KBRT

KBRT

City of license	Avalon, California
Slogan	K-Brite
Frequency	740 kHz
Format	Christian radio
Power	10,000 watts day
Class	D
Facility ID	34588
Transmitter coordinates	33°21′36″N 118°22′18″W
Owner	Kiertron, Inc.
Website	kbrt740.com

KBRT (740 AM) is a Christian radio station. It airs Christian talk radio programming from Santa Catalina Island to Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire, San Diego, and Santa Barbara. The station broadcasts at 10,000 Watts sunrise to sunset at 740 kHz from the hill above Avalon on Catalina Island. In January 2010 the Los Angeles Examiner reported that KBRT will move to a new transmitter site in Anaheim, California. The studio and business offices are located in Costa Mesa.

At night the transmitter is shut down to comply with KBRT's FCC license. As a result, most of the broadcast area hears KCBS from San Francisco on 740 kHz after sunset. KBRT also broadcasts in HD Radio and on the web.

Contractors cutting a steel antenna cable with a gas-powered circular saw caused the wildfire that began on May 10, 2007. KBRT had to shut down the transmitter, which was not damaged. Until the transmitter was repaired, the station aired only on KBRT740.com.

History

The station went on air in 1952. It was founded by entrepreneur John H. Poole as KBIG. Poole had worked at KEZY Anaheim, CA and was founder of channel 22 KBIC-TV in Los Angeles. Later he'd own KBIG-FM.

Studios were located at the transmitter site on Avalon, later on the mainland coast.

From day one there were contentious disagreements with co-channel KCBS San Francisco over interference between the stations. Much of the path between stations' wavefronts was over water (and salt water at that).

According to Billboard Magazine (Jul 28, 1979), Bonneville Communications owned KBRT prior to the sale to Crawford Broadcasting. Bonneville, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), has dabbled on and off in the Los Angeles radio market. Bonneville currently owns KSWD, "The Sound" at 100.3 FM. After changing call signs from KBIG, KBRT was a mixture of secular and Christian music, with all programming taped, and all song "intros and outros" recorded by professional announcers; there was no live, "on-air" talent until after changing over to a completely Christian music format.

In 1980, the station switched to the Talk/Christian format after being purchased by Donald Crawford of Crawford Broadcasting when the assets of the original Crawford Broadcasting was split up among the heirs of its founder, evangelist Percy Crawford. Just prior to the switch, KBRT played Contemporary Christian Music from sunrise to sunset. The daily sign-on began with a recording of a man's voice: "Good morning. This is K-B-R-T Avalon, and we now begin another day of broadcasting over Southern California. K-B-R-T radio broadcasts on an assigned frequency of 740 kilohertz with a power output of 10,000 watts by authority of the Federal Communications Commission. K-B-R-T's transmitter is located on Santa Catalina Island, and is operated by Kiertron, Incorporated." (Note: Disc jockeys made multiple mentions of "Transmitter Tom," who actually lived on Catalina Island, and oversaw the station's transmitter.)

Air personalities have included Clark Race, Johnny Magnus, Paul McGuire, and Rich Buhler. Magnus featured his trademark "Weather With a Beat," where he would list U.S. and world city temperatures to an upbeat instrumental background. A typical background music track for "Weather With a Beat" was Count Basie's version of Neal Hefti's tune, "Cute", featuring Frank Wess on flute. Previously, KBRT was known as KBIG, airing Easy Listening music.

External links

• KBRT official website
• CBS story citing KBRT as the cause of the MAY '07 fire
• Query the FCC's AM station database for KBRT
• Radio-Locator Information on KBRT
• Query Arbitron's AM station database for KBRT