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KBIF

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For the military airport in El Paso, Texas, assigned the ICAO code KBIF, see Biggs Army Airfield.

KBIF
Broadcast areaFresno area
Frequency900 kHz
BrandingKBIF 900 AM
Programming
Language(s)Hmong, Punjabi
FormatWorld Ethnic
Ownership
OwnerOvergaard Broadcasting LLC
History
First air date
September 8, 1947 (1947-09-08)
Former call signs
  • KSGN (1947–1951)
  • KSJV (1951–1953)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID9226
ClassB
Power1,000 watts day
500 watts night
Transmitter coordinates
36°41′30″N 119°40′46″W / 36.69167°N 119.67944°W / 36.69167; -119.67944
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen Live
Website

KBIF (900 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a World Ethnic format to the Fresno, California, United States, area. The station is currently owned by Cordell Overgaard, through licensee Overgaard Broadcasting LLC.[2]

KBIF broadcasts in the Hmong language from Monday to Friday and in Punjabi on Saturday and Sunday.[3]

History

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Early years

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The Radio Sanger Company, formed by four prominent local farmers,[4] was granted a construction permit by the Federal Communications Commission on March 12, 1947, to build a 1,000-watt, daytime-only radio station to serve nearby Sanger on 900 kHz.[5] The station was constructed at Centerville.[4] KSGN signed on September 8, 1947.[6]

The station was sold for the first time in 1950 to a group led by Earl J. Fenston, a Fresno attorney; by this time, it had established satellite studios at Fresno's Sequoia Hotel.[7] KSGN became KSJV on Easter Sunday 1951, a decision undertaken to reduce confusion with other local stations with similar call signs.[8] Fenston expanded his media holdings when he bought The Hanford Sentinel and KNGS radio in Hanford in 1952.[9] The FCC granted the Hanford radio station's sale on the condition that Fenston divest himself of KSJV in Sanger, prompting him to sell it to his son.[10]

Poole years

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The Warner (now Warnors) Theatre in Fresno housed KBIF's offices in the first year after John Poole bought the station

In the end, the Fenstons decided to sell KSJV outright to another interest: John H. Poole, who owned radio station KBIG in Los Angeles and had already applied to start a television station on channel 53 in Fresno.[11] Foreign-language programs were removed from the schedule, and KBIG changed its call letters to KBIF at the start of April 1953, after having received permission two months prior.[5][12] The station also moved all offices from Centerville to Fresno in the Warner Theatre[13] and then to another site in town.[14]

Poole sought to move KBIF closer to Fresno and secured approval to have the community of license changed accordingly, even as Poole's Fresno TV station, KBID, lasted just five months after failing to secure a network affiliation.[15] The move was completed in December 1954, when KBIF's new transmitter at North and Fowler avenues was activated and the station relocated its studios to the Hotel Californian.[16][17]

Poole divested a majority stake in KBIF in 1957 to David Harris and Ethan Bernstein, two employees of Fresno station KMJ;[18] Bernstein then bought out Harris two years later.[19]

Norwood Patterson ownership

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Bernstein and Poole sold KBIF in 1961 to Norwood Patterson, who owned San Francisco's KSAN radio.[20] The sale reunited KBIF with a planned television station, as Patterson held a construction permit for KICU-TV, a new television station to be licensed to Visalia.[20] Once the sale closed in February 1962, it also brought a change in programming to religious fare.[21] The new manager was Norwood's brother-in-law Richard Bott,[21] who months later moved to Kansas City and started what became the Bott Radio Network.[22]

In later years, Norwood's son, Norwood "Jim" Patterson, Jr., became KBIF's manager.[23] However, his father committed a crime that would ultimately lead to a change in control. Beginning in 1965, Patterson withheld taxes from his employees without depositing the money into a trust, as required by law; according to the indictment, he owed the federal government $141,000 in taxes and penalties,[24] He was convicted on 16 charges the next year[25] and, after two attempted appeals, served a 10-month jail sentence beginning in 1973.[26]

Cascade and Overgaard

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As a result of the jail sentence and financial woes, KBIF was placed into receivership in 1973.[5] The transfer caused Jim Patterson to lose his job at KBIF; in 1975, he would buy KIRV and relaunch it as a Christian station, later becoming a two-term mayor of Fresno and member of the California State Assembly.[27]

Cascade Broadcasting Corporation acquired KBIF in 1975, two years after the receivership began.[5] Cascade, based in Portland, also owned a Christian station in New Orleans and a Spanish-language station in San Jose; in 1986, KBIF began broadcasting after sunset for the first time.[28] Programs for specific ethnic groups became more prevalent on the Christian station's schedule. The first Punjabi shows began airing in 1987;[3] in the early 1990s, programs in Hmong began on KBIF, serving a community that had grown to 56,000 people by 2001.[29] The station developed an eclectic lineup of brokered religious and ethnic talk programs.[30]

