Steam Powered Radio

A Collection of Non-Memorable Radio Memorabilia

KCBS AM and KFRC FM

 

KCBS AM 740 is an all news radio station located in San Francisco and owned by CBS Radio. KCBS operates on 740 KHZ with a power of 50,000 watts. The station is a Class B and utilizes two different patterns for Day and Night. The transmitter is located in Novato, California, about 25 miles north of the studios. The studios are located at the corner of Battery and Broadway in the KPIX building.

 

KCBS is the oldest continuously operating broadcast station in the world, starting in 1909 from Charles 'Doc' Herrolds College of Wireless and Engineering in San Jose, California. If you would like to know more about Doc Herrold and how his spark transmitter led to the KCBS of today, please check out Gordon Greb and Mike Adams excellent book on the subject, Charles Herrold, Inventor of Radio Broadcasting.

 

KFRC FM is the FM side of KCBS. KFRC operates on 106.9 MHZ with an ERP of 80,000 watts from Mt. Beacon, located above Sausalito, California. Both KCBS and KFRC broadcast in HD digital with KFRC running an oldies format on its HD2 channel.

 

KFRC FM started life in December of 1959 as KPUP and was owned by Franklin Mieuli who later owned the Golden State Warriors basketball team. The call letters were changed to KHIP in 1960 and then KMPX in 1962. In 1978, Family Radio acquired 106.9 and their 97.3 frequency went to CBS radio. In 2005, CBS acquired the 106.9 frequency trading KFRC AM 610 to Family Radio. Under CBS the station went through several formats until October of 2008 it started simulcasting KCBS and became all news.