KFAX
Encyclopedia
KFAX is a radio station
licensed to transmit from San Francisco, California
and heard in the Bay Area
. , the station is owned by Salem Communications
, and programs a Christian
-oriented talk-radio
format
.
The station's first address was 1380 Bush Street, a building which remains an auto-service facility today. KJBS was the first all-night radio station in the Bay Area, broadcasting music along with police dispatch calls, in the days before police departments could afford their own radio transmitters.
In 1927, after struggling to be heard on the crowded radio dial with its tiny transmitter, KJBS was permitted to upgrade its power to fifty watts.
In the 1940s in order to increase its range of coverage, KJBS was allocated to 1070 kilocycles, sharing time with a station in Cleveland. This required that KJBS go off the air at local sunset, but allowed it to come back on the air when Cleveland signed off at 1:00 a.m. in the East, 10:00 p.m. local time. By this time, KJBS had moved to 1470 Pine Street, a building incorporating a stand-alone vertical transmitting tower at the front entrance to the building.
- now WTAM
- would come back on the air, at 6:00 a.m. Eastern time). During the summer, this meant that KFAX was off the air for only 1½ hours (8:30 sunset until 10:00 p.m.).
The KJBS callsign had been changed to KFAX in late 1959 when it changed formats from music, news, and sports, to become the nation's very first all-news radio station ("Fast, Accurate and eXclusive"). This experiment proved unsuccessful, and soon KFAX changed to a brokered religious format, where program producers bought 15-minute and half-hour blocks of air time.
Eventually KFAX was permitted to operate with 50,000 watts fulltime.
In 1984, KFAX was sold to Salem Communications, an operator of both religious and secular talk stations. KFAX runs programs such as Dr. James Dobson and Jay Sekulow and "Life! Line" with Craig Roberts (the Bay Area's longest running conservative talk show).
-based Willard Storage Batteries Company and a local outlet for Willard Batteries should found and own stations in the early 1920s, as with WTAM
in Cleveland (9 months' ownership) and KJBS (apparently for several decades). In this case, however, these two stations with an early link began in 1941 sharing clear channel use of the 1100 kHz frequency.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
licensed to transmit from San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
and heard in the Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
. , the station is owned by Salem Communications
Salem Communications
Salem Communications is a U.S. radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher specializing in evangelical Christian and conservative political talk radio. It owns 99 commercial radio stations, 65 of which are in the top 25 markets. Salem is the fifth largest U.S....
, and programs a Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
-oriented talk-radio
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
format
Radio format
A radio format or programming format not to be confused with broadcast programming describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. Radio formats are frequently employed as a marketing tool, and constantly evolve...
.
As KJBS
The station now assigned the KFAX call letters was first licensed in 1925 as KFUQ, and made its first broadcast on January 3 of that year. Its meager five-watt radio transmitter provided an advertising gimmick for Julius Brunton & Sons, operators of an automobile service station and local distributor of Willard Storage Batteries, which were popularly used in both experimental transmitters and receivers during radio's early days. A month after making its debut, KFUQ became KJBS.The station's first address was 1380 Bush Street, a building which remains an auto-service facility today. KJBS was the first all-night radio station in the Bay Area, broadcasting music along with police dispatch calls, in the days before police departments could afford their own radio transmitters.
In 1927, after struggling to be heard on the crowded radio dial with its tiny transmitter, KJBS was permitted to upgrade its power to fifty watts.
In the 1940s in order to increase its range of coverage, KJBS was allocated to 1070 kilocycles, sharing time with a station in Cleveland. This required that KJBS go off the air at local sunset, but allowed it to come back on the air when Cleveland signed off at 1:00 a.m. in the East, 10:00 p.m. local time. By this time, KJBS had moved to 1470 Pine Street, a building incorporating a stand-alone vertical transmitting tower at the front entrance to the building.
As KFAX
In 1959, KJBS was sold to an investment group ; its callsign was changed to KFAX and its daytime power was increased to 50,000 watts. This change in broadcasting power required the station to operate one of the most distinctive schedules in the history of broadcasting. KFAX operated from a directional set of 4 towers in the suburban town of Hayward from 6:00 a.m until local sunset, then from the Pine Street 1,000 watt transmitter from 10:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m. (when Cleveland's KYWWTAM
WTAM — branded Newsradio WTAM 1100 — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Owned by Clear Channel Communications, the station broadcasts primarily a news/talk format...
- now WTAM
WTAM
WTAM — branded Newsradio WTAM 1100 — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Owned by Clear Channel Communications, the station broadcasts primarily a news/talk format...
- would come back on the air, at 6:00 a.m. Eastern time). During the summer, this meant that KFAX was off the air for only 1½ hours (8:30 sunset until 10:00 p.m.).
The KJBS callsign had been changed to KFAX in late 1959 when it changed formats from music, news, and sports, to become the nation's very first all-news radio station ("Fast, Accurate and eXclusive"). This experiment proved unsuccessful, and soon KFAX changed to a brokered religious format, where program producers bought 15-minute and half-hour blocks of air time.
Eventually KFAX was permitted to operate with 50,000 watts fulltime.
In 1984, KFAX was sold to Salem Communications, an operator of both religious and secular talk stations. KFAX runs programs such as Dr. James Dobson and Jay Sekulow and "Life! Line" with Craig Roberts (the Bay Area's longest running conservative talk show).
Trivia
In light of a radio often being the first electrical device in a home not connected centrally generated electric power, it is not surprising that both the ClevelandCleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
-based Willard Storage Batteries Company and a local outlet for Willard Batteries should found and own stations in the early 1920s, as with WTAM
WTAM
WTAM — branded Newsradio WTAM 1100 — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Owned by Clear Channel Communications, the station broadcasts primarily a news/talk format...
in Cleveland (9 months' ownership) and KJBS (apparently for several decades). In this case, however, these two stations with an early link began in 1941 sharing clear channel use of the 1100 kHz frequency.
External links
- "History of KJBS and KFAX" from the Bay Area Radio Museum.
- Advertisement for KJBS (1930), showing coverage map.
- Photograph of KFAX building entrance at 1470 Pine Street, San Francisco.