KRSB-FM (103.1
FM, "Best Country 103") is a
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
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 ...
to serve
Roseburg, Oregon
Roseburg is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is in the Umpqua River, Umpqua River Valley in southern Oregon and is the county seat and most populous city of Douglas County, Oregon, Douglas County. Founded in 1851, the population was 23,683 a ...
, United States. The station, established in 1970, is currently owned by Brooke Communications, Inc. The station gained worldwide attention in the 1970s for its "Goat Weather Forecasts" based on the movement of local wild goats.
Programming
The station's initial format was a mix of
middle of the road and
contemporary music
Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included serial ...
.
By the end of the 1970s, the format had transitioned to a more modern
adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...
music mix with up to four hours of
jazz music
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major f ...
broadcast each week.
KRSB-FM currently broadcasts a contemporary
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
format.
History
This station began regular operations on October 1, 1970, broadcasting with 2,750
watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
s of
effective radiated power
Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would hav ...
on a frequency of 103.1
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 ...
.
The station was assigned 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 ...
KRSB by the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
.
Under the ownership of W.R.R., Inc., KRSB was run by Tom Worden who served as
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
,
program director, and company president while Bob Reese took on the job of
chief engineer
A chief engineer, commonly referred to as "ChEng" or "Chief", is the most senior engine officer of an engine department on a ship, typically a merchant ship, and holds overall leadership and the responsibility of that department..Chief engineer's ...
for the station.
To accommodate the rebranding of a co-owned AM
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 ...
as KRSB, the FM station was assigned the KRSB-FM
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 ...
by the FCC on December 10, 1985.
In May 1986, W.R.R., Inc., reached an agreement to sell this station to Michael R. Wyatt. The deal was approved by the FCC on July 2, 1987, and the transaction was consummated the same day.
In February 1989, Michael R. Wyatt reached an agreement to sell this station to Broadcast Management Services, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on March 1, 1989, and the transaction was consummated on March 10, 1989. This ownership change would prove very short-lived as just six days later, on March 16, 1989, Broadcast Management Services, Inc., filed an application with the FCC to transfer the
broadcast license
A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which vary ...
for KRSB-FM to Brooke Communications, Inc. The new deal was approved by the FCC on April 28, 1989, and the transaction was consummated on May 8, 1989.
In 1991, KRSB-FM changed from Adult Contemporary to Top 40, under the “B103” branding. This format was moved from AM sister station; “Q124” 1240 KQEN, which became Soft Adult Contemporary. In 1992, KRSB-FM became “Country 103” with a Country format. Later in the 90’s, it was modified to the current “Best Country 103” branding.
Weather goats
KRSB gained national and international attention in the 1970s for their "Goat Weather Forecasts", based on the behavior of wild
goat
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...
s grazing on Mount Nebo, near
Interstate 5
Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Califor ...
.
Visible from the station's studio, if the goats were high on the hill it meant fair weather.
If the goats were grazing near the bottom of the hill, the forecast would call for
rain
Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...
.
Station manager Tom Worden told interviewers that the goats were right about 90 percent of the time while the
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
forecasts from distant
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
, were only about 65 percent accurate.
While the station did still deliver the conventional scientific
weather forecast
Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19th centu ...
s from the National Weather Service, the Goat Weather Reports included less scientific terms like "widely scattered goats" for mostly sunny skies and "low goat pressure" as a sign of rain and stormy weather ahead.
By the end of the 1970s, as both traffic along Interstate 5 and accidents involving goats increased, the herd was relocated to a local ranch about 15 miles away from Mount Nebo.
Station alumni
Tom Worden, then the
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
of KRSB and KYES, served as the president of the
Oregon Association of Broadcasters for the 1983 calendar year.
Translators
KRSB-FM programming is also carried on a
broadcast translator
A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...
station to extend or improve the coverage area of the station.
References
External links
Official Website*
{{Authority control
RSB-FM
Country radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1970
Roseburg, Oregon
1970 establishments in Oregon