KPBX-FM

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KPBX is a public radio station serving Spokane, Washington. It broadcasts at 91.1MHz with an ERP of 56 kw and is one of two stations operated by Spokane Public Radio. KSFC is the other.

Through a full-power repeater, KIBX 92.1 FM in Bonners Ferry, Idaho and ten translators, it reaches 50,000 listeners in eastern Washington, northern Idaho, western Montana and southern British Columbia.

[edit] History

The station traces its history to a ten-watt transmitter erected in the early 1970s in the home of George Cole in the South Hill neighborhood of Spokane. It broadcast various kinds of music eight hours a day from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.. In 1974, David Schoengold, a record store owner and law school student, took over the station from Cole and expanded its broadcast schedule to 24 hours a day. It became very popular, with people waiting at all hours of the day to go on the air. It also gained the attention of National Public Radio, which sent tapes of All Things Considered.

Schoengold wanted a better station for the area, so he formed the Spokane Public Broadcasting Association to raise funding for a full-power public radio station. The 10-watt transmitter went off the air at the suggestion of one of Schoengold's friends in order to make it easier to raise the money. After several years of fundraising and several delays in the on-air date, KPBX finally went on the air on January 20, 1980. The station had to postpone its first pledge drive because it was scheduled a few months after the eruption of Mount St. Helens, and Pacific Northwest Bell requested that phone lines be used for emergencies only.

Today, the station broadcasts a mix of NPR news, classical music and jazz.

[edit] External links

• Spokane Public Radio's website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for KPBX
• Radio Locator information on KPBX
• Query the FCC's FM station database for KIBX
• Radio Locator information on KIBX