KNBR-FM (104.5
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...
) 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 ...
licensed to
San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, serving the greater
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
. Owned by
Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 ...
, KNBR-FM features a
sports radio
Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...
format in a simulcast with co-owned
KNBR KNBR may refer to:
* KNBR (AM), a radio station (680 AM) licensed to serve San Francisco, California, United States
* KNBR-FM
KNBR-FM (104.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, serving the greater San ...
. Both stations are the San Francisco
affiliates for
CBS Sports Radio
CBS Sports Radio is a sports radio network that debuted with hourly sports news updates on September 4, 2012, and with 24/7 programming on January 2, 2013.
CBS Sports Radio is owned by Paramount Global and distributed by Westwood One. Programmin ...
, the
flagship stations for the
San Francisco Giants Radio Network
The San Francisco Giants Radio Network is the radio network of the San Francisco Giants. There are 15 stations (six AM, four FM, and five FM translators) in the English-language network, including the flagship KNBR/KNBR-FM (104.5 FM and 680 AM). ...
and co-flagship stations for the
San Francisco 49ers Radio Network (along with
KSAN and
KGO). KNBR-AM-FM are the radio home of
Greg Papa
Gregory Charles Papa (born October 10, 1962) is an American sportscaster, currently employed as the radio play-by-play announcer for the San Francisco 49ers. He has also broadcast for the Indiana Pacers, Golden State Warriors, Oakland Athletics, ...
and
Tom Tolbert
Tom or TOM may refer to:
* Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name)
Characters
* Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head''
* Tom Beck, a character ...
.
KNBR maintains studios on Battery Street in San Francisco, while the transmitter is located on
Mount Sutro
Mount Sutro is a hill in central San Francisco, California. It was originally named Mount Parnassus.
Geography
The low mountain is in elevation. Mount Sutro is one of the many named hills within San Francisco, and among its original "Seven Hill ...
. In addition to a standard
analog transmission
Analog transmission is a transmission method of conveying information using a continuous signal which varies in amplitude, phase, or some other property in proportion to that information. It could be the transfer of an analog signal, using an ana ...
, KNBR simulcasts over low-power analog
Pleasanton booster
Booster may refer to:
Amusement rides
* Booster (Fabbri ride), a pendulum ride
* Booster (HUSS ride), an evolution of the Breakdance ride
* Booster (KMG ride), a pendulum ride
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters
* Booster, a cha ...
KNBR-FM3 (104.5 FM), and is available online.
History
Beautiful music
The station signed on the air on February 4, 1960, as KBAY-FM. It was owned by
Kaiser Broadcasting
The Kaiser Broadcasting Corp. was an American broadcast media company that owned and operated television and radio stations in the United States from 1957 to 1977.
History Creating a broadcast chain
Kaiser's involvement in broadcasting began ...
, a company started by local industrialist
Henry J. Kaiser
Henry John Kaiser (May 9, 1882 – August 24, 1967) was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. Prior to World War II, Kaiser was involved in the construction industry; his company was one of ...
. It aired a "good music" format, mostly instrumental
easy listening
Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...
with some
middle of the road songs and soft pop vocals.
In 1963,
the
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
switched to KFOG in honor of the city's
fog layer, and the station aired a
beautiful music
Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...
format, again largely instrumental music,
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
s of popular songs with some
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
and
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
show tunes. Within a few years, KFOG got competition from other beautiful music stations: KABL-AM-FM (now
KNEW
KNEW may refer to:
* The ICAO code for New Orleans Lakefront Airport, located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
* KNEW (AM), a radio station on 960 kHz, licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, that carries the KNEW call s ...
and
KISQ
KISQ (98.1 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to San Francisco, California. It broadcasts a soft adult contemporary radio format, known as "The Breeze," and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The radio studios and offices are in the SoMa di ...
) and from
KOIT
KOIT (96.5 FM) is a commercial adult contemporary radio station licensed to San Francisco, California. The station has studios along Junipero Serra Boulevard in Daly City, and transmits from Sutro Tower in San Francisco, with a power output o ...
, as well as
San Jose-based KBAY (now
KBRG
KBRG (100.3 FM ''Amor 100.3'') is a commercial radio station licensed to San Jose, California, with a Spanish AC radio format. The station is owned by TelevisaUnivision. Its studios are located at 1940 Zanker Road in San Jose, and the transmitt ...
). For the next two decades, beautiful music was popular in the Bay Area. By the early 1980s, the format was showing signs of aging. KFOG was acquired by
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
in 1974.
