| City of license | Angwin, California |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Santa Rosa, California |
| Frequency | 89.9 MHz |
| First air date | 1981 |
| Format | Public Radio; classical music |
| ERP | 800 watts |
| HAAT | 925 meters |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 27946 |
| Callsign meaning | Davis Florence Crocker |
| Former callsigns | KPRN (1981–1983) KCDS (1983–1998) KNDL (1998-2011) |
| Former frequencies | 102.1 (MHz) (1946-2011) |
| Affiliations | Independent |
| Owner | University of Southern California (Classical Public Radio Network, LLC) |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | kdfc.com |
KDFC-FM (89.9 FM) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Angwin, California, USA, and serving the Santa Rosa area. The station broadcasts a classical music format, simulcasting KUSF in San Francisco. The two stations are both branded as "KDFC", and are both owned by the University of Southern California, via its Classical Public Radio Network. KDFC is the radio home of the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Opera.
The KDFC-FM call sign and programming were previously assigned to 102.1 FM, from its inception in 1946 until January 2011, when the format and intellectual property moved to the current KUSF. The University of Southern California also acquired the 89.9 FM frequency in Angwin, California and its two translator signals in Eureka and Lakeport. The KDFC call sign was officially assigned to the Angwin station.
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Prior to the station's sale to the University of Southern California, the call sign was KNDL, and was owned by the Howell Mountain Broadcasting Company. Howell Mountain operated the station as 'user supported' with no commercials. The station also broadcast on the Internet.
The call letters represent their former branding as 'The Candle'. This references themes from the Bible such as "Jesus is the Light of the World" and we are God's light to the world and "We should not hide that light, but should put our light where it is visible to the world."
On January 18, 2011, KNDL ceased operation of its religious format upon the announcement of the purchase of the station by the University of Southern California's Classical Public Radio Network[1] That same day, the group switched KNDL and its translators to a simulcast of KDFC in San Francisco, which will move to the 90.3 MHz signal also acquired by USC.[2] As of April 2011 KNDL officially changed its call sign to KDFC.
KDFC was founded in 1946 by Ed Davis, and has programmed classical music for most of its history, though at one point during the 1950s, it featured a beautiful music format.
For many years the programming, which was largely automated after 1976, was simulcast on KIBE 1220 AM (now KDOW), a daytime-only 5 kW AM station in Palo Alto, California that began broadcasting in 1949 from a transmitter near the western approach to the Dumbarton Bridge.
Ed Davis' company Sundial Broadcasting sold the AM and FM to Brown Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1993 for US$15.5 million. In 1996 BBC sold the FM station and AM simulcast sister station (KDFC 1220 AM) to Evergreen Media, who in turn sold the FM to Bonneville Broadcasting and the AM to Douglas Broadcasting in 1997. New station management transitioned KDFC's programming to a more mass-appeal approach, which boosted ratings significantly, though was occasionally criticized for their new "top 40 of classical music" approach.
Bill Lueth, who had done mornings on rival classical station KKHI, moved to mornings at KDFC in 1997 and also contributed to the station's rise and shift from automation to live hosts. In 2003 KDFC became the first station in the Bay Area to broadcast using HD Radio.
On January 18, 2007, Bonneville signed an agreement with Entercom Communications Corporation to trade three San Francisco stations — KOIT, KMAX, and KDFC — for three Entercom stations in Seattle, Washington and four in Cincinnati, Ohio. Entercom officially took ownership of KDFC in March 2008.
The University of Southern California announced, on January 18, 2011, the purchase of KUSF (90.3 MHz) from the University of San Francisco. That same day, a deal, in the works for months prior, was announced to acquire the intellectual property and call letters of KDFC from Entercom, thus making KDFC a listener-supported non-commercial outlet. Entercom, in turn, flipped the 102.1 MHz frequency to a simulcast of San Jose station KUFX, which Entercom had acquired earlier in the month, on January 24.
The new KDFC is operated by a San Francisco-based non-profit organization,[3] and also simulcasts on newly-acquired KNDL (89.9 MHz) in Santa Rosa.[4]
On Tuesday, April 5, 2011, the deal for ownership of KNDL-FM officially closed. That station, on 89.9 MHz, will be assigned the call letters KDFC, according to an E-mail from KDFC president Bill Lueth, who added, "We now actually own a signal."
KDFC broadcasts classical music 24 hours a day, and morning drive hours also feature short news and traffic updates by Hoyt Smith. Programming features include: the Big One @ 1 at 1 p.m., the Island of Sanity at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and the Classical Giant at 10 at 10pm. The San Francisco Symphony airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m.
KDFC's self-described approach to the classical format includes special programming and promotions such as the "KDFC World Tour" (the music of a different country, every hour); "History on Shuffle"; (fantasy iPod sets of famous people through history); and the "KDFC Classical Star Search" talent contest.
In addition to FM and SHOUTcast MP3 streaming, KDFC was the first radio station in the country to broadcast in digital HD Radio, offering a secondary HD Radio channel, KDFC-2, featuring longer classical pieces and vocal works, without commercials on their former 102.1 FM frequency.
A multiple winner of the award for public service, KDFC is an active partner to arts groups and an active advocate for music education. Proceeds from the station's annual CD sampler, and the annual 'Music Educator of the Year' support and celebrate public school music programs.
In addition to the main station, KDFC is relayed by these stations and translators to widen its broadcast area.
| Call sign | MHz | City of license | Power (W) |
Class |
Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| K209AI-FM | 89.7 | Eureka, California | 82 | D | FCC |
| K223AJ-FM | 92.5 | Lakeport, California | 10 | D | FCC |
| K212AA-FM | 90.3 | Los Gatos, California | 16.5 | D | FCC |
K209AI-FM in Eureka, California is listed as inoperative as of January 2012[update].
In January 2005, a national controversy erupted when KDFC refused to sell advertising to the gay dating service "8 Guys Out," while taking advertisements for the heterosexual dating service "Table for Six". Speculation was that since KDFC's then-owner, Bonneville International Corporation, was a Mormon-controlled company, the church connection led to the advertising ban.[5] In this light, the policy of then-owner Bonneville did not allow advertising for liquor, lotteries, or casinos.
In March 2007, KDFC pulled a commercial for Chris Hedges' book American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. The ad was tailored to play only in the Bay Area, to promote local appearances by the author. Bill Lueth, KDFC’s operations and program director, insisted that pulling the ad was not a free-speech issue. “We don’t have any issue with their right to advertise this book. It simply doesn’t fit the expectation of our listeners on this particular radio station,” Lueth said.[6]
In 2008, like many Bay Area radio and TV stations, KDFC ran paid advertisements in support of Proposition 8, the California ballot measure which aimed to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry, which resulted in a call to boycott KDFC and its advertisers.
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