Copyright © 2002-2012 Simpatico.blogspot.com. All rights reserved.

 

Comprehensive Guide to Bay Area Radio: History, Directory, Playlists, Formats, and More

What is it about radio that still fosters such fan loyalty after three-quarters of a century? It's amazing how many adults can still recall the frequencies and call letters of their favorite radio stations from 20 or 30 years ago. People don't claim TV stations as their own with the same degree of intensity. (Click on Ultimate Radio Guide to see the Bay Area’s most user-friendly radio directory. Click on Radio Guide 2 for a list of radio stations outside the Bay Area.)

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Soundtrack of Our Lives

There are several reasons for the difference in attitude. For one thing, television has very little local programming that's worth watching; most stations carry network shows, making them virtually indistinguishable from one another. Current trend notwithstanding, radio is the opposite of television: It devotes only a few hours a week to syndicated programming.

By tweaking its playlist, a radio station can project--or at least give the impression of--a different sound from a competitor with the same format. And the listeners continue to feel some emotional connection to a radio station's local personalities and deejays. Local TV stations may have their news anchors and reporters, but they bring us mostly bad news.

Finally, let's not forget radio's main product. Music is much more of a personal and private experience than movies and television. Even talk radio has found a niche as the equivalent of a telephone party line or town hall meeting, especially in times of major news events. It's more accessible than TV talk shows and less technical than Internet chat rooms.

Forever Radio?

Radio has survived despite the onslaught of television and other forms of home entertainment. When broadband has the same market penetration as radio and television, the Internet may pose a threat to both radio and television. Satellite radio may prove to be as successful as cable television in the long run. Since the news/talk format has saved AM radio, stereo AM would be icing on the cake--unless FM radio co-opts AM news/talk, which hasn't happened to date.

When people talk about wireless technology today, we think of cell phones and Wi-Fi networks. A century ago, radio communication was the original wireless technology—from telegraph to radio and television broadcasting.

Brief History

As one of the nation's top 10 markets, the San Francisco Bay Area is large enough--and the population diverse enough--to invite and sustain more innovative programming than most of the rest of the country. The history of Bay Area radio is full of many trend-setting firsts.

Between 1912 and 1917, scientist Charles Herrold (1875-1948) operated one of the first--if not the first--radio stations in the U.S. from the engineering college he opened in San Jose in 1909. He actually invented his own transmitter for the "Herrold Station" (no call letters back then), and his wife Sybil was possibly the world's first female DJ. During the 1915 World's Fair in San Francisco, visitors were able to listen to the San Jose station's broadcasts. (When the government began issuing broadcasting licenses in 1920, KDKA Pittsburgh became the country's first commercial radio station.)

After World War I, Herrold's historic radio station resumed broadcasting in 1921 as KQW until 1949 when it became KCBS. The number of U.S. radio stations grew to 550 in 1923 from just 30 in the previous year. Two of the oldest stations in the Bay Area are KFRC and KGO, both dating back to 1924. KGO and KCBS switched to a news/talk format in the 1960s.

In 1949, pacifist Lewis Hill (1919-1957) founded KPFA (94.1), the country's first community radio station. It won its first Peabody Award within 10 years and later served as the voice of the free speech movement in the 1960s. Family Radio aired its first religious broadcast on KEAR (97.3 originally) in 1959. Also making its debut that year was KJAZ (92.7), a highly regarded jazz radio station during its 35-year run. KABL (960 until 2004) began broadcasting as KROW in the same year (its long ride came to a stop in 2005).

Rock 'n' roll music energized radio in the 1950s. As top 40 took off as a viable format in 1956, the Bay Area was there from the very beginning. When AM radio was still king, KFRC (610) was watched closely--and taped--by fellow top 40 stations in the U.S. Indeed, KFRC would go down in history as one of the best top 40 radio stations of all time.

