KBLX-FM (102.9
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
commercial radio
Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship, for example. It was the United States' first model ...
station
licensed to
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...
, and serving the
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 ...
. It is owned by
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
based
Bonneville International
Bonneville International Corporation is a media and broadcasting company, wholly owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) through its for-profit arm, Deseret Management Corporation. It began as a radio and TV networ ...
. The radio studios and offices are along
Junipero Serra Boulevard in
Daly City. 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 atop the
San Bruno Mountains.
Until its sale in April 2012, KBLX was owned for more than 30 years by the now-defunct, black-owned
Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, and used the slogan "The Quiet Storm."
History
KRE-FM and KPAT-FM
On April 29, 1949, the station
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 ...
as KRE-FM. It mostly simulcast the programming of co-owned KRE (1400 AM). In 1962, the station changed its call letters to KPAT-FM. In 1973, it changed its call letters back to KRE-FM. Donnell Lewis, a
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
musician, approached KRE to do one night a week of blues programming.
The idea caught on. KRE-FM, which had previously played religious programs and Top 40 music, became one of the first commercial full-time "fusion" stations playing blues,
R&B,
Latin pop
Latin pop () is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. It originates with List of countries where Spanish is an official language, Spanish-speaking ...
,
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...
,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
and
world music
"World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...
. It supported local artists who frequently stopped by to visit with the deejays on the air to talk about new recordings and gigs.
The station frequently produced live broadcasts out in the community, including at the Oakland Community School when Huey Newton came home from Cuba. The station was the first to break records by Pete and Sheila Escovedo, Bill Summers, Sylvester, and other Bay Area artists. When Inner City Broadcasting purchased the station, it eliminated the unique format and changed it to more mainstream urban sound with less interaction with local artists and the community.
KBLX "Soft and Warm, The Quiet Storm"
In 1979, the station was sold to the New Yorkbased Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, headed by
Percy Sutton (which also owned
WBLS
WBLS (107.5 MHz) is an urban adult contemporary radio format, formatted FM broadcasting, FM radio station, city of license, licensed to New York, New York. It is currently owned and operated by Mediaco Holding, along with sister station WQHT (97 ...
), and was relaunched as KBLX (the call letters KBLS, which would otherwise honor its sister-station relationship with WBLS, were unavailable, assigned to another station in Kansas). While WBLS played a variety of urban music, KBLX focused more on and
urban adult contemporary
Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...
format, calling itself ''
The Quiet Storm''. KBLX marketed the station as an adult contemporary format, rather than urban, in order to attract a wider audience.
Throughout the 1980s, the station played an eclectic mix of
R&B,
smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, smooth jazz radio became the successor to e ...
and soft pop, reflecting the diverse music culture of the
Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...
. KBLX was the inspiration for the creation and launch of various adult contemporary radio formats across the country, from smooth jazz to
soft rock
Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...
to urban AC. (The urban AC terminology did not exist until 1988). Even then, for some time the station played mostly smooth R&B, rarely playing any uptempo R&B, current or old school. This was done to establish the station's own identity apart from competition from now-defunct Urban stations KSOL and KDIA, or its current competitor 106.1
KMEL. The station's musical selection was also forged by competition with smooth-jazz rival 103.7
KKSF
KKSF (910 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Oakland, California and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by iHeartMedia and has an all-news radio format, with programming from the co-owned Black Informati ...
.
Even when KBLX quietly modified its format to urban AC in the 1990s, the station continued to play jazz music in rotation—and this practice of mixing R&B and jazz songs on radio playlists has occurred on few urban AC radio stations in some markets. However, KBLX played more R&B songs than jazz; the result was a gradual phasing out of jazz from its playlist in recent years. From then on, KBLX has evolved into a true urban AC station today, playing current and old school R&B, as well as uptempo R&B songs to match its competitors. Despite the changes, it still advertises itself as a "Smooth R&B" station, reflecting its "''Quiet Storm"'' heritage handle —- although the station did re-integrate jazz vocals into its overall sound after KKSF switched from smooth jazz to
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 ...
in June 2009. The station has hosted the annual Stone Soul Picnic, which was first held at the Dunsmuir Hellman Historic Estate in Oakland in 1998. It outgrew the location and since 2004, was held at
Pioneer Amphitheatre
The Pioneer Amphitheatre is an amphitheatre located at the north-eastern corner of the Hayward Hills Campus of California State University, East Bay in Hayward, California. The venue is managed by the Sequoia Management Group. In addition to outdo ...
in
Hayward before relocating the venue at
Sleep Train Pavilion in
Concord.
