KBFB

KBFB (97.9 FM, "97.9 The Beat") is a Dallas/Fort Worth-based radio station with an Urban Contemporary format. It is owned by Radio One with sister station KSOC-FM. Its studios (alongside KSOC) are located in the Galleria Area in North Dallas, and its transmitter is located in Cedar Hill.

History

The Belo/Anchor Media/Cox years

The station traces its history back to the October 5, 1946 launch of the first FM radio station to sign on in Texas, "KERA-FM" (no relation to the current radio and television stations known under the same call letters), although its roots go back to an experimental FM station "W5X1C" that signed on October 15, 1945, and another experimental trial dating back to 1939. By 1947, it had moved from its original home at 94.3 FM to a preferred location in the center of the dial at 97.9 FM under the WFAA-FM callsign, initially simulcasting its AM sister station WFAA (570 AM). With FM broadcasting in its infancy, WFAA-FM signed on and off the air for months and even two years at a time before settling on a permanent broadcast schedule by 1965. It later programmed MOR and Beautiful Music until 1973, then flipped to album oriented rock (AOR) as KZEW-FM (known to listeners as The Zoo) on September 16, 1973. Featuring talent such as John LaBella and John Rody ("LaBella and Rody"), George Gimarc, Charley Jones, Dave Lee Austin, John B. Wells, Nancy Johnson, John Dew, John Dillon, Doc Morgan and Tempie Lindsey, the station's concept and programming were initially under the direction of Ira Lipson. The FM station shared studio locations with WFAA-AM on the second floor of the facility.