KMPX (formerly 106.9) was one of the FM stations that gave birth to free-form radio in 1967. Free-form FM radio evolved into album-oriented rock, of which KSAN (94.9 initially) was an early champion. Since 1969, KIOI (101.3) has demonstrated that a "middle of the road" format like easy listening/adult contemporary has its advantages (a powerful signal doesn't hurt either).

Soon after New York's WKTU switched to an all-dance format in 1978 at the height of disco mania, KSFX (103.7) became the Bay Area's first dance radio station. In 1979, KBLX (102.9 "The Quiet Storm") pioneered the "soft and warm" format, a blend of mellow R&B and contemporary jazz instrumentals. While most radio stations change formats every other year, KBLX has survived with the same formula intact.

In the early 1980s, KQAK (98.9 "The Quake") was one of the first new wave radio stations in the country (patterned after KROQ Los Angeles). Unfortunately, KQAK was ahead of its time. After its demise, KITS (105.3 "Live 105") switched to modern rock--the new name for new wave--and emerged as one of the more subversive commercial radio stations by the late 1980s.

When KKSF (103.7) went on the air in 1987, it was one of the few stations at the time to play new age music--though its staff never uttered that term. This new age/contemporary jazz/pop hybrid seems to work for KKSF. In the late 1980s, KMEL (106.1) switched to urban top 40, embracing rap and later hip-hop.

What began in 1982 as an all-music religious station in the Wine Country (KCLB) is now part of K-LOVE's network of radio stations and translator stations (low-power repeater stations) in 34 states. The same nonprofit ministry also owns Air 1, a Christian top 40 radio network covering 26 states. KQED (88.5) changed format to news/talk in 1987 and is today one of the country's most popular public radio stations.

In 2002, KPTI (92.7 "Party"), which modeled itself on South Florida's WPYM, became the Bay Area's second and equally short-lived dance radio station. CNET shuttered its two-year-old radio network in 2003, including the all-technology KNEW (910). Less than six months after KPTI went off the air, KNGY (92.7 “Energy”) picked up where KPTI left off in 2004.

KNOB (96.7 “Bob”) was the first Bay Area radio station with a “free-form” oldies format in 2004, an idea that originated in Canada two years earlier. Then KMAX (95.7 “Max”) followed suit in 2005.

The Bay Area made technology news again when KYOU (1550 “Open Source Radio”) became the first all-podcasting radio station in the world in 2005. At the other end of the spectrum, the year also marked the return of the porker: KPIG-AM (1510). KFAT (94.5), which built a loyal following between 1975 and 1983, was one of the last freewheeling commercial stations in the Bay Area before radio went corporate (you can listen to its vintage broadcasts at kfat.com). Watsonville's KPIG-FM rose from the ashes of KFAT and has been an institution just south of the Bay Area since 1988; its format is best described as Americana and triple-A rock.

Even though the Bay Area is far from the state’s southern border, California’s Latin roots are reflected in Bay Area place names as well as on the airwaves. The oldest surviving Latin music station is KBRG (previously 105.3), which dates back to at least the 1960s. There are now eight Spanish-language radio stations on the FM dial alone. Among them is KVVF (105.7 “La Kalle”), one of the first Latin stations to jump on the reggaeton bandwagon in 2005. For the latest updates, set your browser to simpatico.blogspot.com.

You do sometimes get a second chance in radio. WKTU was resurrected in 1996 as the beat of New York, 11 years after they pulled the plug on the original (there is cachet in familiar call letters). It is still hanging in the top 20 in the country's No. 1 market. After 20 years, KROQ is doing better than ever in Los Angeles.

The Digital Age

Has terrestrial radio found a weapon against satellite radio? Digital HD radio enables multicasting, the ability for a radio station to broadcast multiple channels at the same frequency. This means radio stations can double or triple their programming offerings. Will they rise to the occasion and get creative and bold with these bonus “stations” or will they give us the same homogenized and predictable sound? They need to deliver something more imaginative than, say, “all Elvis all the time.” Will multicasting help the small independent radio stations or will it help the top-rated stations extend their lead? Will terrestrial radio use HD channels to target niche markets a la satellite radio?