"Timeless Rock"
On September 16, 1982, with studios still at Ghirardelli Square, KFOG dropped the easy listening format for a blend of
album-oriented 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-oriente ...
(AOR) and
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 ...
, which the station called "Timeless Rock." The first song on the new format was "
Rock This Town
"Rock This Town" is the second single by American rockabilly band Stray Cats, released January 30, 1981 by Arista Records in the UK, where it peaked at No. 9 on the Singles Chart. It was taken from the band's 1981 debut album, '' Stray Cats''.
...
" by
The Stray Cats
Stray Cats are an American rockabilly band formed in 1979 by guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in t ...
. The station featured a wide range of music, from the
psychedelic
Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...
sounds of the
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
and
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to ac ...
to newer artists such as
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...
, the
Eurythmics
Eurythmics were a British pop duo consisting of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. They were both previously in The Tourists, a band which broke up in 1980. The duo released their first studio album, '' In the Garden'', in 1981 to little succ ...
, and the
Thompson Twins
Thompson Twins were a British Pop music, pop band formed in 1977 in Sheffield. Initially a New wave music, new wave group, they switched to a more mainstream pop sound and achieved considerable popularity during the mid-1980s, scoring a string ...
.
KFOG avoided commercial-sounding bands such as
Loverboy
Loverboy is a Canadian rock band formed in 1979 in Calgary, Alberta. Loverboy's hit singles, particularly " Turn Me Loose" and "Working for the Weekend", have become arena rock staples and are still heard on many classic rock and classic hits r ...
and
REO Speedwagon
REO Speedwagon (originally stylized as R.E.O. Speedwagon) is an American rock band from Champaign, Illinois. Formed in 1967, the band cultivated a following during the 1970s and achieved significant commercial success throughout the 1980s. The ...
, which were widely played on more mass-appeal AOR stations at the time. KFOG was inspired by San Francisco's
freeform rock radio heritage, dating back to
KSAN, a pioneering
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
station (now KYLD).
When KFOG changed to rock in the early 1980s, the Bay Area already had numerous competing rock stations;
KMEL
KMEL (106.1 FM) is an urban contemporary radio station that is licensed to San Francisco, California, and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by iHeartMedia.
KMEL has studios located in the SoMa district, and broadcasts ...
was the established, tightly-formatted AOR station that had been playing rock music since 1977.
KRQR
KRQR (106.7 FM) is a commercial radio station located in Orland, California, broadcasting to the entire Sacramento Valley. KRQR airs an active rock music format
An audio format is a medium for sound recording and reproduction. The term is ap ...
was the
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
station and
KQAK
KQAK is a commercial classic hits music radio station in Bend, Oregon, broadcasting on 105.7 FM.
History of the KQAK call sign
KQAK was the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) call sign of a now defunct classic rock—and, more memorably, ...
was a new station with a friendly, loosely programmed, personality-driven alternative rock/new wave format. There were two other rock stations in the South Bay -
KSJO
KSJO (92.3 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to San Jose, California, and broadcasts to the San Francisco Bay Area. KSJO airs a Bollywood music radio format branded as Bolly 92.3. It is owned by Silicon Valley Asian Media Group ...
and
KOME
KOME was a commercial FM radio station in San Jose, California, broadcasting at 98.5 MHz. KOME was on the air from 1971 through 1998. Currently, the 98.5 FM frequency is home to KUFX "K-Fox," a classic rock station.
An unrelated FM statio ...
. One other San Francisco rock station,
KSFX, switched to
talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...
in May of that year. Of the six Bay Area rock stations that were on the air in late 1982, KFOG had been the last of the heritage rock stations.
In 1989, KFOG was acquired by the
Susquehanna Radio Corporation
The Susquehanna Radio Corporation was a media corporation which operated from 1941 to 2006 that was headquartered in York, Pennsylvania. The company was a unit of Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff, a conglomerate more widely known for the Pfaltzgraff ki ...
, along with
KNBR KNBR may refer to:
* KNBR (AM), a radio station (680 AM) licensed to serve San Francisco, California, United States
* KNBR-FM
KNBR-FM (104.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, serving the greater San ...
, for $17.5 million. Susquehanna later merged into Cumulus Media, the current owner.
AAA and alternative rock
The station evolved over the years, but KFOG aired an eclectic rock format for more than a quarter century. In the 1990s, it adjusted its
playlist
A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop. The term has sever ...
to an
adult album alternative
Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...
