KVCR (FM)


KVCR is an FM non-commercial public radio station in located San Bernardino, California, broadcasting to the Riverside-San Bernardino-Inland Empire area. It is owned by the San Bernardino Community College District, along with Channel 24 KVCR-DT. KVCR asks for donations from its listeners, especially during fundraisers, usually held for a week, several times per year.
KVCR's radio format airs news/talk syndicated programming from National Public Radio, Public Radio International and American Public Media, branded as "NPR 91.9". KVCR's studios are located on the San Bernardino Valley College campus on North Mt. Vernon Avenue in San Bernardino, and its transmitter is located atop Box Springs Mountain.

History

In December 1953, the station first signed on as KRSB. KRSB was a locally oriented station offering programs in the public good, educational programs, multicultural shows, classical music, jazz and folk music. The call sign was changed in the late 1950s to KVCR which stands for Valley College Radio. In 1962, it added a public TV station, KVCR-TV 24, which affiliated with PBS.
KVCR became a network affiliate of NPR in the spring of 1970. A year later, KVCR was among the 80 stations in the U.S., five of them in California, to air the first edition of All Things Considered. Prior to July 2005, KVCR was branded as Inland Public Radio airing a mix of news along with classical music syndicated from Classical 24 during midday hours, evenings and weekends. Over time, the classical music programming was dropped as news/talk programming proved to be a bigger draw during fundraisers.
KVCR is the primary affiliate for National Public Radio, Public Radio International and American Public Media in the Riverside/San Bernardino market.
Until the 2007 season, KVCR carried most of the games of the Inland Empire 66ers, a minor-league baseball team in the California League. Few NPR stations air minor league baseball.
In March 2013, when Talk of the Nation, which KVCR aired on tape-delay, was cancelled by NPR, KVCR made adjustments to its daytime schedule, adding a second hour of Here and Now at 10am, and clearing Day to Day for broadcast in the afternoon. Fresh Air was moved to 3pm, leading into All Things Considered. KVCR's afternoon schedule is now nearly identical to that of KCRW in Santa Monica, the exceptions being local news breaks.

Programming

National programming originating from KVCR includes American Parlor Songbook, hosted by JP Houston.