They took KBDG away

90.9 KBDG in Turlock, California broadcasts a variety of middle eastern music, concentrating on Assyrian music. As obscure as that sounds, there is a second Assyrian in the US. That station, 89.5 KBES is in Ceres, just south of Modesto, CA. But though the two Modesto-area stations simulcast, and are both owned by Bet-Nahrain, they have different histories.

KBES was founded by Bet-Nahrain, and their application was accepted by the FCC in 1977. The station signed on in 1979. The story is simple and the station has been on and has been operated continually by Bet-Nahrain, a corporation owned by an Assyrian American Civic Club. It's an organization no different in may ways from the Jaycees, the Elks, the Moose or your local Polish club.

Coincidentally KBDG was also founded in the 1970s, but it was formerly owned by Turlock High School. Turlock High School.It only passed into the hands of Bet-Nahrain in 1993. Schools sometimes sell their FM properties. But at 730 watts KBDG is no LPFM. Like all deceased educational FMs there is always the legend of the bad DJ. This was recorded on Wikipedia of all places. I quote that below:

"Turlock High School played various types of music and was DJ'd by the students in Mr. Hoskins electronics class. Unofficially, the station prohibited students from DJ'ing any longer when Andrew Pozner and Jeremy Hover played songs by the infamous rap group named The 2 Live Crew."

This data was added by mystery Wikipedia user Slelham. I've never actually found even one of these stories to be true... except WXPN. This is not to say that student DJs don't sometimes misbehave. They certainly do. But it is exceedingly rare that they are punished a as group in such a permanent way when the guilty party can be singled out. In the 1908s the station was once vibrant enough to get noted in Jazz Times. But most other references are dubious. A listing for the station from 2002 lists the station as 'Spanish.'  I doubt that was the whole picture. It's just a shame that Mr. Pozner and Mr. Hover get recorded when the founder of the station did not.

KBDG first signed on at 10 watts in 1975.  An article in the Mostesto Radio museum describes their first moments here. The station was founded by instructors Jack Heald and a senior student, Mark Douglas. That is the same Jack Heald that was on the air staff of 970 KBOX-AM, and also was the director of a student program on 1390 KTUR-AM in the mid 1960s. More here. Heald  had 20 years of experience before he built KBDG. The station still carried the call sign inspired by that high school's mascot, the bulldog. But the station didn't make another 20 years but at least you can say it stayed local.

MOD to FAT

Driving out of Modesto the first city of significance you hit is Turlock. Some might say Ceres is the first, but like Salida to the north, it has no media outlets of it's own and thus blends seamlessly into Modesto proper. Ceres does have 920 KVIN-AM "Vintage AM" a nostalgia station with a great brand, that only mentions Modesto in their ID... But Turlock, they have their own radio stations.

So I got another burrito from Jessica #4 and headed off South on Route 99. The first notable station is 91.9 KCSS comes out of out of California State U./Stanislaus. It runs 4oo watts on a 32 meter stick. They cover Turlock handily but no further north than Ceres, and peters out to the South long before Merced. I caught the Modern Rock Lunch box, a weekday 2 hour program of Franz Ferdinand, Kings of Leon etc. Ho-hum. The rest of their schedule is far better. they even run radio dramas at night. On 90.9 KBDG runs Assyrian news much like KBES. 100.5 KEFC-LP is also out of Turlock but runs more christian satcast programming...

In Merced is another LP station, KGDM-LP on 105.5 also satcasting Jesus. Loud and clear in Merced (even louder and clearer than even it's city of license) is 88.7 KMPO the Radio Bilingue station here. They were rocking some Mango Santamaria this evening proving their worth as public radio en espanol. I tried to stop at a truck stop, but they were closed at 6pm. On one side of the road was grapes, on the other side dates.
I stopped in Madera for a bite at Farnesi's. KVPR was playing no music at all but instead broadcasting a reading of Winnie the Poo. It was unexpected and amusing. The AM dial is overwhelmingly Spanish, but on 620 it switches over to Portuguese for 620 KIGS-AM and 900 KBIF-AM which seems to be all Asian. It's a shame that 90.7 KFSR only has a 20 meter antenna. Even in Merced, they're inaudible. Now at 10:20pm PST they're rocking some fine indie rock: Antlers, Cursive, and Racelegs... etc.

Fresno is also the home town of one of my favorite authors, William Saroyan. It's also home to Spinners records, and despite all my best efforts... I don't have time to stop there.