KTRB Serves Notice On Move To Bay Area

The following public notice appeared in today's edition of the Contra Costa Times:

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT, C-8442
KTRB RADIO TOWER PROJECT

PROJECT APPLICANT: Pappas Radio of California 500 S. Chinoweth Road, Visalia, CA 93277

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The primary objective of the proposed project is to establish radio service provided by Pappas Radio of California (Pappas), a privately held, commercial television and radio broadcast group. Pappas affiliates include KTRB, a talk radio station licensed to Modesto. Construction and operation of the proposed project would establish the service area of KTRB to the San Francisco Bay Area.

The radio communication broadcast tower system would consist of four towers, associated piers, anchors, four equipment structures and one transmitter building, ground systems and counterpoises, fencing, and various ancillary communications services. These facilities would cover approximately 22 acres.

The four towers would be 18-inch wide vertical tubular lattice steel structures approximately 190 feet in height, with guy lines and anchors at locations deemed necessary for support of the tower.

Buildings would include four approximately 30-square foot (sq ft) aluminum structures at the base of each tower and one approximately 1,000-sq ft building for transmitting and ancillary equipment. The 1,000-sq ft building would be constructed of either prefabricated materials or cinderblock, and would be located on an approximately 4,500-sq ft (0.10 acre) concrete pad in the center of the site. The site would be surrounded by approximately 6-foot high fencing, constructed of wood or metal, to prevent unauthorized access to the structures.

The radio towers would be powered by two diesel generators 24-hours a day that would be located on the 4,500-sq ft concrete pad described above. A back up generator would also be located on the project site to supply electricity in the event of a power outage. The larger 275 DQAE, 470 bhp generator would operate at night to power the transmitter, which only operates at night. Both generators would have exhaust silencers, and would be located in sound-attenuating structures. The diesel fuel for each generator would be enclosed in two 5,200 gallon steel tanks, located approximately 10 feet from the two generator structures.

Lighting. Lighting associated with the tower system would include minimal safety lighting at each building and high voltage floodlights for use only when nighttime repair or maintenance work is required. The safety lighting would be activated from a timer switch inside the building. The switch would turn the safety lighting off automatically shortly after maintenance personnel leave the site. No motion or infrared sensor switches would be used.

Pursuant to FAA requirements, permanent nighttime lighting is not required on structures less than 200 feet in height; thus no lights would be located at the tops of the 190-foot towers.

Access Road. A new 12-foot wide and approximately 840-foot long (0.23 acre) access road would extend from the existing access road to the tower site. The road would be unpaved.

PROJECT LOCATION: The project site is located in south-central Alameda County, approximately four miles east of the Interstate 680/State Route 84 interchange and two miles east of the San Antonio Reservoir in the eastern end of the La Costa Valley. The site is located on private property and is situated to the north and east of the Alameda Watershed owned by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC). Access to the project area occurs only through SFPUC land and is allowed only by the property owner
through an access easement.

If you challenge the decision of the Board in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice or in written correspondence delivered to the East County Board of Zoning Adjustments at or prior to the public hearing. Said public hearing will be held on Thursday, September 29, 2005, beginning at 1:30 p.m., in the Public Works Operations Building, 4825 Gleason Drive, Dublin, California. A decision may or may not be made at this hearing.

Any decision may include findings related to, and approval of, an environmental analysis prepared pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act for this project, which is available from the Alameda County Planning Department by calling the telephone number presented below.

All persons interested in the matter may appear and be heard at this meeting. For more information, please contact Bruce Jensen at 510-670-5400.

The transmitter facility described here is for KTRB's nighttime signal; the daytime signal would be broadcast from another facility in the Northbay near Novato. The FCC construction permit for the new Bay Area-based KTRB is set to expire in 2006, and is reportedly non-renewable.

Radio Dots & Dashes (Sept. 14 Edition)

Bob Agnew, sent packing by KNBR a month ago in the Larry Krueger "Brain-Dead Caribbean Hitters" flap, has landed a new gig as program director at Clear Channel's right-wing KNEW/910 and left-wing KQKE/960.

Agnew fills the chair vacated by Ken Kohl, who moved to Infinity, where he's busy listening to tapes and reading resumés as he builds the lineup for the new FM yacker at 106.9, which will debut in three or four (or five) weeks.

“I welcome and accept the challenges of programming both KNEW and KQKE and making them major forces in the very competitive talk radio market here in San Francisco,” Agnew said. He had been KNBR's PD for 16 years before a few poorly-phrased words and a lame audio bit brought down his reign...

The San Francisco Bay Area Publicity Club, the local alliance of public relations professionals, will announce the winners of the 9th Annual Pubby Awards at an awards ceremony luncheon today. The Pubbies, which honor excellence in media, will be held at the Argent Hotel in downtown San Francisco.

