KBVB

KBVB
City of license Barnesville, Minnesota
Broadcast area Fargo-Moorhead, Detroit Lakes-Frazee
Branding Bob 95 FM
Slogan New Country
Turn Your Knob To Bob
Frequency 95.1 MHz (also on HD Radio)
Translator(s) 94.5 KDLB Detroit Lakes
First air date 1980 (as KDLM-FM)
Format FM/HD1: Country
HD2: AAA "94.5 The City"
HD3: Sports (KQWB-AM simulcast)
ERP 100,000 watts
HAAT 117 meters
Class C1
Facility ID 37001
Callsign meaning K BarnesVille Bob
Former callsigns KDLM-FM (1980-1996)
KFGX (1996-2000)
KRVI (2000-2007)
Owner James and Brooke Ingstad
(Radio Fargo-Moorhead, Inc.)
Sister stations K233CY, KPFX, KLTA-FM, KQWB, KQWB-FM, KBMW, W245CM
Webcast Listen Live (FM/HD1)
Listen Live (HD2)
Website bob95fm.com (FM/HD1)
The City 94.5 (HD2)
KBVB is also the Dutch abbreviation for the Royal Belgian Football Association.

KBVB (95.1 FM, "Bob 95 FM") is a radio station broadcasting a country format. Licensed to Barnesville, Minnesota, it serves the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area. It first began broadcasting in 1980 under the call sign KDLM-FM on 95.3 Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. The station is currently owned by James and Brooke Ingstad, through licensee Radio Fargo-Moorhead, Inc. All the offices and studios are located at 2720 7th Ave S Street in Fargo.

History

95.1 began its life around 1980 as KDLM-FM on the 95.3 frequency licensed to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. The station was purchased from Leighton Broadcasting in 1995 by MidStates Broadcasting, a division of OtterTail Power Company. At that time the studio was moved in with new sister-stations KFGO/KFGO-FM and KVOX/KVOX-FM. KDLM moved to the 95.1 frequency and underwent a format flip to alternative rock as "95X" under the call letter KFGX. This format was relatively short lived as the station transitioned to Adult Contemporary in 1997, then mainstream rock as "Rock 95" in 1998. MidStates Broadcasting was later bought out by James Ingstad in 1999.

Clear Channel Communications bought Ingstad's Fargo stations in 2000, and debuted River 95.1 debuted with an adult contemporary format. KRVI tweaked to its current AAA format in 2003, similar to that of co-owned KTCZ "Cities 97" in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After success with the AAA format on Cities 97 in Minneapolis, Clear Channel recreated format in Fargo and several other markets. These stations tend to draw in a large middle aged, well-educated audience which made them appealing to advertisers and profitable despite the fact that they may not have had large overall audiences. River 95.1 also annually aired Christmas music after Thanksgiving until Christmas Day.

On September 28, 2006, KRVI and the other Clear Channel stations in Fargo were sold back to James Ingstad, who lives in Fargo. He previously did not own KDAM, as didn't sign on until 2002. The sale was approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on January 19, 2007.

Starting at midnight on March 8, 2007, KRVI began stunting by repeating Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport by Rolf Harris continuously. On March 12, 2007, the station became KBVB "Bob 95 FM".

Bob 95 FM became an instant favorite, partially due to their early TV commercials, that often parodize a popular song, such as adding words to the Chicken Dance, and at Christmas, re-writing "Jingle Bells". Their commercials also often featured the "Bob Puppets" that include a cowboy and 2 bobbers. There was also a "Wheels On The Bus" parody commercial for BOB 95 that had several different versions that feature groups of people from the Fargo-Moorhead area singing the jingle; including the West Fargo Fire Department. In recent years, KBVB hasn't run any local TV spots.

The Spring 2010 Arbitron ratings gave KBVB an 8.4 share making them the 3rd place radio station in the market based on AQH share behind KFGO and KQWB who had a 12.1 and a 9.6 respectively. This marks the first time BOB95 surpassed competitor Froggy 99.9 who registered a 7.9 share. Arbitron Ratings

In 2012, It was announced that KBVB, along with Ingstad's other Fargo stations would be sold to Midwest Communications for $25 Million in a deal that took effect on May 1. A day later, Ingstad purchased crosstown rival Go Radio Fargo including stations KVOX-FM, KPFX, KLTA, KBMW, KQWB-FM and KQWB-AM for 9.5 Million dollars. May 3 it was reported that Ingstad and Midwest Communications would be trading country stations KBVB and KVOX in an even trade. That trade took effect on August 5, 2013, sending KVOX to Midwest, and KBVB back into the hands of Jim Ingstad. Despite reports that listeners would not notice changes, KVOX morning show "Jesse Amanda and Pike" disappeared from air along with KBVB's Lucy Black and Collin Taylor (who stayed with Midwest and went to KRWK and KVOX, respectively). "Jesse Amanda and Pike" reappeared a few weeks later at KBVB sister station KLTA.

Over the 4th Of July Weekend 2015, KBVB and parent company Radio FM Media had finished their acquisition of KSKK-FM from De La Hunt Broadcasting. The KSKK signal was moved to Frazee, MN and renamed KDLB- simulcasting with KBVB's Fargo signal. This replaced listenership lost when 95.1 moved their signal closer to the Fargo metro when they launched as "BOB 95". The KDLB signal competes primarily with KRCQ-FM.

HD radio

On October 15th, 2014, KBVB began broadcasting in HD, making them the first commercial station in the Fargo-Moorhead market running HD Radio. A week later on October 22nd, KBVB launched a Triple-A formatted HD2 sub-channel called "The Loft" with a translator on K233CY 94.5 operated from the STL relay tower outside the KBVB studio in Fargo. A few days later around October 30, the sub channel rebranded as "The City" due to a trademark claim from SiriusXM.[1] The HD3 sub-channel simulcasts KQWB-AM, a classic country station known as "Willie @ 1660".

Station staff

References

  1. ↑ Loft Launches in Fargo

External links

Coordinates: 46°49′09″N 96°45′57″W / 46.8191°N 96.7659°W / 46.8191; -96.7659

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, January 19, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.