AM 890 Homer Alaska
Where
the Sound Meets The
Sea
Home
KBBI History
Kachemak Bay Broadcasting, Inc., was incorporated as a nonprofit in
1976. Bev Munro, a local lover of public radio, organized a band of
energetic folks to bring public radio to Kachemak Bay. The Alaska
Public
Broadcasting Commission (APBC) provided seed money. With the labor of
many volunteers and donated materials, a small transmitter shack was
built on the spit. A wire was strung across Spit Road and KBBI was
born. KBBI signed on the air August 4, 1979, the first radio station in
Homer at 1250 on the AM dial. 
Although most public radio stations are FM, KBBI chose to be an AM
station because of the mountainous terrain and the need for people on
the water to hear our marine weather forecasts. Most people associate
AM
with low fidelity but, in reality, AM has the same frequency response
as FM. The main difference is that stereo AM is not in common use and
our AM receivers aren't built to the same specifications as FM.
Most of KBBI's first ten years were spent in a building that had no
running water, but was situated in a beautiful setting. At that time,
we broadcast our signal from the old FAA tower next to the studio. It
beamed our programming to communities in Kachemak Bay, across Cook
Inlet, down to Kodiak Island and as far north as Ninilchik.
Later the station acquired a new transmitter, land and emergency
generator so that KBBI could move its frequency from 1250 AM to 890 in
order to reach further. The result was a new building and a new
location on Kachemak Way. With the acquisition of a studio generator,
KBBI became a reliable source of information whenever an emergency
arises, free from the interruptions that power outages bring.
In 2004, KBBI celebrated 25 years of listener supported public radio.
It remains the single-most listened to radio station in the area for
the
range of programming it offers. Built from an early vision for quality
programming, KBBI AM 890 continues to grow as a lifeline and a source
of
entertainment for the people of the Kachemak Bay area - and beyond.
©2005
Kachemak Bay Broadcasting, Inc.
3913
Kachemak Way, Homer Alaska 99603
907.235.7721
- Fax 907-235-2357
General information e-mail dorle at KBBI dot ORG
9/29/05 by Jonathan Coke.