Among the Pubby nominees for Best Bay Area On-Air Radio Personality are Pete Wilson (KGO/810), Michael Krasny (KQED/88.5), Don Bleu (Star 101.3), Sarah & No Name (Alice@97.3) and Annalisa (KFOG/104.5 & 97.7)...

UPDATE: Liana Goh, President of S.F.B.A.P.C., sends along word that Sarah & No Name from Alice were named winners in the radio personality category. Fox Sports Bay Area's Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper, often heard as vocalists on KNBR's Giants broadcasts, were named Best Bay Area Sportscasters...

Speaking of KNBR, mothership Susquehanna Media (which also owns KFOG and KTCT here) was expected to receive as many as twenty bids for its radio stations and cable TV outlets, with the bidding ending yesterday (Sept. 13). It may take several weeks — or even months — before the company sorts through all the bids, one of which is said to be from a group that includes current and former members of the Susquehanna management team, with support of deep-pocketed investors — among them, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. No word whether local Susquehoncho Tony Salvadore is part of this group...

The KABL pop standards format, dearly departed from the local airwaves recently, may soon return on one of Clear Channel's high-definition multicasts, perhaps even as the second channel on one or both of its old dial positions, 960 AM and 98.1 FM ... There was a nice piece in Wednesday's San Francisco Chronicle about a pair of low-power FM stations up in Marin County, 18-watt KWMR/90.5 in Point Reyes Station (simulcast in Bolinas at 89.3) and Radio Sausalito, an FCC Part 15-compliant station...

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RIP: Stephen Capen

Stephen Capen, who piloted some of the funniest morning shows ever heard in these parts, died Monday night (Sept. 12) after fighting lung cancer for two years. He was 59 years old.

"Cape" was best known in the Bay Area as morning host at KSAN and KFOG, but his voice was also heard on numerous other stations locally, in one capacity or another, including KFRC, KSFX/KGO-FM, KMEL, KRQR, KDBK (Double 99), KTID (San Rafael), KUSF and KVON/KVYN (Napa).

He began his career at WCSB/Boston — the campus station at the Cambridge School — in 1964. From there, he made stops at Caribou, Me.; Glens Falls, N.Y.; Worcester and Springfield, Mass.; Hartford, Conn.; Boston; Chicago; Cleveland; Windsor, Ont.; San Diego; back to Hartford; then Miami; Boston, once again; and New York, where he worked at WPIX and WCBS-FM. From there, it was on to KSAN, the legendary "Jive 95," followed by a news anchor gig at KFRC. He later returned to New York, working briefly at WXRK (K-Rock) as the afternoon man shortly after Howard Stern arrived at the station.

"The Grim Reaper decided he wanted to open talks with me, and chose a lung tumor to convince," Capen is quoted as having said, according to the Jive95.com website. He had recently returned to his New England roots, taking up residence in Scituate, Mass. His wife, Susan Wu, and four children were at his bedside when he passed away.

According to former Jive 95er Hank Rosenfeld, Capen's ashes will be scattered at sea near Scituate Harbor by his family.

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SEE ALSO:

Stephen Capen audio at Jive95.com

Photo courtesy of Jive95.com.

Talk 106.9's First On-Air Hire?

From Leah Garchik's column in Thursday (Sept. 8) morning's Chronicle:

Darian O'Toole, "beloved morning radio goddess" (a friend's description) or "caustic Canadian swamp bitch" (her own description) on KBGG and KSAN until being fired five years ago, may be getting ready for a Bay Area radio comeback. She's auditioning on-air at KLSX "Hot Talk" in Los Angeles today and Friday (stream-able on the Net), and Infinity Radio, which is buying KEAR in San Francisco, is said to be considering her for a possible FM talk show here. All she would say is, "I miss home, and I'm coming home to roost. Somewhere."

KFRC Getting Younger On Friday

Brad Kava blogged this afternoon that newly arrived Infinity market manager Doug Harvill has made his second big move of the week: on Friday (September 2) at noon, KFRC/99.7 will leave behind its 1960s rock'n'roll hits — what us geezers call "Oldies" — for a more Seventies-centric sound.

"One of These Nights" by the Eagles is expected as the first song to launch the revamped KFRC, leading off a new playlist of what Kava says "KFRC would have played in 1975, with a list that includes Fleetwood Mac, the Commodores, Elton John, Billy Joel, and also ventures back to the Beatles and Marvin Gaye, and forward to Huey Lewis, Eurythmics and Cyndi Lauper."

"That's right in the center of the audience," Kava quotes Harvill. "If you are 45 today, you were born in 1960 and you were 15 in 1975. That's the age when kids are typically getting into music."

On-air survivors of the change at KFRC will be morning duo Dean Goss and Cammy Blackstone, and midday tonsil Sue Hall. New voices will be brought in for afternoons and evenings.

The station had cut loose program director Bob Harlow on August 22. Harlow had been largely responsible for returning KFRC to a more traditional "Drake" Oldies sound.