The first station to bear the Wine Country-themed KRSH call letters was launched on Thanksgiving Day 1993. Fred Constant and his wife Mary had spent several years wading their way through the process of acquiring the license, which was initially granted to the community of Middletown, in Lake County just north of the Sonoma County line. The arrangement would lead to friction with other Sonoma County station owners, who felt that the Constants were failing to serve their community of license while targeting more-populous Sonoma County.
The station’s studios were located in Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square, and the format was what was known as AAA: Adult Album Alternative. There was little doubt that KRSH was aiming for the audience that was building San Francisco’s KFOG into a powerhouse and had once loved Santa Rosa’s KVRE before it changed format and became KXFX.
Program director and morning host Scott Murray, a former disc jockey at KVRE and program director at San Rafael’s KTIM, promised “not the same old classic burn-out songs.” Fred Constant served as the station’s general manager. Murray lasted only two months as program director, telling The Press Democrat he was burned out on small-market radio. Within months, he would sign on as general manager at listener-supported KRCB.
KRSH became known for its “Cellarbrations”, leaning into the Wine Country theme. Tickets to the music festivals, first held at the scenic Chateau de Baun winery, were priced, naturally, at $9.87.
Expanding the format a bit beyond the boundaries of AAA, KRSH played a bit of blues and bluegrass, some of the tracks spun by familiar Sonoma County voice Bill Bowker. By the spring of 1995, letting someone know you were a KRSH listener offered a certain kind of message for a personals ad in the newspaper.
When Grateful Dead founder Jerry Garcia died in August 1995, KRSH quickly arranged an impromptu public memorial featuring an appearance by a Garcia favorite, Steve Kimmock.
KRSH had clearly found a niche. By 1996, Fred Constant was saying the station, then calling itself “The Crush-Sonoma County’s Music Alternative”, had been profitable within three months of going on the air.
In 2001, the Constants sold Wine Country Radio (including KRSH, KGRP, and KSXY) to Viriginia-based broadcaster Bob Sinclair in a deal worth more than $10 million. Under Sinclair’s ownership, KRSH boosted its power and reconfigured its antenna to better cover Napa County.
The spring of 2002 saw KRSH on the move. Sinclair swapped two of its Sonoma County properties: KRSH switched to 95.9 on the dial and KSXY replaced KRSH at 98.7.
For more about KRSH after the switch, please go here.
