On December 19, 1946, KJBS-FM became the first commercial FM station to go on the air in the Bay Area. The San Francisco Unified School District’s KALW had been broadcasting since 1941, but commercial FM stations began dotting the dial after the Federal Communications Commission imposed new rules, shifting FM allocations to the now-familiar 88-108 MHz spectrum.
KJBS was put on the air by the owners of KJBS, headed by Edwin P. Franklin. The new station came to life transmitting with 4,500 watts from the roof of the Clay-Jones apartment building on Nob Hill. The building was described as the highest structure in San Francisco at the time. The rooftop antenna topped out at 728 feet above sea level. Getting the new Western Electric transmitter up to the roof proved to be quite an undertaking: it was too heavy for the apartment building’s elevator so it had to be winched up the side of the building.
Programming included several hours a day simulcast with KJBS; the balance of the programming was provided by transcription services.
Like all early FM broadcasters, KJBS-FM faced an existential challenge: how to build a business out of broadcasting to a very limited audience of people with FM receivers.
A May 1947 cooperative advertising spread in the San Francisco Examiner is an example of how FM broadcasters and the consumer electronics industry teamed up to try to build interest in FM radio. Radio manufacturer Philco and KJBS-FM heralded “Philco FM Week” with copy such as, “For the first time in the history of broadcasting, FM makes possible absolute full fidelity of reproduction.” To demonstrate that, the station promoted a lengthy schedule of classical recordings it would be airing over the next several days, while Philco dealers offered would-be buyers the chance to stop by and listen.
KJBS-FM continued to play “good music”, but nearly three years into its history, there were serious questions about whether good music on FM meant good business.
In a lengthy column, San Francisco Chronicle writer George Voigt outlined how KJBS-FM went to great lengths to acquire the newest classical recordings. Voigt lauded the station’s policy of rejecting pre-recorded commercials, preferring instead to have all advertising delivered by an announcer speaking from the station’s rooftop studio. Yet Voigt saw trouble ahead.
“It is frustrating, to say the least, to carry out such a program policy for three years with such little tangible support from the listeners to whom it’s directed, ” wrote Voigt. “The station at this point doesn’t know what to do.”
In fact, FCC records indicate the station’s owner, KJBS Broadcasters, had already filed paperwork that would allow them to transfer control of the station to CBS, which was operating its own FM station at 103.7 on the dial.
KJBS-FM limped along until November 1953, when CBS took control and shifted its KCBS-FM call letters to 98.9 MHz.
