James Gabbert (born 1936 in

Chico, California Chico ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "little") is the most populous city in Butte County, California, United States. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 101,475 in the 2020 United Sta ...

) is a radio and television engineer and entrepreneur, California Broadcasters Association 1994 Broadcaster of the Year, and past president of the National Radio Broadcasters Association. He has owned and managed

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

television station

KOFY-TV KOFY-TV (channel 20) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area as an affiliate of Merit TV. It is owned by CNZ Communications, LLC, alongside Class A station KCNZ-CD (virt ...

and radio stations

KIOI KIOI (101.3 FM, "Star 101.3") is an commercial hot adult contemporary-formatted American radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, and owned by iHeartMedia. The radio studios and offices are in the SoMa district of ...

and

KSOL KSOL (98.9 FM broadcasting, FM "Que Buena 98.9 y 99.1") is a Spanish language radio station in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. KSQL (99.1 FM) simulcasts the station in Santa Cruz, California, Santa Cruz. KSOL and KSQL program a format ...

, and

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

stations KIKI and KPIG-FM. Gabbert lives in

Sausalito Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito's p ...

Education

Gabbert studied electrical engineering at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Career

Radio

While in school in 1957, Gabbert founded KPEN-FM in Atherton. and in 1968 changed its call sign to KIOI ("K-101"). Gabbert moved K101 to San Francisco and purchased KSAY (1010 AM), changing its call letters to

KIQI KIQI (1010 AM) is a commercial radio station in San Francisco, California. It is owned by Multicultural Broadcasting and airs a Spanish-language talk radio format. KIQI 1010 AM is simulcast on KATD 990 AM in the Sacramento Valley. Most show ...

. James Gabbert partnered with 'silent partners' to form "FM Broadcasting". In 1979, FM Broadcasting acquired Honolulu stations KIKI and KPIG-FM. In 1986 Hispanic station KOFY 1050 AM was acquired by FM Broadcasting and merged in the same building with their television station now re-christened

"because people remember radio stations by call letters and TV stations by their channel number".

Television

FM Broadcasting sold their four radio stations, and bought KEMO-TV (Channel 20) in San Francisco, changing its call sign to KTZO in October 1980. In 1986, KTZO became

. In 1994 Gabbert was approached by

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

and asked to be the Bay Area affiliate for the new

WB Television Network The WB Television Network (shortened to The WB, stylized as "THE WB", and nicknamed the "Frog Network" and/or "The Frog" for its former mascot Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network that ran from 1995 to 2006. It launched on br ...

Beyond Broadcasting

In 1998, Gabbert and partners "FM Broadcasting" got out of broadcasting and sold

and their last two radio stations, KOFY 1050 AM and KDIA 1310 AM. Gabbert then formed "Next Century Enterprises" to handle yacht rentals in Sausalito, just across the Golden Gate Bridge north of San Francisco.

Retirement

In 2005 James Gabbert started to miss broadcasting. First he hosted a radio show then he went back on KOFY-TV 20 to guest host the afternoon programs. This confused some viewers into thinking Gabbert had bought back the TV station, but he was just doing it for fun. He didn't even request any payment.

References

Additional sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gabbert, James 1936 births Living people Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area Mass media in the San Francisco Bay Area People from Chico, California Stanford University alumni People from Sausalito, California Television in the San Francisco Bay Area