KBIF

The Radio Sanger Company, formed by four prominent local farmers,{{r|start}} was granted a construction permit by the Federal Communications Commission on March 12, 1947. It was given a construction permit to build a 1,000-watt, daytime-only radio station to serve nearby Sanger on 900 kHz.{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=31685 |title= History Cards for KBIF|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}} (Guide to reading History Cards) The station was constructed at Centerville.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81087513/|accessdate=July 8, 2021|title=Sanger Radio Station Begun|date=May 15, 1947|page=3|work=Reedley Exponent}} KSGN signed on September 8, 1947.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81087571/|work=Reedley Exponent|title=Sanger Radio Now on the Air|page=5|date=October 2, 1947|accessdate=July 8, 2021}}

The station was sold for the first time in 1950 to a group led by Earl J. Fenston, a Fresno attorney; by this time, it had established satellite studios at Fresno's Sequoia Hotel.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81087667/|accessdate=July 8, 2021|date=November 16, 1950|title=Fenston Buys Radio KSGN|page=12-A|work=The Fresno Bee}} KSGN became KSJV on Easter Sunday 1951, a decision undertaken to reduce confusion with other local stations with similar call signs.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81087694/|date=March 22, 1951|title=KSGN to Be KSJV Sunday|accessdate=July 8, 2021|work=Reedley Exponent|page=8}} Fenston expanded his media holdings when he bought The Hanford Sentinel and KNGS radio in Hanford in 1952.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81087743/|accessdate=July 8, 2021|title=Hanford Paper, Radio Station Are Sold To Fresnan|page=1|date=June 30, 1952|work=The Fresno Bee}} The FCC granted the Hanford radio station's sale on the condition that Fenston divest himself of KSJV in Sanger, prompting him to sell it to his son.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81087780/father-son-split-ownership-in-radio-sta/|accessdate=July 8, 2021|date=September 26, 1952|title=Father, Son Split Ownership In Radio Stations|page=2-B|work=The Fresno Bee}}

File:2009-0725-CA-Fresno-WarnorsTheatre.jpg) Theatre in Fresno housed KBIF's offices in the first year after John Poole bought the station]] In the end, the Fenstons decided to sell KSJV outright to another interest: John H. Poole, who owned radio station KBIG in Los Angeles and had already applied to start a television station on channel 53 in Fresno.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81087801/|accessdate=July 8, 2021|date=November 19, 1952|page=1|work=The Hanford Sentinel|title=New Sentinel Owner Sells Sanger Station}} Foreign-language programs were removed from the schedule, and KBIG changed its call letters to KBIF at the start of April 1953, after having received permission two months prior.{{r|hc}}{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81087866/|accessdate=July 8, 2021|page=8|work=Visalia Times-Delta|title=Sanger Station Changes Letters|date=April 2, 1953}} The station also moved all offices from Centerville to Fresno in the Warner Theatre{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81087905/radio-station-moves-offices-from-centerv/|title=Radio Station Moves Offices From Centerville|page=26-D|work=The Fresno Bee|date=April 5, 1953|accessdate=July 8, 2021}} and then to another site in town.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81088140/five-firms-lease-new-premises/|accessdate=July 8, 2021|page=36-D|date=March 14, 1954|work=The Fresno Bee|title=Five Firms Lease New Premises}}

Poole sought to move KBIF closer to Fresno and secured approval to have the community of license changed accordingly, even as Poole's Fresno TV station, KBID, lasted just five months after failing to secure a network affiliation.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81088177/|accessdate=July 8, 2021|date=July 15, 1953|page=1-A|title=KBID Suspends TV Broadcasts, Radio Continues|work=The Fresno Bee}} The move was completed in December 1954, when KBIF's new transmitter at North and Fowler avenues was activated and the station relocated its studios to the Hotel Californian.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81088211/|accessdate=July 8, 2021|date=November 17, 1954|title=Radio KBIF Will Move Studios|page=14-B|work=The Fresno Bee}}{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81088240/kbif-station-moves-to-fresno/|accessdate=July 8, 2021|title=KBIF Station Moves To Fresno|date=December 30, 1954|work=The Fresno Bee|page=6-B}}

Poole divested a majority stake in KBIF in 1957 to David Harris and Ethan Bernstein, two employees of Fresno station KMJ;{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81088266/pair-pays-40800-for-interest-in-kbif/|accessdate=July 8, 2021|page=2-A|title=Pair Pays $40,800 For Interest In KBIF|date=March 3, 1957|work=The Fresno Bee}} Bernstein then bought out Harris two years later.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81088293/|accessdate=July 8, 2021|date=April 28, 1959|page=2-A|work=The Fresno Bee|title=Ethan Bernstein Buys Control Of Radio KBIF}}

