City Warrensburg, Missouri ERP 100,000 watts | Branding The Bridge HAAT 166.8 meters | |
Broadcast area Kansas City Metropolitan Area Format Adult album alternative | ||
KTBG (90.9 FM) is a listener supported radio station in Warrensburg, Missouri; serving the Kansas City, Missouri market. The station is currently owned by Public Television 19, Inc., the holding company for the area's PBS member television station, KCPT. Known as "The Bridge," it airs an adult album alternative format. The sale of KTBG to PT19 was announced in April 2013, and after FCC approval, the actual transfer occurred Tuesday, December 17, 2013 immediately after KTBG’s 7pm broadcast of “All Things Considered.”
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History
KTBG signed on in the early 1980s as KCMW, airing National Public Radio and jazz programming under the ownership of the University of Central Missouri. In August 2001, the station adopted its current call letters and switched to the current format. The first song after NPR's Morning Edition was "Some Bridges" by Jackson Browne.
On April 18, 2013 the University of Central Missouri Board of Governors signed a letter of intent to transfer ownership of KTBG to Public Television 19, owner of KCPT. Kliff Kuehl, CEO and President of KCPT, indicated that while some changes will take place to KTBG once the transfer is approved by the FCC the station will still maintain its current music format.
After the transfer to KCPT, the KTBG broadcast studios were moved to the KCPT building in Kansas City, and KTBG's transmitter was moved to a new tower 20 miles closer to Kansas City, improving reception in the Kansas City metro. The reported sale price for the station was $1.1 million cash, plus an additional $550,000 in "in kind" services.
Format
KTBG airs several music programs, including "World Cafe", "Eclectic Cafe", and "Blues Quest". The station focuses on newer music. For a long time, KTBG also aired Morning Edition, Weekend Edition and All Things Considered because the area's main NPR station, KCUR, only provides rimshot coverage of the eastern portion of the market. Unusual for an NPR station, it aired football and basketball games of the University of Central Missouri Mules. When KCPT took over the station, all NPR programming (except World Cafe), as well as UCM sports programming, were dropped from the schedule.