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KBBF Silent

If the decision maker at KRCB (FM 91) was savvy, they'd arrange to swap frequencies with KBBF. Especially now that KDFC is in the same backyard as KRCB. Non-commercial classical music, at least during the days and on Sundays, is what has made KRCB-FM distinctive. (I'll bet they NEVER saw that one coming, where a second fulltime classical noncomm would suddenly appear where the Seventh Day Adventist college's religious station existed since time immemorial. Then again, they've missed a lot of other opportunities to upgrade their signal from 91.1, to correct the problem of KCSM spilling all over it in their city of license, thanks to the increase in terrain altitude from San Mateo to Santa Rosa.)

KRCB is going to need a real signal that actually covers Sonoma County and a bit beyond for its radio station to thrive. KBBF provides a somewhat distinctive service in Spanish, but for a much more limited audience than KRCB is aimed at. But it has that big Class B signal on 89.1, pretty much on par with the one KDFC now has on 89.9 that makes it all the way south of the Golden Gate Bridge, and from the coast over the hills to Napa.
 
Goldilocks94941 said:
Then again, they've missed a lot of other opportunities to upgrade their signal from 91.1, to correct the problem of KCSM spilling all over it in their city of license, thanks to the increase in terrain altitude from San Mateo to Santa Rosa.)
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KRCB should have never been licensed for 91.1. KCSM has been on it far longer.
 
David, et al -- KRCB is well outside of KCSM's protected contour range - but the terrain makes for some rather annoying interference in the North Bay. KRCB deserves to be on the air - it's director, however, has not taken much initiative to secure an improved signal since it debuted in the mid 1990s. KSCM even got to boost its power after KRCB-FM came on the air, and that created major interference issues on US 101 ever since.

It's the same as the nationwide problem of translators and other similar squeeze-ins removing the efficiency of the wattage used to get signals out there into "fringe" areas. And it's making the FM band as irritating to listen to when idriving in hilly areas as AM is at night.

These are reasons why I support an expanded FM band soon - and maybe the FCC can actually plan (instead of relying on so-called "market forces" the allocation of frequencies and power levels for optimal coverage of targeted urban/suburban and rural areas. LPFMs and AM translators can be grouped into a specified part of the new spectrum. And stations whose programming is intended to serve audiences and interests that are not currently available should also get favored treatment. Likewise, national satellite translators for a few religious empires can be excluded as non-local or regional services, despite their attempt to sign on a local church as the "sponsor" of their translators.

Can I get an "Amen" here?

If the big guys who run NAB aren't going to push for it, why shouldn't the rest of us beat the drum for reallocating the vacated TV spectrum for new radio, and mandating FM receiver manufacturers include the expanded band. too-?
 
Goldilocks94941 said:
These are reasons why I support an expanded FM band soon

Can I get an "Amen" here?
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Long before stations cut over to DTV I wrote letters to the FCC commissioners suggesting that TV 6 and possibly 5 be given to FM to expand the band. Heard nothing but an automated "thank you" letter from them. (Yes I wrote snail mail because in these days of instant communication, snail mail gets more attention...or it usually does.)
 
Maybe we should start a new KRCB thread, given the lack of attention to KBBF here. KRCB has a low watt translator in Santa Rosa on 90.9, and 120 watts on the side of Geyser Peak just north of Healdsburg onm 91.1. I see they have a CP for changing the transmitter site to a lower elevation west of Santa Rosa, upping the power, and changing the city of license to Windsor (for some reason). That ought to help them strengthen the coverage in the center of the county, even when there's a temperature inversion, which I've known to beat back the signal from the 101 corridor in the summer in years past when I tried to listen. Maybe it will help them get a better signal into Guerneville, too, which seems like a good match.

By the way, didn't KBBF also change its city of license from Santa Rosa to something else? If so, anyone know why?
 
Wondering why a radio-locator search in Calistoga didn't show KBBF, so I found this from the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat from a few weeks ago: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110321/OPINION/110329929

Looks pretty serious when your board president writes an opinion piece outlining probable misappropriation and misallocation of funds. Looks like the article appeared before the station went silent. Probably bankrupt now. Appears it's off the air until probably the license gets reassigned to someone else!

I always suspected KBBF wasn't a very professional operation, based on some of the sloppy local programming I used to occasionally hear on it. The Radio Bilingue network stuff was pretty interesting - plenty of styles of Latino music and discussion of important issues that the commercial Spanish-language stations rarely seem to touch. Is Radio Bilingue still based near Fresno?