(AAA) direction. In August 1995, it became "KFOG 97.7 and 104.5," when Susquehanna acquired San Jose station KHQT (97.7 FM) and turned it into KFFG, simulcasting KFOG on a full-time basis.
On March 31, 2016, KFOG took all of its
DJs off the air and began promoting an "evolution" to take place on April 20. On that day, at 6 a.m., KFOG relaunched its AAA format under the new slogan "Music Matters," and shifted its playlist to focus on songs from the 1990s to the present day. The first song under the "Music Matters" branding was "
Times Like These" by
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...
.
As part of the change, former
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
rock DJ Bryan Schock was hired as Operations Manager/Program Director for KFOG and
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 ...
sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement.
Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
KSAN. Most of the KFOG airstaff, including morning hosts Irish Greg McQuade and Renee Richardson, midday host Annalisa, afternoon host Bill Webster, night host Dred Scott, and weekend host Rosalie Howarth, were let go from the station. By 2018, the station gradually transitioned to a more mainstream alternative format. It then directly competed with
KITS Kits may refer to:
* Kitsilano, a neighbourhood of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
*Kits, an American taffy candy made by Gilliam Candy Company
*KITS, a San Francisco, California radio station
*Kottayam Institute of Technology & Sci ...
.
At 9:00 p.m. on May 31, 2019, KFOG slightly re-branded as "KFOG 104.5," as KFFG was sold off to
EMF and became
K-Love affiliate
KJLV; the station adopted a new logo to reflect the sale of the repeater. The last song before the simulcast broke was "
High Hopes" by
Panic! At The Disco
Panic! at the Disco is the solo project of American musician Brendon Urie. It was originally a pop rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2004 by childhood friends Urie, Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith, and Brent Wilson. They recorded their firs ...
.
Switch to KNBR-FM
On August 26, 2019, Cumulus announced that KFOG would drop its rock format on September 6 to simulcast sister station
KNBR KNBR may refer to:
* KNBR (AM), a radio station (680 AM) licensed to serve San Francisco, California, United States
* KNBR-FM
KNBR-FM (104.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, serving the greater San ...
.
On its final day as a music station, starting at 6 a.m., KFOG aired a tribute to its long run as a rock station with a day-long marathon of old "10@10" broadcasts and recordings taken from the station's "Live From the Archives" CD series. The exception was the 8 a.m. hour, a repeat of Dave Morey's final morning show before his retirement in 2008, and the 5 p.m. hour, in which KFOG paid tribute to longtime DJ Mike 'M Dung' Slavko's Sunday night
freeform radio
Free-form, or free-form radio, is a radio station programming format in which the disc jockey is given total control over what music to play, regardless of music genre or commercial interests. Freeform radio stands in contrast to most commercia ...
program "The Idiot Show". In addition, the
station identification
Station identification (ident, network ID or channel ID or bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and broadcast network, networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name (sometimes known, ...
s for that day were taken from the pre-1982 beautiful music format.
In the station's final hour as KFOG, they rebroadcast the audio of its 1982 flip to AAA, followed by a "10@10" broadcast of "666 - Day of Doom Devil Music" which originally aired June 6, 2006, and ended with a short set of songs, finishing with "
Brokedown Palace
''Brokedown Palace'' is a 1999 American drama film directed by Jonathan Kaplan, and starring Claire Danes, Kate Beckinsale, Bill Pullman and Lim Kay Tong. It deals with two American friends imprisoned in Thailand for alleged drug smuggling. Its ...
" by the
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
. After a final sign-off consisting of an eight-minute-long loop of ocean wave, seagull, and foghorn sound effects that were the station's longtime audio trademark, and a minute of silence, KFOG officially flipped to the simulcast. There was no official acknowledgement on-air when the station made the switch; rather, the station joined during a rebroadcast of that night's
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...
game already in progress. On the same day, the call sign KNBR-FM was adopted; the KFOG call letters have since been
warehoused on an AM station in
Little Rock, Arkansas
(The Little Rock, The "Little Rock")
, government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager
, leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_ ...
, the former
KPZK.
Booster
The station is rebroadcast on the following FM booster:
HD radio
As KFOG, it broadcast two feeds in
HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...
, the first was a simulcast of the analog feed and the second carried "All-10@10-All-The-Time." The HD2 feed was taken off air in 2015. The HD1 feed returned when the station became KNBR-FM. It has since been turned off.
References
External links
{{Cumulus Media
NBR-FM
Radio stations established in 1960
Kaiser Broadcasting
Cumulus Media radio stations
1960 establishments in California