Like HDTV and satellite radio, HD radio requires an HD-ready receiver. But unlike satellite radio, you don’t have to pay a subscription fee—and these HD channels will be commercial-free initially.

By the end of 2006, over a thousand radio stations in the U.S. had converted to digital, and more than 500 of them had started multicasting (broadcasting HD channels in addition to the converted analog original) in 167 markets. Note that AM stations are not allowed to multicast, but they can have the one default HD channel, which would sound as good as analog FM (no need for stereo AM). Most companies will offer streaming audio for HD channels as they do now for their analog stations. You can visit iBiquity Digital’s Web site (ibiquity.com) and follow the progress of HD radio deployment nationwide. We will continue to update our Bay Area Radio Guide as local stations begin multicasting.

Looking for good deals on HD radios? Starting in 2006, iBiquity posted on its Web site rebates for a number of HD systems. Manufacturers such as RadioShack also offered discounts to drive sales. Look for more of these promotions in 2007. We have reason to believe the range of the digital signal is not as good as the analog counterpart. So you should verify that you can pick up most of the HD2 channels before you leave the store. Take our list of Bay Area HD2 channels with you when you’re ready for a test drive. What do iBiquity, Ben Fong-Torres, and KIOI have in common? See below for the answer.

Low Power to the People

In 2000, the Federal Communications Commission created low-power FM radio service in an effort to give voice to local communities. Free licenses were approved for noncommercial LPFM radio stations with a 100-watt signal (the power of a light bulb!) and service range in a 3.5-mile radius. By 2006, the FCC had issued about 750 such licenses nationwide in mostly rural areas, including at least three in the northern part of the Bay Area.

Sprawling Market

The San Francisco Bay is the largest bay in North America. This fact is one reason broadcast reception is such an issue (if you lived on reclaimed land in the middle of the bay, you’d have no problem with reception). The Bay Area is bigger than Connecticut and slightly smaller than New Jersey in size. Geography strikes again: East Bay hills also pose a reception problem for the inland portion of the East Bay.

Less than a fifth of the local population lives in the northern half of the Bay Area (counties north of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge). The southern half--San Francisco, the East Bay, the Peninsula, and Silicon Valley--is the heart of this major market in the U.S. Furthermore, San Jose is now the largest city in Northern California, surpassing San Francisco in the 1990s.

The 26 Fortune 500 public companies in the Bay Area--in fact, in all of Northern California--are based in the five southern counties. A local report on the largest public companies in the Bay Area provides a more detailed picture. The same five counties are clearly the economic center of the region. Refer to Bay Area Stats for more details.

As anyone who lives in the Bay Area knows, a radio station that wants to be a serious competitor must be powerful enough to reach all points surrounding the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose triangle.

Power Play

The U.S. is divided into 280-plus geographical markets. Have you noticed the top-rated radio stations in the largest markets tend to be the ones with the strongest signals? To level the playing field a little bit, the FCC should raise the current minimum broadcast power in the nation's top 30 markets (the government is forcing TV stations to go digital). The embarrassingly low minimum of 100 watts should be changed to, say, 2,000 (by contrast, the most powerful local radio station has a 125,000-watt signal). This makes sense in light of the establishment of low-power FM radio. If college radio stations could reach well beyond a 10-mile radius, they might be able to compete with commercial stations. And that wouldn't be a bad thing.

Going Corporate

The U.S. radio landscape has changed drastically since the mid-1990s (see Telecommunications Act of 1996). With mergers and liberalized rules allowing companies to own multiple media outlets in the same market, radio stations are more concerned with cooperation than competition. Clear Channel Communications and CBS Radio are the two dominant radio groups in the country. Clear Channel Communications owns about a quarter of all the U.S. radio stations; its weekly audience reach is 110 million listeners in all 50 states.

