KERN (1180 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to

Wasco Wasco is the name of four places in the United States: Places United States * Wasco, California, a city in California ** Wasco State Prison, located in Wasco, California * Wasco, Illinois, a former hamlet (unincorporated town) in Illinois, now pa ...

- Greenacres, California, and serving the

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

metropolitan area. The station is owned by American General Media. The

radio studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

s and offices are in the American General Media complex at 1400 Easton Drive, STE 134 in Bakersfield. KERN airs a talk radio

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

. On weekdays, local host Scott Cox anchors "First Look" and Ralph Bailey is heard in afternoon drive time. The rest of the weekday schedule comes from

nationally syndicated Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States wher ...

conservative talk shows: Dan Bongino, Larry Elder, Ben Shapiro, Clay Travis & Buck Sexton and " Red Eye Radio." Weekends feature shows on health, money, real estate, home repair, law and computers. Weekend syndicated shows include Kim Komando,

Bill Cunningham Bill Cunningham may refer to: People *Bill Cunningham (rugby union) (1874–1927), New Zealand rugby union player *Bill Cunningham (footballer), Irish international footballer active in the 1890s *Bill Cunningham (infielder) (1886–1946), profes ...

and

Bruce DuMont Bruce DuMont (born June 18, 1944) is an American broadcaster and political analyst based in Chicago, Illinois. He was the host of '' Beyond the Beltway'', a syndicated talk radio show that airs on approximately 25 stations around the United States ...

. Some weekend hours are paid brokered programming. Most hours begin with world and national news from

ABC News Radio ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five minute newscasts on the hour and news briefs at half-pas ...

. KERN is the

flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyalt ...

of the Bakersfield College Renegades sports teams and Cal State Bakersfield Men's Basketball.

Transmitter and FM translator

KERN operates with 50,000 watts by day, the maximum power permitted for commercial AM stations. Because AM 1180 is a clear-channel frequency, reserved for Class A WHAM in Rochester, New York, KERN must reduce power at night to 10,000 watts, and uses a directional antenna at all times to limit interference. The transmitter is located off Jackson Avenue in Wasco. Programming is simulcast on an FM broadcasting, FM broadcast relay station, translator at 96.1 Hertz, MHz. The station calls itself "Kern Radio News Talk 1180 and 96.1."

History

KERN sign on, signed on the air on January 3, 1932. It broadcast at 1370 kilocycles, powered at 100 watts. In its early days it was owned by the Bee Bakersfield Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Company, owner of a number of radio stations and newspapers in California. KERN served as the CBS Radio News, CBS Radio network affiliate for Bakersfield, broadcasting its schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band broadcasts during the "Golden Age of Radio." KERN moved to 1410 kHz in 1941 as the result of North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, NARBA (North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement), increasing power to 1,000 watts. In 1948, it added an FM station at 94.1, KERN-FM (now KISV). At first, KERN-FM simulcast most of the programming of the AM station. As network programming moved to TV in the 1950s, KERN switched to music programming with local air personalities and news. In the 1960s, KERN flipped to a Contemporary hit radio, Top 40 sound. Johnny Mitchell, Program Director and Phil Drake, Music Director took this fledgling station to a solid number one in 1973, soundly beating its competitor, KAFY 550 AM (now KUZZ (AM), KUZZ). KERN was among the first stations to carry the

countdown show ''American Top 40'' hosted by Casey Kasem, beginning on July 4, 1970. Also in 1970, KERN sold its FM station to The Reliable Broadcast Company, which had just bought 1350 KLYD (now KLHC). Emmy Award winning writer Ken Levine (TV personality), Ken Levine (then known as Ken Stevens) got his start in radio at KERN in 1971. As Top 40 listening switched to FM in the late 1970s, KERN moved to a middle of the road (music), middle of the road format, with national news supplied by ABC Radio News. In the 1980s, KERN began adding some talk shows to its schedule. By the mid-1990s, KERN had made the switch to all talk, using programming from the ABC Talk Radio Network and NBC's Talknet. On December 29, 2008, KERN started simulcasting on 1180 AM to get listeners used to the new frequency as part of a frequency swap with sister station KERI, which ran a Christian radio, religious format. (For the history of the 1180 station before 2008, see "KERI.") The KERN call sign was officially moved from 1410 to 1180 on December 30, 2008 and the KERI call sign was moved to 1410. On January 1, 2009, the Christian music format was reunited with the KERI call sign on 1410 AM.

Previous logo

Image:KERN logo.png, KERN logo while broadcast on 1410 AM File:KERN-AM.jpg, KERN logo on 1180 AM December 30, 2008

References

External links

FCC History Cards for KERN
*
Corporate site
* * {{News/Talk Radio Stations in California News and talk radio stations in the United States Radio stations in Bakersfield, California, ERN Radio stations established in 1984 1984 establishments in California