KCAL-FM (96.7 FM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

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 ...

that is

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Redlands, California Redlands ( ) is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 73,168, up from 68,747 at the 2010 census. The city is located approximately west of Palm Springs and east of Lo ...

, and broadcasts to the

Inland Empire The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the cities o ...

(

Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...

—

San Bernardino San Bernardino (; Spanish language, Spanish for Bernardino of Siena, "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a ...

) area. The station is owned by Anaheim Broadcasting and airs an

active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

format. The KCAL-FM studios are located in Redlands and the transmitter site is near Lake Arrowhead in the

San Bernardino Mountains The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain � ...

History

KCAL-FM first signed on in 1965 with a middle of the road (MOR) format. Originally owned by Southwest Broadcasting Company, it was the sister station of

KCAL The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of on ...

(1410 AM). In 1969, KCAL-FM adopted a dayparted rock format, playing

soft rock Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...

during daytime hours and harder

album rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-orient ...

at night. This hybrid format, known as "The Rock Spectrum", was unique in the

radio market. A prominent feature on KCAL-FM was a weekly program called ''Album Premiere'', during which a newly released album was played Monday and Tuesday evenings — one side each evening. This eventually led to a switch to album-oriented rock (AOR) full-time in 1978. In October 1986, Southwest Broadcasting sold KCAL-FM to San Bernardino Broadcasting, headed by Tim Sullivan, for $4 million; KCAL (AM) remained with Southwest. On January 1, 1987, control of the station passed to Anaheim Broadcasting, also led by Sullivan; that March, the new owner installed former

KGGI KGGI (99.1 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Riverside, California, and broadcasting to the Inland Empire. The station airs a Rhythmic Contemporary radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. Its studios are on Iowa Avenue ...

program director Cliff Roberts in the same position at KCAL-FM. During the 1990s, KCAL-FM adjusted its AOR format to

, mixing newer hard rock songs with

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

. In the late 1990s, the station began hosting a listener appreciation party known as the "KCAL Kegger". Held in the station's parking lot in Redlands three times a year, each party features live rock bands, local vendors, refreshments, and a beer garden; the station donated proceeds from beer sales to local charities. Each year's final Kegger includes a bikini pageant called "Miss KCAL". On December 31, 2014, high winds in the

toppled KCAL-FM's transmission tower, knocking the station off the air. The station resumed broadcasting two days later on the evening of January 2, 2015, attaching its transmission equipment to

KFRG KFRG (95.1 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to San Bernardino, California, and broadcasting to the Riverside-San Bernardino-Inland Empire radio market. KFRG airs a country music radio format calling itself "K-FROG" and is bel ...

's tower temporarily. In January 2018, longtime KCAL-FM on-air personalities Michael "Stu-Man" Stewart, "Tiffany" Angelo, and James "Jimbo" Smith — the

morning drive Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

hosts collectively known as "STJ", and previously known as "The Morning Stiffy" — were dismissed from the station due to budget cuts. Morning show producer Steven Kono was also let go. Patrick Tish took over morning host duties.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kcal-Fm CAL-FM Active rock radio stations in the United States Mass media in the Inland Empire Redlands, California Mass media in Riverside, California Mass media in San Bernardino, California Mass media in Riverside County, California Mass media in San Bernardino County, California Radio stations established in 1965 1965 establishments in California