According to the latest Arbitron ratings [Fall 2006] for the San Francisco market (which excludes Santa Clara County), Clear Channel Communications owns nine of the 30 top-rated radio stations in the Bay Area. In second place are CBS Radio and Cumulus Media with four stations each in the top 30. (Yes, Cumulus Media is the corporation that banned the Dixie Chicks from all 42 of its country stations in 2003. It established its presence in the Bay Area after acquiring Susquehanna Radio in 2006.) Univision Communications and Bonneville are next with three stations apiece. Only two California companies, Univision Communications and San Jose-based Empire Broadcasting (KRTY), operate stations among the top 30. Note that Entercom Communications has since taken over three Bonneville FM stations in the Bay Area.

Straight Talk

Like other markets across the country, the news/talk format is popular in the Bay Area. Three of the top 10 radio stations are of the non-music variety, including perennial winner KGO. Beyond that obvious trend, older Bay Area residents seem to prefer adult contemporary music and oldies stations, and younger listeners manage to place two hip-hop-leaning stations in the top 10.

Que Pasa?

There are five Spanish-language radio stations in the top 30, one short of the record set in 2005. In the early 1990s, the Bay Area had a modern rock station and a country station in the top 10. Neither format is represented in the top 10 today.

Public Access

Among noncommercial radio stations, the most powerful are also the most popular (KQED, KCSM, and KPFA).

[See the Ultimate Bay Area Radio Guide]

HD Radio’s Dirty Little Secret?

In December 2006, we went to a RadioShack in San Jose to check out its $100 HD radio (after double rebates). The store employees eventually managed to tune in to the few HD2 channels from San Jose stations—after they moved the unit by the front door—but they were never able to pick up any of the multicasting San Francisco stations. Our experience seems to contradict Ben Fong-Torres’ reporting in February 2006. His contact at Cumulus Media had assured San Francisco Chronicle that “HD offers improved reception” than analog. So if the range of the digital signal is supposed to be the same as or better than the analog counterpart, what gives?

We wondered at the time if the problem is the hardware (HD receivers in general or just RadioShack’s model) or iBiquity’s technology. Well, we reported our RadioShack experience to Fong-Torres and never heard from him. Then we went straight to the source and asked iBiquity for comments—and got no reply. Hoping the third time would be the charm, we e-mailed Clear Channel’s KIOI in April 2007 (this station has a 125,000-watt analog signal). After an immediate acknowledgement from KIOI, we are still awaiting some sort of answer from the station (we sent a second e-mail two months later).

While researching Radiosophy’s $60 HD radio (after rebate), we stumbled across a Monitoring Times (monitoringtimes.com) article by Ken Reitz that points out that “[r]eliable reception of HD radio is dramatically reduced from what you’re used to with analog reception.” He cites three reasons for this: 1) the government places a limit on the digital signal, 2) HD receivers require a clear signal without much noise, and 3) digital radio is sensitive to out-of-phase signal, a phenomenon called multipath distortion. Note that HDTV has some of the same problems.

The bottom line for Bay Area listeners: HD radio only makes sense if you can pick up all the HD2 channels from the most powerful stations. You shouldn’t have to install an outdoor FM antenna for reliable reception. The FCC and iBiquity apparently never considered a geographically challenging location like the Bay Area when they finalized the HD radio specification. For those of you who live in the South Bay or east of the East Bay hills, let us know if your HD radio can lock on to San Francisco’s HD2 channels easily. Conversely, if you live in San Francisco, can you listen to San Jose’s HD2 channels?

Unless radio stations are allowed to boost their digital signals, we suspect radio manufacturers will have to devise some workaround. And that brings us back to Radiosophy (radiosophy.com), the company founded by former Gateway Computers employees. Its product line includes a more expensive model that has a USB port that can be used to download software updates. We’d like to see this kind of upgrade feature in the low-end model as well, assuming the HD2 reception problem can be solved with software in the future.

[More Radio Stations Beyond the Bay Area]

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Thanks for Your Reference

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