KBLF (1490 AM, "Radio 1490") is an American

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

based in

Red Bluff Red Bluff(s) may refer to several places in North America: Places Canada *Red Bluff, British Columbia, a community near Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada ** Red Bluff First Nation, a First Nations band government headquartered near Quesnel, ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It is owned by Independence Rock Media Group of

Red Bluff, California Red Bluff is a city in and the county seat of Tehama County, California, United States. The population was 14,710 at the 2020 census, up from 14,076 at the 2010 census. It is located north of Sacramento, south of Redding, and it is bisect ...

(also owns

KRAC KRAC (1370 AM) is an American radio station broadcasting a talk radio format. Licensed to Red Bluff, California, United States, the station is currently owned by Independence Rock Media Group. KRAC signed on the air in 1963 under the call lett ...

and

KIQS KIQS (1560 AM) is a radio station licensed to Willows, California Willows is a city and the county seat of Glenn County, California, located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California. The city is a home to regional government of ...

Willows Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

) and Cal Hunter serves as the station's managing partner, general manager, main on-air talent, and morning personality. KBLF plays an adult standards/

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

format and is an

America's Best Music America's Best Music is the on-air branding of a soft oldies and adult standards 24-hour radio network, formerly known as AM Only. The service is syndicated by Westwood One, a subsidiary of Cumulus Media. It was one of the original Transtar R ...

(Westwood One) and CBS News affiliate.

Local station

KBLF first signed on the air in 1946. In 1962, their transmitter was relocated to gravel beds just north of the

Sacramento River The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–S ...

. KBLF and KRAC remain as

Tehama County Tehama County ( ; Wintun for "high water") is a county located in the northern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 65,829. The county seat and largest city is Red Bluff. Tehama County comprises th ...

's ONLY AM radio stations. Cal Hunter, general manager and main on-air talent of KBLF, is a near-50-year veteran television and Radio broadcaster and is best remembered as the former news director and anchor of ABC affiliate,

KRCR-TV KRCR-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Redding, California, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Chico–Redding market. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside five low-power stations: Chico-licens ...

Channel 7 in

Redding, California Redding is the economic and cultural capital of the Shasta Cascade region of Northern California and the county seat of Shasta County. Redding lies along the Sacramento River, north of Sacramento, and south of California's northern border wi ...

. As a journalist, he has interviewed many business leaders, newsmakers and presidents. For his news management he was nominated for three Northern California Emmy Awards. He is joined with former Red Bluff Mayor Earl Wintle, conservative columnist Don Polson, and owner of Trophy Traditions and West Valley High School head baseball coach and teacher Paul Vietti (formerly of KQMS and KMCA radio, formerly of Action Video Entertainment), for the ''KBLF Morning Show'' on weekday mornings. He is joined in the mornings with local mortgage broker Bob Martin for "Cal and Bob in the Morning". Several well-known radio figures spent the early part of their careers at KBLF, including San Francisco radio veteran Carter B. Smith, and Los Angeles radio personality

Jeff Serr Jeff Serr (born August 20, 1955) is an American voice actor and former radio personality, best known for radio programs heard in Los Angeles, and San Francisco, on popular stations including KYA, KIOI, and KIIS-FM. In recent years, Serr has lent ...

. KBLF is also the official flagship station for Red Bluff High School Spartan football with Cal Hunter and John Gentry providing the commentary. 1490 AM at one time aired Spartans basketball play-by-play with the late Lance Fellman on the call. He has also provided play-by-play for the

Feather River College Feather River College (FRC) is a community college in Quincy, California. The school serves an annual full-time enrolled student body of approximately 1,500 students. History Feather River College was established in 1968 to support the need f ...

Golden Eagles, based in Quincy. In July 2020, Hunter became 49% owner of the station and its sister stations as Independence Rock Media Group following the untimely death of station majority owner Tom Huth. The deal, which included eight sister stations and three translators, was consummated on July 24, 2021, at a price of $400,000.

External links

KBLF Facebook
* BLF Marysville, California Adult standards radio stations in the United States {{California-radio-station-stub