KCAA

Infobox Radio Station


name = KCAA
airdate = 2000
frequency = 1050 (kHz)
city = Loma Linda, California
area = Riverside-San Bernardino
format = Talk
branding = 1050 KCAA
slogan =
owner = Broadcast Management Services
callsign_meaning = Keeping CAlifornia Aware
power = 1,400 watts (Day)
35 watts (Night)
erp =
class = D
website = [http://www.kcaaradio.com/ www.kcaaradio.com]

KCAA is a commercial radio station located in Loma Linda, California, broadcasting to the Riverside-San Bernardino, California area on 1050 AM. KCAA airs talk and brokered programming.

KCAA's most popular program was Imus in the Morning, which was played on a three-hour delay. At the time, it was the only outlet in Southern California to broadcast Imus' show.

KCAA gained notoriety when it began rebroadcasting recent episodes of the Imus program in the days immediately after it had been canceled by CBS Radio. However, CBS Radio sued KCAA, claiming that it has violated copyright restrictions. [http://entertainment.netster.com/story.asp?id=D8OL2GEO0] A settlement was reached between the two parties, when it was announced that the Imus reruns would end Friday, April 27. The station revealed that they were not selling advertising during the reruns. [http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_5749024?nclick_check=1]

By the time Imus returned to the air via ABC Radio/Citadel Broadcasting, local morning host Dennis Baxter, who had previously hosted the local news breaks during Imus, had established himself as the station's morning host. KCAA CEO Fred Lundgren considered bringing back Imus in a live time slot (3-6 AM on the West Coast, currently held by Brother Stair) but found ABC's terms, which included rights fees, unacceptable, and refused to pick up the show again. (Lundgren felt that his station, which had stuck by Imus through the controversy, deserved special treatment.) ABC owned and operated station KABC is now the Southern California home of the Imus program; the delayed broadcast is now split between WTAN and KSRO.

KCAA had carried programming from Air America Radio, one hour each per weekday of Al Franken and Randi Rhodes, from the time of its founding. The programming disappeared during the winter of 2006-07 because of the limited daytime hours and the affiliation was completely dropped in April 2007. In addition, a variety of paid programming and unusual syndicated fare (such as Barry W. Lynn and Alex Jones) air on KCAA, Currently, the most "mainstream" hosts heard on KCAA are progressive talker Ed Schultz and populist advocate Lou Dobbs.

KCAA has a fair amount of local programming. For many years, the station served as the flagship for "Talk Back", the talk radio program hosted by George Putnam; Putnam, at the time the oldest syndicated talk show host in the United States, died in September 2008 at the age of 94. The station also signed Roseanne Barr to host a daily show on the station; Barr left the show after a few months and is now in the rotation at Air America. The station also has its own local morning program, "The Dennis Baxter Show," which moved to Imus's old slot after several months in midmorning. Barb Stanton, best known for being fired from KIXW("Talk 960") in Victorville after making accusations against Asian-Americans in the aftermath of EastWest Bank's purchase of Desert Community Bank, and for beseeching listeners to withdraw their funds from the bank, was hired by KCAA in December 2007.

The station's slogan is "The station that leaves no listener behind." The station relies on Solutions Broadcast Group to conduct listener surveys because KCAA's CEO, Fred Lundgren, refuses to accept Arbitron's data; Arbitron does not detect any measurable listening audience for the station, a common complaint among small independent AM stations. As of April 24, 2007, KCAA broadcasts 24 hours per day, with a power of 1,400 watts daytime and 35 watts at night. Prior to April 24, the station operated as a daytime-only station. In March 2008, KCAA was granted a permit to increase wattage to 10,000 watts. When the station upgrade is complete, the signal is expected to reach over 12 million people by penetrating well into the Los Angeles city proper.

In 2008, the station added live play-by-play of the Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino, a team in the California League of Minor League Baseball. It debuted on KCAA April 3, when the 66ers hosted the Visalia Oaks. [http://www.ie66ers.com/66ers/archive/index.html?article_id=666]

External links

* [http://www.kcaaradio.com/ KCAA Official Website]
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