In 1997, Cascade sold KBIF to Gore-Overgaard Broadcasting.[31] The new owners continued and expanded the ethnic formats, with all weekend hours given over to Punjabi output in 2003.[3]

In July 2024, Overgaard Broadcasting sold KBIF to Punjabi American Media for $130,000. Hatjot Khalsa and Balwinder Kaur Khalsa acquired the station’s tower site for $500,000.[32]

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KBIF". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "KBIF Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  3. ^ a b c Mitric, Julia (August 1, 2019). "Central Valley Radio Station Stands In As A Cultural 'Town Hall' For Local Hmong And Punjabi-Speaking Communities". Capital Public Radio. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Sanger Radio Station Begun". Reedley Exponent. May 15, 1947. p. 3. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d FCC History Cards for KBIF
  6. ^ "Sanger Radio Now on the Air". Reedley Exponent. October 2, 1947. p. 5. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  7. ^ "Fenston Buys Radio KSGN". The Fresno Bee. November 16, 1950. p. 12-A. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  8. ^ "KSGN to Be KSJV Sunday". Reedley Exponent. March 22, 1951. p. 8. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  9. ^ "Hanford Paper, Radio Station Are Sold To Fresnan". The Fresno Bee. June 30, 1952. p. 1. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  10. ^ "Father, Son Split Ownership In Radio Stations". The Fresno Bee. September 26, 1952. p. 2-B. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  11. ^ "New Sentinel Owner Sells Sanger Station". The Hanford Sentinel. November 19, 1952. p. 1. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  12. ^ "Sanger Station Changes Letters". Visalia Times-Delta. April 2, 1953. p. 8. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  13. ^ "Radio Station Moves Offices From Centerville". The Fresno Bee. April 5, 1953. p. 26-D. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  14. ^ "Five Firms Lease New Premises". The Fresno Bee. March 14, 1954. p. 36-D. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  15. ^ "KBID Suspends TV Broadcasts, Radio Continues". The Fresno Bee. July 15, 1953. p. 1-A. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  16. ^ "Radio KBIF Will Move Studios". The Fresno Bee. November 17, 1954. p. 14-B. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  17. ^ "KBIF Station Moves To Fresno". The Fresno Bee. December 30, 1954. p. 6-B. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  18. ^ "Pair Pays $40,800 For Interest In KBIF". The Fresno Bee. March 3, 1957. p. 2-A. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  19. ^ "Ethan Bernstein Buys Control Of Radio KBIF". The Fresno Bee. April 28, 1959. p. 2-A. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  20. ^ a b "Radio KBIF Sale To Bay Man Is Announced". The Fresno Bee. October 6, 1961. p. 1-C. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  21. ^ a b "KBIF Is Sold; Will Switch Program Format". The Fresno Bee. February 11, 1962. p. 32-F. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  22. ^ Partney Dascher, Patricia (April 2007). "Dick and Sherley Bott – The Humble Beginnings of Bott Radio Network". Soul. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  23. ^ "Radio Station Owner Faces US Tax Charges". The Fresno Bee. December 12, 1969. p. 1-C. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  24. ^ "Radio Station Owner Awaits Tax Sentencing". The Fresno Bee. October 20, 1970. p. 2-D. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  25. ^ "Patterson Is Found Guilty In Tax Case". The Fresno Bee. UPI. August 28, 1971. p. B10. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  26. ^ "KBIF Owner Will Begin Tax Term". The Fresno Bee. April 3, 1973. p. D4. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  27. ^ Hoagland, Doug; Dudley Ellis, Anne (January 5, 1997). "Jim Patterson: I Am the Mayor: Leader of city's new era faces challenges, doubts". The Fresno Bee. pp. A1, A12, A13, A14. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  28. ^ Hoagland, Doug (May 3, 1986). "Valley airwaves alive as listeners tune into Jesus". The Fresno Bee. pp. A10, A11. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  29. ^ Xiong, Nzong (March 13, 2001). "A niche and a need". The Fresno Bee. pp. E1, E2. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  30. ^ Bentley, Rick (February 20, 2001). "Lots of talk". The Fresno Bee. pp. E1, E4. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  31. ^ "Proposed Station Transfers" (PDF). M Street Journal. October 8, 1997. p. 6. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  32. ^ "STATION SALES WEEK OF 7/12". Radio Insight. July 12, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
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