I think there still needs to be an outlet for Radio Bilingue in the North Bay - maybe on 91.1. The KBBF 89.1 signal is too big to be silent for long. Probably some "religious" wolves already trying to grab it. I hope KRCB gets its act together and find a way to get them to transfer the license to their non-profit organization, pronto.
 
KBBF back on the air, yesterday and today. I suspect the 'transmitter destroyed by lightning' story may have been exaggerated. Given the station's financial problems, I doubt they could afford a new transmitter. They were probably able to repair the old one.
 
KBBF not heard today. Whatever they did to put themselves back on the air for a few days has presumably given out.
 
KBBF heard again, yesterday, and today. As they have been off, on, and off again lately, it's unclear what will happen next with this station. Transmitter difficulties just one item on a long list of very serious problems that they face.
 
Here's the story on KBBF.

The Bilingual Broadcasting Foundation is a non-profit organization funded totally from member dues and donations. They have a large and loyal membership, but it is mostly latino emigrants who tend to be low on the economic scale. Their member dues are only $15 a year. KBBF has operated on a shoestring for most of the over 40 years of its existence, thanks largely to an enthusiastic cadre of volunteers. They currently have no paid staff.

The reason they changed from Santa Rosa to Calistoga is that they were paid a substantial sum of money by a commercial station that wanted the Santa Rosa slot. The money was supposed to be earmarked for repairs to the station offices to bring them up to code but apparently the previous board frittered the money away. The current board is doing a much better job and seems to be getting the station turned around.

They do air some programs from Radio Bilingue.

On March 13, lightning struck the power pole that feeds the transmitter shack on the top of Mount St. Helena. It exploded the power pole (left lying in pieces on the ground), blew the service entrance off the outside wall of the building and took out the main transmitter. They managed to get a 4WD up the access road through the snow and switched over to the backup transmitter and the emergency generator. But between having to wait for the snow to melt so the propane truck could get up there to replenish the fuel tank, replacing the power pole (which turned out to belong to the station, not PG&E), two breakdowns (for different reasons) of the ancient generator, and other miscellaneous problems like the PG&E repair guy getting sick, the station was on and off (mostly off) the air for the next 7 weeks. Finally PG&E got the power restored and they went back on the air (hopefully for good) on May 5 (Cinco de Mayo!).

The Harris main transmitter is still sitting on my workbench. I troubleshot it to at least a bad CPU board, but they figured out that their insurance covers it so we'll go ahead and have it repaired professionally, as soon as we can arrange to transport the 230-pound monster to the repair shop in Napa. The generator needs a new head gasket, but hopefully it won't be needed for awhile now that we are in the summer season.
 
ABrighton - Thanks for the update. Obviously, you're in the middle of it, and good luck dealing with the tough situation at KBBF. I still don't understand, however, the reason for the change of the city of license from Santa Rosa and why they'd be paid to become a "Calistoga" station (seems like the other two non-comms that were licensed to the "big city" also have changed or are trying to change to a smaller town city of license - as well as one or two commercials stations, from what I surmise). Being non-comm at 89.1 shouldn't ordinarily be affected by the actions of a commercial station - unless it meant changing transmitter sites and coverage area.

Operating without any professional staff sounds more like what a low power FM would do - not a big signal like KBBF. I haven't been in the market for 16 years (but still think of it as "home" - yet I still think some sort of creative solution working with Rural California Broadcasting Corp (KRCB) would be in the short and long term interests of both stations. Otherwise, transferring the license to the same Radio Bilingue that runs the flagship station in the Central Valley might help with the long term health of KBBF.
 
Goldilocks94941 said:
ABrighton - Thanks for the update. Obviously, you're in the middle of it, and good luck dealing with the tough situation at KBBF. I still don't understand, however, the reason for the change of the city of license from Santa Rosa and why they'd be paid to become a "Calistoga" station (seems like the other two non-comms that were licensed to the "big city" also have changed or are trying to change to a smaller town city of license - as well as one or two commercials stations, from what I surmise). Being non-comm at 89.1 shouldn't ordinarily be affected by the actions of a commercial station - unless it meant changing transmitter sites and coverage area.
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Looking at the attachments to the FCC "paperwork", what happened was...

