KPBS-FM
KPBS-FM, part of KPBS Public Media, is a non-commercial public radio station licensed to San Diego State University, broadcasting in San Diego on 89.5 MHz, 89.1 MHz K206AC in La Jolla, and on 97.7 MHz KQVO in Calexico, Imperial County. The station is affiliated with National Public Radio, with programming consisting of news and public affairs. Beginning May 23, 2011, the station discontinued its classical music programming in the evening hours and moved music programming to an online stream.
The station first went on the air in 1960 as KEBS, owned by what was then San Diego State College. It changed its call letters to the current KPBS-FM in 1970. It is one of three charter members of NPR in California, the others being KCRW in Los Angeles and KQED-FM in San Francisco. As such, it was one of the 90 stations that aired the initial broadcast of All Things Considered when it premiered in 1971.
KPBS has three HD Radio channels. KPBS-HD1 is the main channel that airs NPR news and talk, much like the analog KPBS-FM; KPBS-HD2 airs , featuring music from the syndicated Classical 24 service; and KPBS-HD3 offers SomaFM's syndicated "" format.
The station offers a radio-reading service on one of the FM sidebands. This requires a special FM receiver.
On October 1, 2012, KPBS boosted its effective radiated power from 2,700 watts to 26,000 watts by moving its tower from San Miguel Mountain to Mount Soledad.San Diego wildfires
During the October 2007 wildfires in the San Diego area, power was lost to the KPBS-FM/TV transmitter on Mount San Miguel.
Within three hours, alternative rock station KBZT agreed to air KPBS' wildfire coverage until the station could return to a backup operation from its studios on the San Diego State University campus, which occurred the next day. KPBS later restored full coverage from Mount San Miguel using a backup generator.
