KRBM (90.9 FM) is a
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 ...
licensed to
Pendleton, Oregon
Pendleton is a city in and the county seat of Umatilla County, Oregon, Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. The population was 17,107 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, which includes approximately 1,600 people who are ...
. The station is owned by
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) is the primary public broadcasting, public media organization for the U.S. state of Oregon as well as southern Washington (state), Washington. It provides news, information, and programming via television stati ...
, and airs OPBs
news and talk programming, consisting of
syndicated programming from
NPR,
APM and
PRI, as well as locally produced offerings.
History
KRBM's roots began when Blaine Hanks was recruited by
Blue Mountain Community College in 1968 to start a 2-year radio broadcasting program. On April 18, 1970, KRBM signed on the air with broadcast students operating the station and Blaine Hanks as general manager. The calls letters stood for ''Radio Blue Mountain''. The original power was 10 watts and was mono. The station only operated during the school year. Over the years, power was increased and by 1984 had a mono signal of 440 watts effected radiated power. The broadcast antenna was located above the station on Morrow Hall. It still only broadcast during the school year, Monday through Saturday from 12:00p.m. to midnight with a
top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
format.
In 1981, the station developed a partnership with Oregon Public Broadcasting and began broadcasting OPB Monday through Friday from 10:00a.m. to 12:00p.m., with the student-run top 40 programming continuing to air until midnight. In 1984, OPB invested in the radio station with a new control board and transmitter exciter converting the station from a mono to stereo signal. In June 1987 OPB moved the KRBM transmitter from Blue Mountain Community College to Warren Hill and increased power to 25 kW, covering a large portion of Eastern Oregon. OPB programs also took over most of the schedule, leaving only Friday and Saturday evenings for local broadcasting for the students. The power increase led to a merger with OPB. By 1988, OPB assumed all of the programming and Blue Mountain Community College ended the broadcasting program. Blaine Hanks remained the general manager through the entire history at BMCC. The studios were eventually removed from the college, and OPB partnered with
KUMA to maintain the operations in Pendleton.
References
External links
opb.org*
RBM (FM)
RBM
NPR member stations
Pendleton, Oregon
Radio stations established in 1970
1970 establishments in Oregon
{{Oregon-radio-station-stub