KRCB-FM (104.9 FM) is a

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 sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission 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 radi ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Rohnert Park, California Rohnert Park is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located approximately north of San Francisco. The population at the 2020 United States Census was 44,390. It is an early planned city and is the sister city of Hashimoto in ...

, and broadcasting to the Santa Rosa-

Sonoma County Sonoma County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa. It is to the north of Marin County and the south of Mendocino ...

area. The station became the primary radio frequency for

Northern California Public Media Northern California Public Media (formerly Rural California Broadcasting Corporation) is a non-profit public media outlet based in Rohnert Park, California, United States, that serves the San Francisco Bay Area. The organization owns PBS and inde ...

's public radio service in 2021 after operating as a commercial station since 1986. KRCB-FM features

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

and local news and talk programs on weekday mornings and afternoons, as well as part of the day on Saturdays and Sundays. For middays, nights and weekends, the schedule has music shows from different genres:

Adult Album Alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...

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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

, Blues and World Music are part of the mix. KRCB-FM 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 ...

(ERP) of 2,300

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of 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 quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to ...

is off Calistoga Road in Santa Rosa. Most programming is also heard on 91.1

KRCG-FM KRCG-FM is a non-commercial public broadcasting radio station licensed to Santa Rosa, California, serving Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Cloverdale, Geyserville, Windsor, Sebastopol, Forestville, Calistoga and surrounding areas in California. KRCG- ...

Santa Rosa.

History

Early years

The station

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature, placing one's name on a document * Signature (disambiguation) * Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice * Digital signature A dig ...

the air on March 4, 1986. KRPQ "Q105" had a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

format. It was established by a four-person partnership of Ron Castro, Steve Watts, Anetha Baxter and Lynn Hendel. In 1991, former Q105 saleswoman Karen Heick was awarded $387,500 by a

Superior Court jury which found that she had been harassed on the job. After a cross-appeal, the station ended up paying out $918,000 to Heick between 1991 and 1994. Two other cases were brought against the station on similar charges but never came to trial. KRPQ was sold in 1994 to a group headed by one of the original partners, Ron Castro: Results Radio of Sonoma, for more than $2 million.

Adult contemporary

In 2006, Maverick Media purchased KRPQ and the intellectual property of a second Results Radio station, KMHX at 104.1 FM; with that frequency being sold separately and Maverick already owning country competitor KFGY "Froggy 92.9", KMHX's hot adult contemporary format was moved to the 104.9 frequency. By 2011, the station had moved to

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

from

adult top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data System ...

according to

Mediabase Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analyti ...

; in August 2012, KMHX returned to hot adult contemporary. Lawrence Amaturo acquired the Maverick Santa Rosa cluster for $4.5 million, forming the Sonoma Media Group.

K-Hits 104.9

On September 21, 2017, at 5 p.m., KMHX changed formats from hot adult contemporary to 1980s-based classic hits, branded as "K-Hits 104.9".

From classic hits to public radio

In January 2021, Amaturo Sonoma Media Group reached a deal to sell the KDHT facility to

(NCPM), which owned KRCB-FM 91.1, the region's public radio station. After the Kincade Fire destroyed the KRCB-FM tower located midway between Cloverdale and Healdsburg, Amaturo sold the 104.9 facility to NCPM — despite not pursuing a buyer — because of "a desire to strengthen public radio in Sonoma County" responding to a proposal made by NCPM. Beginning on May 4, 2021, K-Hits began promoting a move from 104.9 to translator K300AO (107.9 MHz) and 101.7 KHTH-HD2, replacing the simulcast of KFGY. On May 14, KRCB-FM began broadcasting on 104.9 FM, simulcasting the pre-existing 91.1 transmitter (which changed callsigns from KRCB-FM to KRCG-FM). On May 31, 2021, KDHT changed its call sign to KRCB-FM.

References

External links

{{coord, 38.392, N, 122.679, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title RCB-FM Mass media in Sonoma County, California Rohnert Park, California Radio stations established in 1987 1987 establishments in California Public radio stations in the United States NPR member stations