through the STL path. Does 92.5 and 101.1 audio travel together to KGBY's TX site, then 101.1 continue on to it's site in Cool ultimately double-hopping? When 92.5's compression rises through quiet passages; I here 101.1's audio increase, kind of like hearing music seep through the wall of a neighboring apartment. I'm surprised engineering has not caught this.
Bobsacto said:
DToTheJ said:"This will give a younger audience access to..."
... hearing angry old white guys rant about our President. :
Yet in other markets mainstream/conservative talk does get a younger audience when on FM..WPGB/Pittsburgh and WSB/Atlanta being prime examples. Also look at all the FM Hot Talk stations (such as the failed FREE FMs). They were apolitical, clowned around and did not a younger audience or much of any audience at all.
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