new thread
Those of you in the bay area, check out KTRB on 860 AM. It is a new station playing music from the Summer of Love era, and they for now have NO COMMERCIALS!
Out of sight!
Bill
Cool! I'm sure it will be welcomed by those who miss KFRC. There was an AM station in Dallas, Tex., that played 50s-80s music about two years ago. I'd listen to it at night. I wish there were more of them.
Tracy
*gasp* KFRC is gone!? I've been to the Bay Area a couple times in the last few months, but hadn't listened to the radio. But I loved KFRC. I used to listen to it all the time in the mid-/late-90s. I first discovered it in high school when I started getting into Oldies. I had no idea it was gone. :(
610 KFRC changed to Family Radio programming (Christian, in other words) on 29 April 2005. On 17 October 2005, KFRC changed its call letters to KEAR.
99.7 KFRC-FM changed its 50s-70s oldies format to 70s-80s on 5 September 2005. On 22 September 2006, KFRC-FM played Don McLean's American Pie and changed to "the new Movin' 99.7", a dance-oriented station.
I only heard KFRC once when it was on 610 in either 2002 or 2003. It was cool to be able to hear the station when I was just west of Sacramento.
Tracy
Ah the good old Bay Area, where thrash metal started! I'd expect there to be a good heavy metal scene there, but I might br wrong:).
-Mihnea
I think it's a nice touch to have music like that playing in SF.
Tourist probably expect to see hippies any, so why not throw in some background music.
At first I thought: "AM?" But then, back then maybe most stations WERE AM!
Maybe FM costs too much. I suppose broadcasting in stereo is more expensive.
Anyway, I'm glad someone had a positive idea for once.
It's somewhat more complicated than that. The technical costs vary greatly depending on the station's authorization and location of the transmitter site. Some AMs can be pretty expensive to operate and maintain.
Even though they are monophonic in many cases, AM stations get a bum rap when it comes to fidelity because the real fault is in the listener's receiver. Most AM receivers today stink quite frankly. they have a very narrow audio frequency response, usually only 3 KHz wide. This is because manufacturers found that limiting bandwidth was the least expensive way to reduce noise in reception. However, many AMs, especially the few transmitting music, employ their full authorized response bandwidth of 10 KHz. If you were to use a decent AM receiver, and listen to a strong full bandwidth AM signal on a good speaker you would be amazed at the audio quality. You would be easily fooled into thinking you were listening to FM. this is how AM sounded 40 or 50 years ago when many stations broadcast music and shows and manufacturers made receivers that could capture and reproduce that kind of programming. Unfortunately, today in order to get a decent AM receiver, you usually have to buy a specialized piece of equipment such as a high-end shortwave broadcast receiver which can run up to or more than a thousand dollars.
The hippie music is only on until March 1. I'm enjoying it while I can!
Ed
right. the commercial free tactic is standard op. procedure when flipping a format or new ownership. When WNIB 97.1 here, (a dearly loved locally owned classical station run by an elderly mom and pop couple) finally sold to Bonneville (I'm pretty sure that was the buyer) they changed it to
"The DRIVE" rock and roll and ran commercial free rock for about a month to get publicity and a new audience.
We had a station here in San Francisco that was bought by a chain of stations about fifteen years ago. For about a month they weren't ready to program it, so they fed their Chicago rock station into the transmitter. It was a hoot driving around San Francisco hearing traffic reports for the Dan Ryan Expressway, and of course when they mentioned the time it was always two hours off. Had it been in January instead of July, we also would have no doubt been told we were in for snow storms.
Having moved here from Chicago, we found listening to all the Chicago commercials great fun, and besides, their music selection was better than anything else here. Too bad they didn't just stick with the music format of the Chicago station.
Bill
I have often wondered how that would go over in another market! but I bet you were in the minority in appreciation Bill. If it were successful it would certainly be inexpensive content for the away station!
In the parlance of those halcyon days, "Far out!" Being a fan of AM radio, I'll have to start listening to this new station. Thanks for the info, Bill.
Hey Bill - That's great! When I listen to Neil Young, Taj Mahjal, Dylan, etc. my brother calls it my, "living in the past music!" Ha! That hasn't stopped me yet. Glad you've got some good tunes, a smile on your face, and (no doubt) some pep in your step! Bruce'ster P.S. Back here in N.C. we have a LOT of country music which puts a "hitch in your giddyup." That can be good too!
do they have online stream?
I did some further research....apparently this is testing to
prepare for their start on March 1st with an undisclosed format.
Enjoy it now, it's gone in eight days.
Ah, San Frascisco. Sometimes I wished I lived there, and SO many of the guys from the MLHH live there or close to there! We don't have anything remotely like that in Nova Scotia. California is definitely on my list of "places to visit" when I retire!
David
We have those around here.....they're called classic rock stations.
Hmmm....no commercials. I have to ask how they will survive
since stations get their income from commercials.
Commercials are how they pay their bills unless it is a college
station, public radio (PBS), or a high school station.