KBEB

src: i.ytimg.com

KBEB (92.5 FM, 92.5 The Bull) is a radio station that is airing a country music format. Licensed to Sacramento, California, United States, it serves the Sacramento area. Owned by iHeartMedia, the station has studios in North Sacramento near Arden Fair Mall, and its transmitter is near Rio Linda.

Video KBEB

History

For many years, 92.5 FM was branded simply as "Y-92 FM, The Adult Choice" (with the call letters KGBY), which began February 26, 1991. The station was owned by AM-FM broadcasting from 1994-2000, and became part of the Clear Channel family after AM-FM and Clear Channel (now iHeartMedia) merged. In 2000, the station briefly added a heavy number of country-based current hits, including songs by Billy Gillman, Lee Ann Womack, Lonestar, and Faith Hill. In 2001, the station re-branded itself as "Y-92.5, Today's Hits & Yesterday's Favorites" (resurrecting the slogan from 1988 when Group W originated the slogan after dumping the KAER call letters.) The station began using the "Best Mix in Denver" (KIMN) jingle package (created by the legendary JAM Creative Productions, in Dallas, TX), including the famous "Y-92.5 KGBY, Sacramento" top-of-the-hour jingle.

The 2002-03 weekday line-up included Paul Robbins & Phil Cowan (mornings 5:30-9 -- KGBY's morning show since the 1980s), Mary Ellen Murphy (middays, 9-2 -- voicetracked from a Clear Channel Communications station in Grand Rapids, MI) and Dana Hess (afternoons, 2-7). Night programming varied, including a local love songs show in early 2003, and a brief stint using John Tesh's syndicated show in Fall 2003. On Friday, November 14, 2003, Y92.5 surprised listeners by switching to an All-Christmas format. For the next six weeks, listeners listened to a catalog of over 300 Christmas tunes, including staples such as Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" and John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (both songs were played once every four hours, on the hour) to unusual tracks such as "Light In The Stable" by Emmylou Harris. The station continued running six weeks of all Christmas music in the 2004 & 2005 holiday seasons; the number of weeks devoted to Christmas music was reduced to four in 2006.

In 2004, the station began making some major changes. In January, voicetracked Mary Ellen Murphy was dumped in favor of local voice Lori Sacco. The station experimented with "92 minutes of commercial-free music" at 8:30 each weekday morning to start the workday (this was in response to KYMX's "96 minutes of music" -- neither experiment lasted more than a few months). The legendary & famous "Y-92.5 KGBY, Sacramento" top-of-the-hour jingle was dumped in favor of a quicker Legal ID. By mid-2004, the station began evolving into a more "upbeat" mix of music. All but a few 1970s tracks were cut from the playlist, and more upbeat 80s, 90s and current/recurrent tracks were added. In late 2004, the station embraced Clear Channel's "Less is More" initiative, and began cutting commercial times from 1:00 to :30. Jingles were also shortened to "Y-92.5 FM" from the original "Today's Hits & Yesterday's Favorites, Y-92.5 FM". In 2005, the station experimented with "Extra Wide Variety" weekends, adding hundreds of unusual songs to its playlist between 3pm Friday and 5am Monday. This was in response to the Jack-FM variety rock phenomena. 2005 also saw the end of "Paul & Phil in the Morning" -- with Phil Cowan exiting and the show rebranded simply as "Paul Robbins in the Morning." Along with this change, a new jingle package was created for the station--putting an end to "Today's Hits & Yesterday's Favorites" in favor of their new slogan, "Sacramento's Best Music Mix, Y-92.5 FM" Further changes would come in early 2007, when afternoon host Dana Hess was fired. The station replaced him by placing an automated Lyman James in the time slot returning to its earlier practice of voicetracking. James currently hosts a live show on Wichita, Kansas' B98fm which airs between 10am and noon. He also holds the position of Operations Manager for iHeartMedia (as Clear Channel was renamed in September 2014).

At the beginning, the station's playlist emphasized many upbeat songs, including "Nothing Left To Lose" by Mat Kearney and "Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day. Older titles were often rhythmic (akin to those played on the Movin' stations), and include such songs as "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire, and "I Can't Wait" by Nu-Shooz. But on December 19, 2007, word leaked that KGBY would shift directions to Adult Top 40 and become "My 925," this time with a heavy emphasis on current-based Hot AC product. This news was confirmed on December 21, 2007 when long time morning host Paul Robbins announced that the Y92 morning show would end after twenty years on the air. KGBY continued to play non-stop Christmas music (as was their yearly tradition) until December 26 [2007] at 6 am when the format change officially took place.

On December 1, 2011 at Midnight, after playing "Gives You Hell" by The All-American Rejects, KGBY began simulcasting news/talk-formatted KFBK 1530 AM under the KFBK-FM calls. The move left CBS Radio's KZZO as the sole hot AC station in Sacramento, but the rivalry of hot AC resumed after Entercom dropped rhythmic adult contemporary for hot adult contemporary on KBZC the following week.

After 2 years with News/Talk, Clear Channel decided to switch the frequencies of KFBK-FM and KHLX (at 93.1) on December 26, 2013, with KHLX, which previously had a Classic Hits format, moving to 92.5 while KFBK-FM took over the 93.1 signal. Both stations became a simulcast of KFBK-AM on a temporary basis as Clear Channel prepared to launch a new format for the 92.5 signal.

On January 10, 2014 at 5 PM, KHLX split from its simulcast with KFBK-FM and changed their format to country, branded as "B92.5". The first song on B92.5 was The Only Way I Know by Jason Aldean. Soon after, KHLX changed its callsign to KBEB to match it's "B" branding.

On December 30, 2016 KBEB rebranded as "92.5 The Bull", with no other changes planned at this time. The Bull launched with 92.5 hours of music, commercial-free.

Maps KBEB

KBEB-HD2

KFBK-FM's HD2 subcarrier formerly offered the LGBT-targeted Pride Radio format, using music from iHeartMedia's Premium Choice service. It had originally featured music from the 1980s from 2006 to 2007 when it switched to Pride Radio, and with the station's change to a simlulcast of its AM clustermate it began using the Country Premium Choice service shortly after. In January 2014 KHLX-HD2 switched to a simulcast of news/talk-formatted KFBK-FM 93.1.