KGB (AM)

For the AM radio station in San Diego that held the KGB call sign from 1928 to 1982, see KLSD. For the San Francisco radio station that operated from 1921 to 1922, see KGB (San Francisco).
KGB
Broadcast areaSan Diego–Tijuana
Frequency760 kHz
BrandingSan Diego Sports 760
Programming
FormatSports radio
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
KGB-FM, KHTS-FM, KIOZ, KLSD, KMYI, KOGO, KSSX
History
First air date
August 19, 1941; 83 years ago (1941-08-19)
Former call signs
KFMB (1941–2020)
Former frequencies
  • 1450 kHz (1941–1948)
  • 550 kHz (1948–1954)
  • 540 kHz (1954–1965)
Call sign meaning
George Bowles (station manager of KGB, 1928–1931)[1]
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID42120
ClassB
Power
  • 5,000 watts (day)
  • 50,000 watts (night)
Transmitter coordinates
32°50′33″N 117°1′30″W / 32.84250°N 117.02500°W / 32.84250; -117.02500
Repeater(s)101.5-2 KGB-HD2 (San Diego)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen Live
Websitesportssd.iheart.com

KGB (760 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to San Diego, California. It is owned by iHeartMedia and airs a sports radio format.[3] KGB has local sports talk shows along with play-by-play coverage of San Diego State Aztecs football and basketball, Los Angeles Lakers basketball, San Diego Gulls hockey, and national programming from Fox Sports Radio. The studios are in the Serra Mesa neighborhood in northeastern San Diego.[4]

The station first broadcast in 1941 as KFMB, founded by aerospace engineer Warren Burnham Worcester broadcasting mostly classical music. In 1943, Jack O. Gross bought KFMB radio and later added two sister stations: KFMB-TV channel 8 and KFMB-FM, first at 101.5 MHz and later at 100.7 MHz. The trio of stations were owned by Chicago-based Midwest Television from 1964 to 2017. For much of the 1960s and 1970s, KFMB AM had a full service format combining Middle of the Road (MOR) music, as well as news and sports. KFMB AM was one of the most popular radio stations in San Diego from the mid-1970s to late 1980s. At that point, the station shifted away from music to emphasize talk shows. As a talk station, KFMB hosts included Ted Leitner, Hank Bauer, Rick Roberts and Roger Hedgecock, with a focus on conservative talk shows.

In 2017, Tegna Inc. bought the KFMB radio and TV stations from Midwest Television, then sold the KFMB radio stations to Local Media San Diego in 2019. Less than a year later, iHeartMedia bought KFMB AM and changed its call sign to KGB. In 2022, iHeartMedia changed KGB's format from talk to sports and moved much of KGB's talk programming to sister stations KOGO 600 and KLSD 1360.

By day, KGB broadcasts at 5,000 watts, using a non-directional antenna. But at night, in an unusual move for an AM radio station, power increases to the maximum 50,000 watts, using a directional antenna. The transmitter towers are along the San Clemente Canyon Freeway (California State Route 52) in Santee.[5]

  1. ^ Leonard, David. "History of KGB Radio". CT30. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KGB". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^ "Station Information Profile". Arbitron. Summer 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
  4. ^ "Contact". San Diego Sports 760. Retrieved March 21, 2024.
  5. ^ "KGB-AM". Radio-Locator.com. Retrieved March 30, 2024.