KPBS-FM (89.5

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

non-commercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that is not carried out in the interest of Profit (economics), profit. The opposite is Commerce, commercial, something that primarily serves profit interests and is focused on bu ...

, listener-supported,

public radio Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...

station in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California. It is owned by

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

(SDSU) as part of KPBS Public Media, and is a

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

member

KPBS-TV KPBS (channel 15) is a PBS member television station in San Diego, California, United States. Owned by San Diego State University (SDSU) as part of KPBS Public Media, it is a sister station to NPR member KPBS-FM (89.5). The two outlets share stu ...

(channel 15). The two outlets share studios at The Conrad Prebys Media Complex in Copley Center on Campanile Drive, part of the SDSU campus. KPBS-FM is a Class B station. It has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

(ERP) of 26,000 watts. The station's

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 on

Mount Soledad Mount Soledad, also known as Soledad Mountain, is a prominent landmark in San Diego, California, United States. The mountaintop is the site of the Mount Soledad Cross. Geography The mountain lies between Interstate 5 to the east and the Pac ...

La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood in San Diego, California, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. The climate is mild, with an average daily temperature o ...

.Radio-Locator.com/KPBS
/REF> In addition, KPBS-FM is

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

on two other transmitters: 89.1 MHz K206AC in La Jolla, and on 97.7 MHz KQVO in Calexico.

Programming

KPBS-FM and KQVO have a

news-talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews wi ...

format. Weekdays begin with ''

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 ...

'' from

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 ...

, with local news updates from the KPBS-FM staff. Most of the other programs are also supplied by NPR and other public radio networks: ''

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 ...

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 ...

Fresh Air ''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's hosts are Terry Gross and Tonya Mosl ...

, 1A, Here and Now'' and '' The World''. Monday through Thursday, KPBS-FM produces a one-hour San Diego-focused interview and call-in show, ''Midday Edition'', hosted by Jade Hindmon. It airs live at noon and is repeated at 8 p.m. Weekends feature one-hour specialty shows on a variety of topics: '' The Moth Radio Hour,

This American Life ''This American Life'' is a weekly hour-long American radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internationally, and is ...

, Latino USA, A Way with Words, Snap Judgment, Travel with Rick Steves,

Hidden Brain ''Hidden Brain'' is a science podcast hosted by Shankar Vedantam. Background The show originally began as a segment of '' NPRs ''Morning Edition''. The first episode of the podcast focused on a concept called "switchtracking". Vedantam fou ...

, It's Been A Minute, Reveal, Throughline, Freakonomics Radio, The TED Radio Hour,

Code Switch ''Code Switch'' is a podcast from National Public Radio ( NPR), and an online outlet covering race and culture. Code Switch began in 2013 as a blog, and a series of stories contributed to NPR radio programs. The ''Code Switch'' podcast launch ...

'' and '' Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me''. Overnight, the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

is heard.

History

Early years

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 ...

the air on . The original

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

was KEBS-FM. It was owned by what was then San Diego State College. KEBS-FM was a

college radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

station, used for students to train for careers in broadcasting. In its first decade, the station was powered at 2,000 watts, a fraction of its current output. It changed its call letters to the current KPBS-FM in 1970. When

was launched in 1971, KPBS-FM became one of the network's three charter members in California, along with

KCRW KCRW (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming ...

in Los Angeles and

KQED-FM KQED-FM (88.5 MHz) is a listener-supported, non-commercial public radio station in San Francisco, California. It is simulcast on KQEI-FM (89.3 MHz) in the Sacramento metropolitan area. The parent organization is KQED Inc., which also owns tw ...

in San Francisco. KPBS-FM was one of the 90 stations that aired the initial broadcast of ''

'' when it premiered on May 3, 1971.

Adding KQVO

In 2005, San Diego State University bought a commercial FM radio station in an underserved part of

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. It paid $1.1 million for 97.7 KQVO, a Class A station in Calexico. KQVO first signed on the air in March 1984. Over the years, it aired a variety of formats. KPBS-FM wanted to give Imperial County its first public radio station. KQVO began simulcasting KPBS-FM, airing news, talk and NPR programming. The station switched to non-commercial status.

From Classical to News/Talk

KPBS-FM primarily played classical music until mid-1990s, when it started adding more NPR programs and news to its format. The wake-up broadcast ''

'' was put on the schedule along with midday talk shows including ''

.'' Beginning May 23, 2011, the station discontinued its classical music programming in the evening hours and moved all music to an online

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

. When it began broadcasting 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, KPBS-FM added a full time classical music subchannel. In 2009, the radio, TV and digital news operations were merged into a single content-producing division. This allowed KPBS to produce television and radio news simultaneously.

San Diego wildfires

The

California wildfires of October 2007 The October 2007 California wildfires, also known as the Fall 2007 California firestorm, were a series of about thirty wildfires (17 of which became major wildfires) that began igniting across Southern California on October 20. At least 1,500 h ...

in the San Diego area affected KPBS broadcasts. Power was lost to the tower shared by KPBS-FM and KPBS-TV on Mount San Miguel. Within three hours,

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

station 94.9

KBZT KBZT (94.9 FM, "Alt 94-9") is a commercial radio station licensed to San Diego, California. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station broadcasts an alternative rock format. Its studios are located in San Diego's Stonecrest area, and the transmitter ...

agreed to air KPBS' wildfire coverage until the station could return to a backup operation from its studios on the

campus, which occurred the next day. KPBS later restored full coverage from Mount San Miguel using a backup generator. On October 1, 2012, KPBS boosted its

from 2,700 watts to 26,000 watts. It also moved its tower from San Miguel Mountain to

HD subchannels and streaming

Presently, KPBS has three

channels. KPBS-HD1 is a digital simulcast of the main analog channel that airs

NPR 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 ...

news and talk shows. KPBS-HD2 airs "Classical San Diego", featuring music from the syndicated Classical 24 service. KPBS-HD3 offers SomaFM's syndicated "Groove Salad" format. The KPBS Radio Reading Service broadcasts the readings of newspapers, books, and magazines to those with low vision, blindness, and other impairments. The Reading Service is available 24 hours a day over a private audio channel, and online via audio webstream. Kpbslogo

References

External links

* * ( Guide to reading History Cards)
KPBS-FM stays on air, with help

NPR: KPBS Radio Covers Wildfires Using Many Sources
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kpbs-Fm PBS-FM HD Radio stations NPR member stations PBS-FM San Diego State University