KBBD (103.9 FM, "103.9

Bob FM BOB FM is the on-air brand of a number of FM radio stations in the United States and formerly in Canada. The BOB FM format mostly concentrates on album rock, alternative rock and pop hits from the 1980s and 1990s, especially those popular duri ...

") is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

. It is owned by the Stephens Media Group and broadcasts an adult hits

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

with the slogan is "We Play Whatever". The offices and

radio studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for recording and mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enough to record a single sin ...

s are on East 57th Avenue. KBBD's

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 ha ...

(ERP) is 34,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), 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 quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is on South Park Road in Spokane, amid the

towers A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

for other Spokane-area FM and TV stations.

History

The station first

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air in 1985 as KVXO. During the period from approximately 1985–1988, KVXO was known as "Power 104", a Mainstream CHR of the same ilk as "Zoo FM", KZZU, its main format competitor. Notable personalities on "Power 104" included Lee St. Michaels and Rob Fisher (Leroy & the Pepper); Tracie Lee; Jeff Melton; Jim "The Bod" Larsin; Greg "The Blade" Young; TJ Collins & "Midnight" Mike. In 1986, Collins began a show called "''The Power Switch''" where he "switched" the format and played hip hop and R&B not played on other radio stations in Spokane at the time; thus, becoming the first DJ to play hip-hop on commercial radio in Spokane. Collins also featured local and regional unsigned rap artists and began airing mixes by local DJ, GrandMixer GMS. ''The Power Switch'' was a very popular show that originally aired for two hours every Sunday night. Conflict over the show developed due to the dislike of rap music by another employee so in the fall of 1987, the show was moved to 11:30 p.m. to midnight, Monday through Friday. "Power 104" went dark on December 24, 1988, as then Program Director Ed Donohue pulled the plug on the transmitter. It was previously known as KYWL ("Wild 103.9"), which played

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

and R&B and called itself "Spokane's party station". “103.9 The Hawk” KWHK played

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

, and before that,

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 ...

(when the station was known as "Z-Rock"). In the late 90s, KNJY “Z-Rock” was up against stiff competition with Rock 94 1/2. 103.9 started out in the 80s playing an adult contemporary leaning pop format as KVXO. In 2004, it was owned by Citadel Radio. Mapleton bought it in 2007. In the Summer 2011 Arbitron ratings survey, BOB-FM rated #1 12+.

External links

103.9 BOB FM official website

References

BBD Adult hits radio stations in the United States Bob FM stations Radio stations established in 1988 1998 establishments in Washington (state) {{Washington-radio-station-stub