Bill Virgin's On Radio February 12, 2009

[radiofan]

On Radio: KBSG may return at a lower power
By BILL VIRGIN
P-I REPORTER

The KBSG call letters are gone from the Seattle airwaves, the FM station's original oldies format even longer departed.

But just maybe both may make a return -- provided you're within tuning distance of Glenoma, Wash.

Which leads to the obvious question: Where is Glenoma?

As it happens, Glenoma is in Lewis County, along U.S. Route 12 between Morton and Randle. It also happens to be the city of license for not one but two proposed noncommercial, full-power FM stations: KBSG-FM/89.3 and KCFL-FM/ 90.1.

The general manager for both stations is Sandra Woodruff, who has consulted on and worked with stations in this region, particularly low-power FM and translator licenses. For a time she was involved with a low-power FM station (LPFM) in the Fall City area operating with the call letters KCFL, until the KMCQ-FM move-in on the same frequency quashed that.

Meanwhile, she's been producing oldies programming (using some of the same jingles as legendary stations KYA in San Francisco and WCFL in Chicago) heard on translators and LPFM stations around the region.

But now Woodruff and a group she works with, Northwest Indy Radio, are planning two stations in Glenoma. KBSG will carry the KYA programming, which she describes as " 'Your Hit Parade' plus the songs that would have been on 'Hit Parade' if it had continued into the '60s and '70s." KCFL will feature 1955-84 upbeat top-40 music. She'd like to get them running "when the snow stops falling and the ground dries out."

At 1,000 watts each, those stations won't carry far from metropolitan Glenoma -- but there's a possibility that they could someday be heard in Seattle. Another community-radio group with which Woodruff works -- Sam-Sno Educational Media -- has applications pending for three translators in or around Seattle that might be an outlet for either or both stations.

But don't go tuning the radio just yet. Woodruff counts at least nine translator applications for the Seattle area held by other groups. They've all been in limbo at the Federal Communications Commission since the filing of applications nearly six years ago.

"A lot depends on what the new FCC does with LPFM and translators," she says.

In other radio notes:


The Metropolitan Opera performs Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" at 10 a.m. Saturday on KING-FM/98.1.


KJR-FM/95.7 says it will report only "good news" in its morning drive-time newscasts. The 90-second newscasts air every half-hour, 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. weekdays.

P-I reporter Bill Virgin can be reached at 206-448-8319 or billvirgin@seattlepi.com.

Bill Virgin's On Radio, Thursdays in the Seattle P-I