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KFBT (FM)
Encyclopedia
KFBT is a radio station
broadcasting a Rhythmic adult contemporary
format. Licensed to Hanford, California
, USA, the station serves the Visalia-Tulare-Hanford, Fresno area. The station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications
. The station is also broadcast on HD radio
.
For much of the 1980s, the top-40 format of Magic 104 was more urban leaning than the format at rival KBOS, known at the time by the on-air moniker of "K-Boss 95". Playlists from 1985 show Sheena Easton
, Prince
, and Teena Marie
getting heavy airplay at Magic 104, while KBOS was big on Billy Squier
, Bruce Springsteen
and David Lee Roth
.
In the late 1980s KMGX's nickname was changed to "X-104". X-104 was one of the first radio stations in the US to blend CHR "Top 40" music with Urban Dance music. The stations appeal grew to dominant audience shares within Fresno's Latino community throughout the 1980s. At its peak in popularity, the station hosted the largest single Latino
audience share of any general market radio station in the country (70 percent). The secret to the stations success, was its high appeal to second and third generation Latino/Mexican Americans who were attracted to its popular Morning Host: Richard Cano. and known by most of its younger listeners was Evenings Host: Kid Landon
Cano was not new to the market. A Fresno State alumni and former KYNO DJ and KBOS Program Director, Cano returned to the Fresno market in 1984 claiming some of the highest morning ratings in the History of Fresno radio. Market sales manager Chuck Lontine (who joined the station from the San Francisco radio market) created a "Spanglish" sales & marketing strategy that kept the station vital for a period of time. But, ultimately the station began to loose audience share to a growing number of Spanish language
stations in the market and the format was dropped in 1989, when the impending format change caused local news coverage even before it happened.
In late spring of 1989, 103.7 KRZR was launched by southern California broadcasting veteran Jim Votaw (VP/GM), X 104 exec Chuck Lontine (GSM) and programer Brian Burns. At the time the station was owned by Olympia Broadcasting of Seattle. KRZR introduced the "Rock 40" format to the Fresno radio market. The station was initially patterned after Olympia's wildly successful Rock 40 station KXXR-FM in Kansas City
& Scott Shannon's Pirate Radio in Los Angeles (which was owned by Westwood One).
KRZR's first slogan was "Today's Rock & Roll" with an on-air offering of what is now widely described as "hair metal" or "glam metal
" and various "format homeless" (at the time) artists. Plenty of promotional attention was gained with a weekly giveaway of $10,000 to randomly spotted owners of cars sporting the station's bumper/window stickers and who called into the studio within the alloted time.
The original KRZR air staff included, Pete Hansen (mornings) with, newswoman Kelly Boom, and then 18 year old Clovis high school student and intern Larry "Sparky" Long (given the air name "Larry The Pocket Producer"), E. Curtis Johnson (P.D.) and Kevin Musso (using the air name "Nick NRG") split the mid-day shift, Mcfly (Brian Degus, also music director)did afternoon drive, Chris Daniel (evenings) and Scott Stevens (overnights). In July 1989, former crosstown KCLQ deejay Clay Steiner (using the air name "Matt 'The Healer' Clayton") hired on for weekends and overnights. Intern Larry Long was later hired that same month to deejay fill in shifts.
Shortly after the station sign on, both Burns and Lontine left the company. Brian Burns became a renowned program consultant & programmer in radio. Chuck Lontine left KRZR to join ABC/CapCities' WLS in Chicago. Kevin Musso is now a very successful Television weatherman in Fresno. Pete Hansen is still in radio and once in a while can be heard on 101.5 KGB DSC and his podcast "The Pete Hansen Show" http://thepetehansenshow.mypodcast.com/.
Larry "Sparky" Long now lives and works in Northern California
On October 6, 2010, after playing Rage Against the Machine
's Freedom, KRZR changed their format from active rock
(although Nielsen BDS & Mediabase
reported the station as active rock) to rhythmic adult contemporary, and call letters to KFBT and branded as "The Beat", while KRZR's DJs were fired to other stations without prior warning and the rock format moved to its HD-2 digital subchannel. The first song on "The Beat" was Get Ready for This
by 2 Unlimited
.
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...
broadcasting a Rhythmic adult contemporary
Rhythmic Adult Contemporary
Rhythmic adult contemporary is a format used on stations in the United States and Canada. It usually gears toward an older audience, ages 25 to 54. Stations using this format play disco from the 1970s and early 1980s, dance/pop music, adult-friendly hip hop/old school tracks, R&B, dance/freestyle...
format. Licensed to Hanford, California
Hanford, California
Hanford is an important commercial and cultural center in the south central San Joaquin Valley and is the county seat of Kings County, California. It is the principal city of the Hanford-Corcoran, California Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses all of Kings County, including the cities...
, USA, the station serves the Visalia-Tulare-Hanford, Fresno area. The station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
. The station is also broadcast on HD radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
.
History
The station currently known as KFBT broadcast at 103.7 FM. Originally known as KIOY "K-104," the station broadcast a Disco-leaning CHR format in the late 1970s from its studios in a vineyard between Fresno and, Hanford. In the early 1980s, the call letters were changed to KMGX, and the nickname "Magic 104" was adopted.For much of the 1980s, the top-40 format of Magic 104 was more urban leaning than the format at rival KBOS, known at the time by the on-air moniker of "K-Boss 95". Playlists from 1985 show Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton is a Scottish recording artist. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television programme The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records.Easton rose to fame in the early 1980s with the pop...
, Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
, and Teena Marie
Teena Marie
Mary Christine Brockert, better known by her stage name Teena Marie, was an American singer, songwriter and producer...
getting heavy airplay at Magic 104, while KBOS was big on Billy Squier
Billy Squier
William Haislip "Billy" Squier is an American rock musician. Squier had a string of arena rock hits in the 1980s. He is best known for the song "The Stroke" on his 1981 album release Don't Say No...
, Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
and David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth is an American rock vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality. Roth was ranked nineteenth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Singers of All Time....
.
In the late 1980s KMGX's nickname was changed to "X-104". X-104 was one of the first radio stations in the US to blend CHR "Top 40" music with Urban Dance music. The stations appeal grew to dominant audience shares within Fresno's Latino community throughout the 1980s. At its peak in popularity, the station hosted the largest single Latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
audience share of any general market radio station in the country (70 percent). The secret to the stations success, was its high appeal to second and third generation Latino/Mexican Americans who were attracted to its popular Morning Host: Richard Cano. and known by most of its younger listeners was Evenings Host: Kid Landon
Cano was not new to the market. A Fresno State alumni and former KYNO DJ and KBOS Program Director, Cano returned to the Fresno market in 1984 claiming some of the highest morning ratings in the History of Fresno radio. Market sales manager Chuck Lontine (who joined the station from the San Francisco radio market) created a "Spanglish" sales & marketing strategy that kept the station vital for a period of time. But, ultimately the station began to loose audience share to a growing number of Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
stations in the market and the format was dropped in 1989, when the impending format change caused local news coverage even before it happened.
In late spring of 1989, 103.7 KRZR was launched by southern California broadcasting veteran Jim Votaw (VP/GM), X 104 exec Chuck Lontine (GSM) and programer Brian Burns. At the time the station was owned by Olympia Broadcasting of Seattle. KRZR introduced the "Rock 40" format to the Fresno radio market. The station was initially patterned after Olympia's wildly successful Rock 40 station KXXR-FM in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
& Scott Shannon's Pirate Radio in Los Angeles (which was owned by Westwood One).
KRZR's first slogan was "Today's Rock & Roll" with an on-air offering of what is now widely described as "hair metal" or "glam metal
Glam metal
Glam metal is a subgenre of hard rock and heavy metal that arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, particularly on the Los Angeles Sunset Strip music scene...
" and various "format homeless" (at the time) artists. Plenty of promotional attention was gained with a weekly giveaway of $10,000 to randomly spotted owners of cars sporting the station's bumper/window stickers and who called into the studio within the alloted time.
The original KRZR air staff included, Pete Hansen (mornings) with, newswoman Kelly Boom, and then 18 year old Clovis high school student and intern Larry "Sparky" Long (given the air name "Larry The Pocket Producer"), E. Curtis Johnson (P.D.) and Kevin Musso (using the air name "Nick NRG") split the mid-day shift, Mcfly (Brian Degus, also music director)did afternoon drive, Chris Daniel (evenings) and Scott Stevens (overnights). In July 1989, former crosstown KCLQ deejay Clay Steiner (using the air name "Matt 'The Healer' Clayton") hired on for weekends and overnights. Intern Larry Long was later hired that same month to deejay fill in shifts.
Shortly after the station sign on, both Burns and Lontine left the company. Brian Burns became a renowned program consultant & programmer in radio. Chuck Lontine left KRZR to join ABC/CapCities' WLS in Chicago. Kevin Musso is now a very successful Television weatherman in Fresno. Pete Hansen is still in radio and once in a while can be heard on 101.5 KGB DSC and his podcast "The Pete Hansen Show" http://thepetehansenshow.mypodcast.com/.
Larry "Sparky" Long now lives and works in Northern California
On October 6, 2010, after playing Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
's Freedom, KRZR changed their format from active rock
Active rock
Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock plays contemporary rock artists with a mix of songs common in the classic rock radio format.-Format background:...
(although Nielsen BDS & Mediabase
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 analytical tools for radio and record industry professionals...
reported the station as active rock) to rhythmic adult contemporary, and call letters to KFBT and branded as "The Beat", while KRZR's DJs were fired to other stations without prior warning and the rock format moved to its HD-2 digital subchannel. The first song on "The Beat" was Get Ready for This
Get Ready for This
"Get Ready for This" was later remixed and re-released for 2 Unlimited's compilation album Greatest Hits Remixes.-Dancemania:The song has appeared on the eurodance compilation Dancemania series albums, including Dancemania Super Techno II , Dancemania Speed 6 and Dancemania Super Techno Best...
by 2 Unlimited
2 Unlimited
2 Unlimited is a Dutch Eurodance/Hi-NRG act formed in 1991. The project was the brainchild of Belgian producers Jean-Paul DeCoster and Phil Wilde, and was fronted by a Dutch duo, rapper Ray Slijngaard and singer Anita Doth. During five years of enormous worldwide popularity, the act scored 16 chart...
.