For many years, KBLX and its AM sister station, KRE, were the Bay Area's only African-American-owned and operated commercial radio stations. From its inception in 1979, KBLX simulcast on KRE (later KBLX) until 1994, when the AM station was re-launched as
KVTO, with a
World Ethnic format, primarily serving the San Francisco Bay Area's Asian community. KVTO is now an affiliate of the
Sing Tao Chinese Radio network and broadcasts in Chinese.
KBLX-FM "R&B 102.9"
On August 22, 2011, ICBC's creditors petitioned the
United States Bankruptcy Court
United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. The current system of bankruptcy courts was created by the United States Congress in 1978, effective April 1, 1984. United States bankruptcy ...
to force the firm to declare
Chapter 11
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...
bankruptcy on grounds that the company's executives failed to accept a buyout offer. The filing resulted in majority control of ICBC being taken over by
Ron Burkle
Ronald Wayne Burkle (born November 12, 1952) is an American businessman. He is the co-founder and managing partner of The Yucaipa Companies, LLC, a private investment firm that specializes in U.S. companies in the distribution, logistics, foo ...
's
Yucaipa Companies
The Yucaipa Companies, LLC is an American private equity firm founded in 1986 by Ronald Burkle. It specializes in a private equity and venture capital, with a focus on middle-market companies, growth capital, industry consolidation, leveraged ...
, and basketball legend
Earvin "Magic" Johnson's Magic Johnson Enterprises as YMF Media. Only KBLX was intended to be sold to a different owner, leaving KVTO and KVVN to defect to YMF Media.
Entercom Communications announced the purchase of the station on April 1, 2012, for $25 million cash. The company announced its intention of keeping KBLX's format. Entercom officially took control of the station on May 1, 2012, and fired the entire on-air staff of KBLX (except traffic reporter Joe McConnell). The firings included morning personality and program director Kevin Brown after 22 years, and the original general manager of the station. It ended "The Quiet Storm" format on KBLX after 33 years and transitioned the station to "R&B 102.9, The New KBLX", and added
''The'' ''Steve Harvey Morning Show''. These corporate decisions were met with controversy and anger from longtime listeners of KBLX who felt that the heritage of the station built upon "The Quiet Storm" was destroyed when the station turned into a more mainstream R&B station. The station's license was assigned to Entercom effective June 28, 2012.
On October 12, 2015, KBLX replaced ''Steve Harvey'' with a new local morning show hosted by Oakland-born
Mark Curry, who starred on the
ABC sitcom ''
Hangin' with Mr. Cooper'', and was a frequent host of the syndicated music competition series ''Showtime At The Apollo.'' On KBLX, Curry is teamed with weekender/music director Kimmie Taylor and former afternoon host Victor "Big Daddy" Zaragoza.
On February 2, 2017,
CBS Radio announced that it would merge with Entercom. To comply with FCC ownership limits, it was announced that KBLX, along with sister stations KOIT and KUFX, CBS-owned KMVQ, and a cluster in Sacramento, would be divested.
Bonneville International
Bonneville International Corporation is a media and broadcasting company, wholly owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) through its for-profit arm, Deseret Management Corporation. It began as a radio and TV networ ...
assumed operations of the stations on behalf of a holding trust following the closure of the merger on November 17. On August 3, 2018, Bonneville announced that it would acquire the stations outright for $141 million; the sale was completed on September 21, 2018.
In 2020, KBLX, along with the other
Bonneville stations, moved their studios from the
SoMa district in San Francisco into a newly-built studio along
Junipero Serra Boulevard in
Daly City.
On January 11, 2023, the station's HD3 subchannel added a gospel format, branded as "Praise Bay Area".
Booster
KBLX is rebroadcast on the following FM booster:
References
External links
*
FCC History Cards for KBLX-FM
{{Bonneville International
Urban adult contemporary radio stations in the United States
BLX-FM
Radio stations established in 1949
1949 establishments in California
Bonneville International
Mass media in Berkeley, California