Commercial station KSXY-100.9, licensed to Calistoga, wished to move its transmitter roughly 15 miles to the west-northwest. Upon doing so, it would no longer provide a city-grade signal across Calistoga, and could no longer be licensed to that community.

KSXY was the only station licensed to Calistoga. The FCC does not permit the deletion of a community's only station.

While KBBF was licensed to Santa Rosa, it also provided a city-grade signal across Calistoga, and could, under FCC policy, be licensed to that city.

So, KSXY agreed to pay KBBF ($200,000 plus expenses plus airtime*) to change its city-of-license to Calistoga, ensuring Calistoga would continue to have a station licensed there after KSXY moved to some other city where its new technical facilities would provide a city-grade signal. (Forestville, as it turns out) The agreement explicitly states KBBF will not be required to make any changes to its signal, only to its city-of-license.

* KSXY agreed to provide 250 :30 spots a year on (presumably co-owned) station KXTS, to be used to promote KBBF's fundraisers.

I've seen this happen before, though I can't cite a case offhand where a non-commercial station was involved.
 
abloom said:
The reason they changed from Santa Rosa to Calistoga is that they were paid a substantial sum of money by a commercial station that wanted the Santa Rosa slot. The money was supposed to be earmarked for repairs to the station offices to bring them up to code but apparently the previous board frittered the money away. The current board is doing a much better job and seems to be getting the station turned around.
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This is a BIG problem when boards of politically-based organizations are made up of members who fulfill certain political requirements but are ignorant of business standards. The exact same thing (frittering away of money) has happened with the non-profit group that puts on SF's gay pride parade. The board was/is made up of people who have no business background whatsoever.

What's really amazed me over the years is how organizations like Pacifica Foundation have managed to stay in business. While they do hire professional managers, the boards at the various Pacifica stations tend to fire their managers whenever they get into the slightest political disagreement.

It's a terrible shame that KBBF was positioned to have an endowment of some sort to take them through the rough patches, but spent it like there was no tomorrow. Surprise: It's tomorrow.

I hope the new board has some people on it who actually know something about how to run a business. They have a fiduciary responsibility.
 
DavidKaye said:
It's a terrible shame that KBBF was positioned to have an endowment of some sort to take them through the rough patches, but spent it like there was no tomorrow. Surprise: It's tomorrow.

I hope the new board has some people on it who actually know something about how to run a business. They have a fiduciary responsibility.
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You're right it would be a terrible shame if KBBF went under - it is an important resource to the latino community. I am a long-time listener (mainly to practice my Spanish) and volunteered to serve on the listener advisory board a year or two ago, which met a couple times and then kind of died out. Recently I offered to help with the technical problems (I'm a retired electrical engineer).

Rather than a director, the most important paid position that they need is an office manager who would make sure that routine matters are taken care of. Like mailing out renewal notices to members (which hasn't happened at least since I became a member several years ago). The new board is working on getting these kinds of things taken care of, but boards come and go. They need a permanent staffer who knows what needs to be done and when, and makes sure it happens (recruiting volunteers as needed).

The good news is that the program content and the announcers are of good quality. In addition to music there is quite a bit of locally-generated public affairs programming as well. In the discussion of KRCB in this thread, someone mentioned that KBBF sounds kind of unprofessional at times. But I listen to KRCB all the time and I have heard a lot more technical foo-bars (like several minutes of dead air, wrong audio feed, two audio feeds at the same time, etc.) on KRCB than on KBBF.
 
abloom said:
Rather than a director, the most important paid position that they need is an office manager who would make sure that routine matters are taken care of. Like mailing out renewal notices to members (which hasn't happened at least since I became a member several years ago). The new board is working on getting these kinds of things taken care of, but boards come and go. They need a permanent staffer who knows what needs to be done and when, and makes sure it happens (recruiting volunteers as needed).
Click to expand...

But, you yourself said that the KBBF board "frittered away" (your exact words) the money they were given by the other station. That $200,000, though not a lot of money, could have been invested and could have become the basis of an endowment.

I reiterate that it is the fiduciary responsibility of a board of directors to make sure that finances are taken care of, and stations like KBBF are no exception. The directors of a non-profit corporation act as trustees to the public to make sure that money is well-spent. Instead, many non-profits are political in nature and prefer to put the politically "correct" people on their boards, regardless of whether they have any skills to run a business or not.

AND...how did the people at KBBF let their domain name slip away? It's not exactly rocket science to renew a domain name from time to time.
 
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