Bernstein and Poole sold KBIF in 1961 to Norwood Patterson, who owned San Francisco's KSAN radio.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81088305/radio-kbif-sale-to-bay-man-is-announced/|accessdate=July 9, 2021|date=October 6, 1961|title=Radio KBIF Sale To Bay Man Is Announced|work=The Fresno Bee|page=1-C}} The sale reunited KBIF with a planned television station, as Patterson held a construction permit for KICU-TV, a new television station to be licensed to Visalia.{{r|bayman}} Once the sale closed in February 1962, it also brought a change in programming to religious fare.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81088368/|title=KBIF Is Sold; Will Switch Program Format|page=32-F|work=The Fresno Bee|date=February 11, 1962|accessdate=July 9, 2021}} The new manager was Norwood's brother-in-law Richard Bott,{{r|switch}} who months later moved to Kansas City and started what became the Bott Radio Network.{{Cite magazine |last=Partney Dascher |first=Patricia |date=April 2007 |title=Dick and Sherley Bott – The Humble Beginnings of Bott Radio Network |url=https://soulmagazine.org/dick-shirley-bott-humble-beginnings-of-bott-radio-network/ |magazine=Soul |language=en-US |access-date=July 9, 2021}}

In later years, Norwood's son, Norwood "Jim" Patterson, Jr., became KBIF's manager.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81088478/|accessdate=July 9, 2021|date=December 12, 1969|title=Radio Station Owner Faces US Tax Charges|work=The Fresno Bee|page=1-C}} However, his father committed a crime that would ultimately lead to a change in control. Beginning in 1965, Patterson withheld taxes from his employees without depositing the money into a trust, as required by law; according to the indictment, he owed the federal government $141,000 in taxes and penalties,{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81088495/radio-station-owner-awaits-tax-sentencin/|accessdate=July 9, 2021|title=Radio Station Owner Awaits Tax Sentencing|work=The Fresno Bee|page=2-D|date=October 20, 1970}} He was convicted on 16 charges the next year{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81088626/|accessdate=July 9, 2021|work=The Fresno Bee|agency=UPI|page=B10|title=Patterson Is Found Guilty In Tax Case|date=August 28, 1971}} and, after two attempted appeals, served a 10-month jail sentence beginning in 1973.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81088644/|accessdate=July 9, 2021|date=April 3, 1973|title=KBIF Owner Will Begin Tax Term|page=D4|work=The Fresno Bee}}

As a result of the jail sentence and financial woes, KBIF was placed into receivership in 1973.{{r|hc}} The transfer caused Jim Patterson to lose his job at KBIF; in 1975, he would buy KIRV and relaunch it as a Christian station, later becoming a two-term mayor of Fresno and member of the California State Assembly.{{cite news|pages=A1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81086298/ A12], [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81086240/ A13], [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81086278/ A14]|work=The Fresno Bee|date=January 5, 1997|accessdate=July 9, 2021|title=Jim Patterson: I Am the Mayor: Leader of city's new era faces challenges, doubts|first1=Doug|last1=Hoagland|first2=Anne|last2=Dudley Ellis|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81086320/jim-patterson-i-am-the-mayor-leader-of/}}

Cascade Broadcasting Corporation acquired KBIF in 1975, two years after the receivership began.{{r|hc}} Cascade, based in Portland, also owned a Christian station in New Orleans and a Spanish-language station in San Jose; in 1986, KBIF began broadcasting after sunset for the first time.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81086148/|pages=A10, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81086189/ A11]|date=May 3, 1986|work=The Fresno Bee|first=Doug|last=Hoagland|title=Valley airwaves alive as listeners tune into Jesus|accessdate=July 8, 2021}} Programs for specific ethnic groups became more prevalent on the Christian station's schedule. The first Punjabi shows began airing in 1987;{{r|capital}} in the early 1990s, programs in Hmong began on KBIF, serving a community that had grown to 56,000 people by 2001.{{cite news|title=A niche and a need|accessdate=July 9, 2021|first=Nzong|last=Xiong|work=The Fresno Bee|pages=E1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81088760/ E2]|date=March 13, 2001|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81088744/a-niche-and-a-need/}} The station developed an eclectic lineup of brokered religious and ethnic talk programs.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81088789/|pages=E1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81088781/ E4]|accessdate=July 9, 2021|date=February 20, 2001|title=Lots of talk|first=Rick|last=Bentley|work=The Fresno Bee}}

In 1997, Cascade sold KBIF to Gore-Overgaard Broadcasting.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-M-Street/M-Street-Journal/M-Street-1997-10.pdf#page=16|accessdate=July 9, 2021|work=M Street Journal|page=6|date=October 8, 1997|title=Proposed Station Transfers}} The new owners continued and expanded the ethnic formats, with all weekend hours given over to Punjabi, Hindi Urdu output in 2003.{{r|capital}}

In July 2024, Overgaard Broadcasting sold KBIF to Punjabi American Media. Harjot Khalsa and Balwinder Kaur Khalsa acquired the station’s tower site.{{cite web |title=STATION SALES WEEK OF 7/12 |url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/274761/station-sales-week-of-7-12-2/ |website=Radio Insight |access-date=16 July 2024 |date=July 12, 2024}}

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{{AM station data|9226|KBIF}}

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{{Fresno Radio}}

BIF

Category:1947 establishments in California

Category:Radio stations established in 1947

Category:Punjabi-language radio stations

Category:Hmong-American culture in California