KTRB/860 Makes Bay Area Bow

The transplanted heart of KTRB/860, formerly of Modesto, began beating as a San Francisco station at the stroke of midnight this morning with the first two lines of the Grateful Dead's "The Music Never Stopped":

There's mosquitoes on the river
Fish are rising up like birds.

It was a curious, if not fitting, start for the Pappas Radio station which signed off from its longtime home in the Central Valley and, after clearing several engineering and bureaucratic hurdles, began life anew early Thursday from studios at 1700 Montgomery Street in San Francisco — previously home to KNBR and KYUU several years ago — and a transmitter site in the rural hills above Livermore.

According to a KTRB press release issued on Wednesday (a full copy of which follows this posting), the station would fire up its transmitter and sign on at midnight, then would segue into a continuous format of music reprising "The San Francisco Sound" beginning at 6 a.m.

The music programming, featuring bands with a local heritage, including the Beau Brummels, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Journey — along with other special "stunting" planned in the next week or two — with will continue until KTRB's permanent format commences on March 1. Not by coincidence, 2007 marks the fortieth anniversary of the "Summer of Love," during which San Francisco's musical and cultural influences received worldwide attention.

(The first song played at 6 a.m. was "Piece Of My Heart" by Janis Joplin. The station also has begun identifying itself as "The Heavy 860," at least for the time being.)

"KTRB will bring a fresh sound to the Bay Area to add diversity to the choices available to the public," KTRB vice president and general manager Jim P. Pappas said in the press release. "KTRB will entertain and inform with fresh, lively content, the likes of which the public does not now have available."

The complete press release:

San Francisco’s Newest Radio Station, KTRB-AM 860, Hits the Airwaves with 50,000 Watts of Power

- 73-Year-Old Heritage Radio Station Moves from Modesto to San Francisco -

- Station Begins Final Phase of Testing at Alameda County Transmitter Site Thursday, February 1, 2007 -

- On-Air Testing Features a Tribute to“The San Francisco Sound” -

San Francisco, California (January 31, 2007) — Something old is new again, as one of Northern California’s pioneer radio stations, KTRB-AM 860, makes its historic Bay Area debut by bringing “The San Francisco Sound” back to the nation’s fourth-largest radio market beginning this Thursday, February 1, 2007.

KTRB-AM 860 will sign-on at midnight on February 1, and beginning at 6:00 a.m. that day, the station will play continuous music reprising the late 60s and early 70s heyday of “The San Francisco Sound.”

“The San Francisco Sound” refers to rock music performed live and recorded by San Francisco-based artists and groups from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. KTRB-AM 860 will showcase seminal Bay Area bands such as The Beau Brummels, The Syndicate of Sound, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother & The Holding Company, as well as Santana, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Journey.

KTRB-AM 860 Vice President & General Manager Jim P. Pappas said, “Our sign-on in the Bay Area is the culmination of three decades of dreaming, planning, and hard work by the best and brightest from inside and outside our company. KTRB-AM 860 represents the genesis of our company’s more than 50-year California-based broadcast tradition. It was KTRB that inspired the three Pappas Brothers to become broadcasters. We are thrilled to own and operate a 50,000 Watt blowtorch that will serve the millions of residents in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and the entire Bay Area, just as KTRB-AM 860 has served generations of Californians since its founding in 1933.”

KTRB-AM 860’s permanent format will commence March 1, 2007. While plans have not been disclosed, Pappas said, “KTRB will bring a fresh sound to the Bay Area to add diversity to the choices available to the public. KTRB will entertain and inform with fresh, lively content, the likes of which the public does not now have available.”

About KTRB

KTRB-AM 860 is one of the oldest radio stations on the West Coast, having served the San Joaquin Valley and surrounding areas since the early days of the medium. Until recently, the station was licensed to Modesto, California. In 2003, the Federal Communications Commission authorized the relocation of KTRB's transmitter site to the Bay Area. On February 1, the station will return to the air licensed to San Francisco and serving the entire San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose radio market. Broadcasting on a Canadian Clear Channel frequency with 50,000 Watts of power day and night - the highest power allowed in the United States - KTRB has been engineered to cover a huge geographic area. San Francisco is the fourth-ranked radio market in the United States and the number-one AM radio market in the nation.

KTRB’s storied history began in 1933, when original owners T.R. McTammany and Bill Bates (the “TR” and “B” in KTRB) established the station as the first commercial broadcast outlet in Modesto. Through the years, KTRB has served as the launch pad for the careers of Country music notables such as The Maddox Brothers and Rose, and Chester Smith, and the station was the dominant radio voice in the San Joaquin Valley for decades. In 1973, brothers Pete, Mike, and Harry Pappas led a group of investors in purchasing KTRB from the Bates estate, and the station has remained under Pappas family ownership ever since.

KTRB’s studios are located at 1700 Montgomery Street in San Francisco, overlooking The Embarcadero. KTRB is owned by Pappas Radio of California, an affiliated company of Pappas Telecasting Companies, the largest privately-held, commercial television broadcaster in the United States.