KBBY-FM

KBBY-FM
City Ventura, California
Broadcast area Oxnard-Ventura, California
Branding 95.1 KBBY
Slogan Today's Hits & Yesterday's Favorites
Frequency 95.1 MHz
First air date December 27, 1962 (as KUDU-FM)
Format Adult Contemporary
Christmas music Nov-Dec
ERP 12,500 watts
HAAT 267 metres (876 feet)
Class B
Facility ID 7745
Former callsigns KUDU-FM (1962-1973)
Owner Cumulus Media
(Cumulus Licensing LLC)
Webcast Listen Live
Listen Live via iHeart
Website http://www.951kbby.com/

KBBY-FM is a commercial radio station located in Ventura, California, broadcasting to the Oxnard-Ventura, California area on 95.1 FM. KBBY airs an adult contemporary music format.

History

The station went on the air in 1962 as KUDU-FM and was the first automated top-40 station in Southern California; KUDU FM became KBBY FM featuring a progressive rock in 1969. It was put on the air by John Hendrix and Ron Herron. Hendrix rocked KBBY hard until the Simi Valley Earthquake hit. Hendrix, a hippie, had his mind blown by the earthquake and headed back to Midwest. Before Hendrix left the Ventura Area, he recorded a live interview on KBBY FM with UCSB students in Isla Vista as they were burning the Bank of America down. Hendrix went on to co-found the first underground rock station in Oklahoma City. He was last scene in the Elysian Fields area of the Celebration of Life Rock Festival in Louisiana. No one has heard from him to this day. Ron Herron, an incredibly talented morning jock at KACY AM in Oxnard, stayed on with KBBY FM after Hendrix left the market. Ron Herron, known affectionately by the Ventura, Oxnard, and Santa Barbara audience as the MAD MORNING MERLIN OF ROCK continues on the air to this day in the Santa Barbara market. During that same era, KBBY FM also featured the Blues Cruise by Bill Bowker who used the name Bill Fox on the air. He was a musicologist of the blues and stayed with the station for many years. He was reputed to have fallen in love with a stunningly beautiful traffic girl named LaVonna. Another disc jockey at the station was named Rick Ripple. Rick was fired by station manager, Mike Thomas, after Rick passed out on the air. Numerous listeners were frantically calling the Ventura Country Highway Patrol reporting that a "disc jockey just died on the air." It is alleged that Rick Ripple moved to the Palm Springs area to do yard work.

KBBY serves as the Ventura County radio home for The John Tesh Radio Show weeknights, and for Backtrax USA 1980s and 1990s editions with Kid Kelly and Your Weekend with Jim Brickman on the weekends.

Formats

Top Forty 1962-68 as KUDU AM
Became KBBY FM 1969-1973 era as Progressive Rock, Top 40 (1973–1978)
Country (1978–1986)
Adult Contemporary (1986–2000), 95.1KBBY (2015-Present)
Hot AC B95.1 (2000-2015)

Holiday music

During the holiday times KBBY-FM starts playing holiday music during the holidays.

External links

Coordinates: 34°06′47″N 119°03′36″W / 34.113°N 119.060°W / 34.113; -119.060


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