Information AboutKalw |
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KALW is a public radio station based in San Francisco, California , USA. It is a FM Radio signal broadcast over the immediate San Francisco Bay Area at 91.7 MHz. In addition, KALW is Webcast with live Streaming Audio available. KALW is operated by the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) and is a National Public Radio affiliate, carrying content from NPR, Minnesota Public Radio , Public Radio International and the BBC World Service . In addition, KALW produces its own local music and interview shows, and is the flagship station for '' West Coast Live '', a two-hour live variety program broadcast on Saturday mornings. As KALW is operated by the San Francisco Unified School District, it also carries broadcasts of the monthly SFUSD Board meetings and daily listings of school lunch menus, with said menus occasionally read by celebrities who have come to the station for interview shows. The KALW studios are located at Phillip And Sala Burton Academic High School off Mansell Avenue in the City. KALW is the oldest FM station west of the Mississippi, having launched as an experimental station for a demonstration exhibit by owner General Electric at San Francisco's world's fair at Treasure Island, CA in 1939-40. The station was licensed to the SFUSD in April 1941 when it was given to the district by GE. KALW originally operated on 45.1 MHz in the old FM band, which was re-assigned to police and fire departments after World War II. KALW's original transmitter was a modified GE medical diathermy machine. While the original transmitter had not been used since the switch to the modern FM band in the late 1940s, it was still located at John O'Connell Technical High School until the school was demolished in the mid-1990s. KALW was instrumental in helping KQED television sign on the air in the 1950s as one of the first "educational" non-commercial TV stations in the country, by providing technical training, studio space, and engineering advice to the KQED founding staff. During the 1970's and 80's KALW also aired live coverage of SFUSD sporting events, the last such regular live coverage of high school sports in San Francisco broadcasting. LEGAL TROUBLES In 1997 a group of full and part time KALW employees filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission to deny the renewal of KALW’s broadcast license, alleging that station management had covered up violations of hiring rules and had lied about required record keeping. The case was inactive for several years and according to KALW's website the group that filed the petition, known as Golden Gate Public Radio, went defunct. {Link without Title} In July of 2004 the FCC resurrected the case. While it issued only a warning to KALW about employment practices, more significantly, the FCC decided that allegations of lying were supported by sufficient evidence to warrant hearings. {Link without Title} . The hearings concluded in June of 2005. FCC Chief Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel ruled in April 2006 to grant a two-year license renewal for KALW while shrinking a fine for public file violations from $300,000 to just $10,000. In its defense to the FCC, KALW management showed evidence of its meritorious service to the community. The school district also argued for a hardship case, saying it was incapable of paying the $10,000 fine. (For instance, local school programs for children have recently been cut from the district's budget.) The judge disagreed with that assertion, however, and the SFUSD has two years to pay the fine. {Link without Title} EXTERNAL LINKS |
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