First air date 1975 HAAT 183 meters Frequency 88.5 MHz Format Jazz, Smooth jazz Area Orange County | ERP 600 watts Class A City of license Mission Viejo Owner Saddleback College Branding Jazz-FM | |
Broadcast area Orange County, California Callsign meaning K SaddleBack College Radio Call sign meaning K SaddleBack College Radio | ||
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KSBR is a non-commercial radio station in Mission Viejo, California, broadcasting to the Orange County, California, area on 88.5 FM. KSBR airs a jazz music and smooth jazz format branded as "Jazz-FM" along with news programming.
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Ksbr birthday bash 2008
History
KSBR signed on in 1975 as a Class D, 10-watt student-run station and a limited coverage area of only a few miles from the campus of Saddleback Community College. In 1979, with grants from CPB and NTIA, the signal was upgraded to a Class A, covering most of Orange County and the station signed on as Orange County's first National Public Radio affiliate with a staff of professional and student broadcasters. The program schedule at first employed an eclectic, free-form mix of rock music, drama and locally produced talk shows but, with a growing news and public affairs emphasis and a switch to an all jazz format, the station gained critical recognition and a growing audience.
Budget cuts in 1984 returned KSBR to a student-run operation, most of the professional staff was laid off and the NPR membership was discontinued but the strong emphasis on jazz and public affairs continued.
The call letters were previously used by an FM station in San Bruno, California, which operated at 100.5 megahertz, from 1947 to 1959. The station was owned and operated by Eitel-McCullough, which moved to San Carlos, California in 1959 and merged with Varian Associates in 1965.