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KQED-FM (88.5
MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...
) is a listener-supported,
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public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
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 ...
in
San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
. It is simulcast on KQEI-FM (89.3 MHz) in the
Sacramento metropolitan area The Greater Sacramento area is a metropolitan region in Northern California comprising either the U.S. Census Bureau defined Sacramento–Roseville–Arden-Arcade metropolitan statistical area or the larger Sacramento–Roseville combined sta ...
. The parent organization is KQED Inc., which also owns two PBS member television stations: KQED (channel 9) and KQEH (channel 54). Studios are on Mariposa Street in the Mission District of San Francisco. KQED-FM is grandfathered at an unusually high effective radiated power (ERP) of 110,000
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
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is along Radio Road, atop San Bruno Mountain, in
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.Radio-Locator.com/KQED-FM
/REF> KQEI-FM has an ERP of 3,300 watts, with its tower on Sorento Road in Elverta.


Programming

KQED-FM is one of the most-listened-to public radio stations in the United States. It often ranks first in the San Francisco radio market in the
Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
. In addition to local programming, KQED-FM carries content from major public radio distributors such as
National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
, the Public Radio Exchange and American Public Media, with the BBC World Service heard late nights. Popular NPR shows carried by KQED-FM and KQEI-FM include ''
Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...
,
All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...
, Fresh Air, Here and Now'' and ''
Marketplace A marketplace, market place, or just market, is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a ''souk'' (from ...
''. Weekend shows include '' Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me, Radiolab, On The Media, Code Switch, Latino USA, Hidden Brain, Freakonomics Radio, This American Life, The Moth Radio Hour, The New Yorker Radio Hour'' and '' The Splendid Table''. Among the locally produced shows are '' Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal'', '' The California Report'' and ''Tech Nation''. The KQED-FM newsroom prepares frequent local and California news updates which air between programs, in addition to hourly newscasts from NPR. In addition to over-the-air broadcasts, KQED-FM audio is carried on Comcast digital cable channel 960 with live streaming audio from its
website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...
and from the iHeartRadio platform. '' Forum'' is carried live, nationwide, on Sirius Satellite Radio. KQED also offers an extensive audio archive and podcasts of previous shows for download. One of the most famous programs to have been broadcast on KQED was ''An Hour with Pink Floyd'', a 60-minute performance by
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...
recorded in
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...
without an audience at the station's studio. The program was broadcast only twice—once in 1970, and once again in 1981. The
setlist A set list, or setlist, is typically a handwritten or printed document created as an ordered list of songs, jokes, stories and other elements an artist intends to present during a specific performance. A setlist can be made of nearly any materi ...
included " Atom Heart Mother", " Cymbaline", " Grantchester Meadows", " Green Is the Colour", " Careful with That Axe, Eugene", and " Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun".


History


KXKX

The San Francisco Theological Seminary, a
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
group, began broadcasting with station KXKX in April 1963. The new 110,000-watt station signed on two years after the seminary received a
construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...
from the FCC in August 1961. ( Guide to reading History Cards) In addition to Christian radio programming, the station's subcarrier broadcast theology courses to receivers at 44 Bay Area churches. When agencies of the Presbyterian Church (USA) could no longer support the station, KXKX signed off at midnight on the evening of June 29, 1967.


KQED-FM

In July 1968, the San Francisco Theological Seminary filed to sell KXKX to the Bay Area Educational Television Association, owner of public television station KQED (channel 9). The station returned to the air as KQED-FM in mid-1969, originally using the studios at 286 Divisadero Street inherited from the seminary. The founding manager was Bernard Mayes, who later went on to be executive vice president of KQED television and also co-founder and chairman of NPR. The first programming of KQED-FM included news, 'street radio' broadcast live from local street corners, drama and music. In its third year on the air, KQED-FM became one of the first 80
network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...
s of National Public Radio, one of five in California. It aired the first edition of ''
All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...
.'' Later, due to reduced funding, Mayes opened the air to 'Tribal Radio' - productions by local non-profit groups, some in their own languages.


Expansion into Sacramento

In 2003, KQED Radio expanded to the
Sacramento metropolitan area The Greater Sacramento area is a metropolitan region in Northern California comprising either the U.S. Census Bureau defined Sacramento–Roseville–Arden-Arcade metropolitan statistical area or the larger Sacramento–Roseville combined sta ...
by purchasing KEBR-FM on 89.3 MHz. The station is licensed to the suburban community of North Highlands. It signed on the air on . KEBR-FM 89.3 was originally owned by
Family Radio Family Radio is a non-profit Christian radio network based in Franklin, Tennessee, United States. Established in 1959, Family Radio airs Calvinist teaching and Christian music. The network is most widely known for its false Family Radio#Failed ...
, a Christian broadcaster based in Oakland at the time. The KEBR-FM call letters and format moved to a more powerful FM station on 88.1 MHz in Sacramento. KQED Radio changed the call sign on 89.3 FM to KQEI-FM. It became a full-time simulcast of KQED-FM in San Francisco.


Locally-produced shows

In 2023, KQED acquired '' Snap Judgment'' and ''Spooked'' podcasts.


Additional frequencies

In addition to the main station, KQED-FM is relayed by these stations and translators to widen its broadcast area. KQED and KQEI also broadcast using
HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...
technology.


References

{{Authority control NPR member stations QED-FM Radio stations established in 1963 KQED Inc. 1963 establishments in California