KGBY

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KGBY is a Adult Contemporary serving the Sacramento, California area and broadcasts at 92.5 FM. They are owned by Clear Channel Communications.

Y92.5 is one of two Adult Contemporary stations in the market, the other being KYMX. But unlike the latter, KGBY offers a more upbeat approach featuring currents and recurrents from the 1980s and 1990s, as well as the popular nighttime program "Delilah".

[edit] History, 2000-Present

KGBY studio sign.

For many years, Y92.5 was branded simply as Y92. The station was owned by AM-FM broadcasting from 1994-2000, and became part of the Clear Channel family after AM-FM and Clear Channel merged in 2000.^[1] In 2000, the station briefly added a heavy number of country-based current hits, including songs by Billy Gillman, LeAnn Womack, Lonestar, and Faith Hill.^[2]

In 2001, the station re-branded itself as "Y92.5 - Today's Hits, Yesterday's Favorites." The station began using the "Best Mix in Denver" (KIMN) jingle package (created by PAMS productions, Dallas, TX), including the famous "Y92.5... K-G-B-Y Sacramento" top-of-the-hour jingle.^[3]

The 2002-03 weekday line-up included Paul Robbins & Phil Cowan (mornings 5:30-9 -- KGBY's morning show since the 1980's), Mary Ellen Murphy (middays, 9-2 -- voicetracked from a Clear Channel station in Grand Rapids, MI) and Dana Hess (afternoons, 2-7). Night programming varied, including a local love songs show in early 2003, and a brief stint using John Tesh's syndicated show in Fall 2003.^[4]

On Friday, November 14, 2003, Y92.5 surprised listeners by switching to an All-Christmas format. For the next six weeks, listeners listened to a catalog of over 300 Christmas tunes, including staples such as Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" and John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (both songs were literally played once every four hours, on the hour) to unusual tracks such as "Light In The Stable" by Emmylou Harris.^[5]

In 2004, the station began making some major changes. In January, voicetracked Mary Ellen Murphy was dumped in favor of local voice Laurie Sacco. The station experimented with "92 minutes of commercial-free music" at 8:30 each weekday morning to start the workday (this was in response to KYMX's "96 minutes of music" -- neither experiment lasted more than a few months).^[6] The famous "Y92.5... K-G-B-Y Sacramento" top-of-the-hour jingle was dumped in favor of a quicker Legal ID.

By mid-2004, the station began evolving into a more "upbeat" mix of music. All but a few 70's tracks were cut from the playlist, and more upbeat 80's, 90's and current/recurrent tracks were added.** In late 2004, the station embraced Clear Channel's "Less is More" initiative, and began cutting commercial times from 1:00 to :30. Jingles were also shortened to "Y92.5" from the original "Today's Hits / Yesterday's Favorites... Y92.5".^[7]

In 2005, the station experimented with "Extra Wide Variety" weekends, adding 100's of unusual songs to its playlist between 3pm Friday and 5am Monday. This was in response to the Jack-FM variety rock phenomena.^[8]

2005 also saw the end of "Paul & Phil in the Morning" -- with Phil Cowan exiting and the show rebranded simply as "Paul Robbins in the Morning." Along with this change, a new jingle package was created for the station -- putting an end to "Today's Hits, Yesterday's Favorites" in favor of "Sacramento's Best Music."^[9]

The station continued running six weeks of all Christmas music in the 2004 & 2005 holiday seasons; the number of weeks devoted to Christmas music was reduced to four in 2006.^[10]

Long-time afternooner Dana Hess left in early 2007.^[11]

The station's playlist presently emphasizes many upbeat currents, including "Nothing Left To Lose" by Mat Kearney and "Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day. Older titles are often rhythmic (akin to those played on the Movin' stations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland, OR), and include such songs as "Dancing in September" by Earth, Wind & Fire, and "I Can't Wait" by Nu-Shooz.^[12]

Paul Robbins prepares to break the banner at the start of his 92.5 miles charity run on March 29, 2007.

[edit] References

Radio & Records Magazine: http://www.radioandrecords.com/ (1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11)

Mediabase 24/7 Playlist, KGBY-FM: http://www.mmr247.com/mmrweb/allaccess/ (2, 5, 10, 12)

PAM's Jingles Demo Page: http://jingles.com/jam/radioids/demodl.html (3)

[edit] External links

• Y92.5
• Query the FCC's FM station database for KBGY

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