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KRDG (AM)

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KRDG
Frequency1330 kHz
Programming
FormatContemporary Christian music
Ownership
OwnerPrather-Breck Broadcasting of California, Inc.
History
First air date
June 3, 1958 (1958-06-03)
Last air date
November 1994 (1994-11)
Former call signs
  • KPAP (1958–1961)
  • KAHR (1961–1969)
  • KCLM (1969–1987)
Former frequencies
1270 kHz (1958–1961)
Technical information
Power5,000 watts daytime
Transmitter coordinates
40°31′27″N 122°22′15″W / 40.52417°N 122.37083°W / 40.52417; -122.37083[1]

KRDG (1330 AM) was a radio station in Redding, California, United States. It was last owned by Prather-Breck Broadcasting of California and broadcast from 1958 to 1994. It broadcast primarily country music over the course of history, though its last format was contemporary Christian music.

History

[edit]

C.E. Wilson and Philip D. Jackson, doing business as Independent Broadcasters, were granted a construction permit by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on June 6, 1957, for a new 1,000-watt, daytime-only radio station to serve Redding.[2] Wilson sold his interest to his partner before launch, and Jackson built and started KPAP, which began broadcasting June 3, 1958, as the town's fourth radio station, with a format consisting of pop and country music.[3] Jackson owned the station scarcely a month before filing to sell it to High Fidelity Stations, Inc., which in turn was granted a move to 1330 kHz and a power increase to 5,000 watts in 1960.[2] On February 1, 1961, KPAP changed its call sign to KAHR, continuing with its country format.[2][4] The frequency change was completed on October 10 of that year.[5] On April Fool's Day 1966, KVIP (540 AM) and KAHR engaged in a prank by which the two stations switched signals for the day; lines were run between the two stations to allow them to broadcast each other's programming.[6] Callers flooded both stations' switchboards, one even thinking the stunt was a "John Birch Society plot", as the event led to what KVIP manager Donald Chamberlain termed "mass confusion".[6]

While High Fidelity made a deal to buy an FM station construction permit at 92.9 MHz in 1966,[7][8] nothing ever came of the purchase. Instead, High Fidelity found itself in bankruptcy, and the buyer caused a series of shuffles in Redding radio. California Northwest Broadcasting Company, the McConnell family and owners of KVIQ-TV in Eureka, had the winning bid of $55,000 in bankruptcy court in February 1968.[9] McConnell was also a shareholder in Shasta Broadcasting Corporation, which owned KVIP. As McConnell promised to divest himself of KVIP, a series of KVIP staff left that station and came to KAHR to stabilize the financially ailing operation.[10] The station by this time had a full-time country music format.[11] While KVIP stockholders decided to sell, and the station ultimately was silent for nearly a year before being purchased by a religious group,[12] KAHR changed to KCLM (for "Carl and Leah McConnell") on February 10, 1969.[13]

The McConnells sold KCLM to Colgan Communications Corporation in 1976.[2] The owner, John A. Colgan, was a former advertising salesman for The Wall Street Journal and U.S. News & World Report.[14] Colgan filed for a construction permit to build an FM station in addition to KCLM,[15] which ended in a settlement whereby Colgan received a 19 percent stake in KSHA (104.3 FM), which started in 1981.[16] While a sale agreement was reached that same year to sell the station to Walls and Jones Broadcasting of Tulare,[17] no deal was ever concluded, and after John Colgan died at 55 in August 1982,[18] the station was left without the promotional budget to compete against other country music stations and in an increasingly FM-oriented market.[19]

Larry and Mildred DeBeau, who had previously owned stations in Michigan and Florida, filed in 1984 to acquire KCLM from Colgan's estate for $400,000.[19] The DeBeaus installed an "uptempo easy listening" format on the station, relocated it to new studios, and converted it to broadcast C-QUAM stereo, the first in the Redding area.[20] The call sign was retained, with the station branding as "K-Calm".[21] The DeBeaus sold the station after less than a year to Jeffrey Broadcasting—owned by two couples from Walnut Grove—because their son opted to remain a law enforcement official in Florida instead of moving to Redding to run KCLM.[22]

In January 1987, Prather-Breck Broadcasting, a partnership of two Redding men that owned KEWB (94.7 FM) in Anderson, acquired KCLM from Jeffrey Broadcasting. They replaced the existing easy listening format with oldies and acquired a set of heritage call letters: KRDG, which at 1230 AM had belonged to Redding's heritage Top 40 station in the 1950s and 1960s.[23] In 1989, Prather and Breck sold KEWB to another company but retained KRDG.[24] A year later, the station dropped its oldies format and flipped to contemporary Christian music, taking a feed from KLVR in Santa Rosa.[25]

In 1991, Prather-Breck filed to sell KRDG to the owner of KLVR, the Educational Media Foundation, for $46,000.[26] No transaction ever closed, and in July 1996, the license was deleted, with the FCC noting that it had last broadcast in November 1994.[27]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "KRDG(AM)" (PDF). Broadcasting Yearbook. 1992. p. A-44. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-10-31. Retrieved 2022-02-16 – via World Radio History.
  2. ^ a b c d FCC History Cards for KRDG
  3. ^ "New Redding radio station has plans for FM programs". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. June 9, 1958. p. 9. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "KPAP changes name to KAHR". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. February 10, 1961. p. 3. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Ceremonies mark radio station's power change". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. October 11, 1961. p. 9. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b "Redding radio stations pull April Fools' joke". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. April 2, 1966. p. 5. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Redding radio station plans to offer FM broadcasting". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. March 31, 1966. p. 6. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. ("92.8" should be "92.9" per mention of "channel 225")
  8. ^ "Commission OK's scale of station". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. October 29, 1966. p. 9. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Station KAHR is sold". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. February 16, 1968. p. 1. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "KVIP staff replaces employes at KAHR". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. May 17, 1968. p. 9. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "AM programming offers variety". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. August 23, 1968. p. Welcome Edition 49. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "KVIP: sound will be added". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. January 3, 1970. p. 4. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "KAHR will die; KCLM will be born". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. February 8, 1969. p. 3. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Ad man takes over radio station KCLM". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. December 3, 1976. p. 6. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Three vie for Redding FM nod". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. March 1, 1977. p. 15. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Miller, Bill (December 26, 1981). "Redding gets in on FM 'explosion'". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. p. 1, 4. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "In other business". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. June 29, 1981. p. 17. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "John Colgan, KCLM owner, dies at age 55". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. August 18, 1982. p. 2. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ a b "KCLM radio on the block for $400,000". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. August 14, 1984. p. B-6. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Redding's KCLM to offer new format". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. October 30, 1984. p. A-10. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "The Staff and Management of KCLM..." Record Searchlight. Redding, California. November 12, 1984. p. A-5. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Radio station is being sold". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. June 11, 1985. p. B-5. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "KRDG radio is back, KCLM out". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. January 20, 1987. p. A-3. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ "KEWB to move, gets new owner". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. October 10, 1989. p. A-4. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "KRDG takes Christian format". Record Searchlight. Redding, California. July 20, 1990. p. 9. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. August 26, 1991. p. 53. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-11-08. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  27. ^ "Washington This Week" (PDF). M Street Journal. July 3, 1996. p. 7. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 30, 2021. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
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