KLEF

Radio station in Alaska, United States

KLEF

* Anchorage, Alaska
* United States

Frequency| 98.1 MHz
Branding| KLEF Classical 98
Programming
Format| Classical music
Ownership
Owner| Chinook Concert Broadcasters
History

First air date

| September 16, 1988; 35 years ago (1988-09-16)

Call sign meaning

| Treble clef
Technical information[1]

Licensing authority

| FCC
Facility ID| 10839
Class| C1
ERP| 25,000 watts
HAAT| 9 meters
Links

Public license information

* Public file
* LMS

Website| klef98.com

KLEF (98.1 FM) is a commercial classical music radio station in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. It is owned by Chinook Concert Broadcasters and operates from studios located on 65th Avenue. It is one of the last commercial classical music stations operating in the United States.

## History[edit]

KLEF's transmitter is atop the Frontier Building in Anchorage

Northern Way Broadcasting, Inc., was granted a construction permit to build a new radio station on 98.1 MHz in Anchorage on December 15, 1986, after settling with two other applicants for the frequency.[2] However, before construction, Northern Way sold the permit in 1987 to Chinook Concert Broadcasters. Chinook Concert was owned by Rick Goodfellow along with seven California families and one in Sitka, Alaska, and the station was consulted by Ed Davis, one of the founders and owners of KDFC in San Francisco. Davis, intrigued by the idea of a classical music station in Alaska, contributed technical expertise and also recruited most of the investors. KLEF began broadcasting on September 16, 1988, with Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Variations on the Alaska Flag Song by local composer Paul Rosenthal as the first selections played.[3]

The launch of a new commercial classical music station was unusual in an era when such stations in other major markets were falling by the wayside. The KLEF call letters were illustrative of this. They had last been used at two such stations, one of which had been sold and changed formats: 94.5 FM in Houston, which had been KLEF from 1964 to 1986 before being sold, and 92.1 FM in nearby Seabrook, Texas, which used the designation when it picked up the format only to decide on new call letters upon a sale a year later.[4][5] The station was also a success with listeners, denting the ratings of public radio station KSKA.[6] By 1994, KLEF was tied for eighth in total audience in a 20-station market, but it was second in the affluent 35–64 demographic.[7]

Former logo

In 1998, Chinook Concert Broadcasters acquired KASH (1080 AM), an AM station spun off as a result of commercial station consolidation. It primarily broadcast business talk shows and BBC World Service output.[8] The money-losing AM station, which changed to a progressive talk format under the call sign KUDO, was sold in 2005 to a local of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.[9] In 2008, Goodfellow attributed KLEF's consistent success to the unavailability of satellite radio – which serves many classical music listeners in the Lower 48 but cannot be received in Alaska – and the lack of an easy listening-format station.[10] On KLEF's 25th anniversary in 2013, Goodfellow calculated that there were 55 commercial classical stations in the United States when the station signed on in 1988 but just three a quarter-century later: KLEF, WFMT in Chicago, and WRR in Dallas.[11]

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KLEF". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
2. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. December 1, 1986. p. 120. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
3. ^ Billington, Linda (September 25, 1988). "Californians come up with a classical music station for Alaskans". Anchorage Daily News. p. G1.
4. ^ Gonzales, J. R. (2022-03-11). "Today in Houston history, March 11, 1986: KLEF goes away...for now". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
5. ^ Parks, Louis B. (September 2, 1987). "Classical station changes call letters; series focuses on Bill of Rights". Houston Chronicle. p. Houston 3.
6. ^ Billington, Linda (June 22, 1989). "Budget woes bring changes to KSKA". Anchorage Daily News. p. G1.
7. ^ Dunham, Mike (June 5, 1994). "Artbeat". Anchorage Daily News. p. N2.
8. ^ Doogan, Mike (August 26, 2001). "Computers, and a lot of hard work, make classical station go". Anchorage Daily News. p. B1.
9. ^ Schell, Sarana (June 18, 2005). "Union is set to purchase left-leaning radio station". Anchorage Daily News. p. D1.
10. ^ Dunham, Mike (September 14, 2008). "KLEF marks 20 years of beautiful music". Anchorage Daily News. p. D1.
11. ^ Gerjevic, Frank (September 14, 2013). "Alaska Notebook: Happy 25th to KLEF". Anchorage Daily News.

## External links[edit]

* Official website
*   * KLEF in the FCC FM station database
* KLEF in Nielsen Audio's FM station database

* v
* t
* e

Radio stations in the Anchorage, Alaska, metropolitan area

By AM frequency|

* 550
* 590
* 650
* 700
* 750
* 1020
* 1080
* 1110
* 1430

By FM frequency|

* 87.71
* 88.1
* 88.5
* 88.7
* 88.9
* 89.3
* 89.5
* 90.3
* 91.1
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* 94.7
* 95.5
* 96.3
* 97.3
* 98.1
* 98.9
* 99.7
* 100.5
* 100.9
* 101.3
* 102.1
* 103.1
* 104.1
* 104.9
* 105.7
* 106.5
* 107.5

| LPFM|

* 106.1

|

Translators|

* 88.3
* 89.1
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* 92.5
* 95.1
* 96.7
* 100.1
* 103.7
* 104.5
* 107.1

NOAA Weather Radio
frequency|

* 162.55

Digital radio
by frequency & subchannel|

* 90.3-1
* 91.1-1
* 101.3-1
* 101.3-2

By call sign|

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* KEC43
* KEAG
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Defunct|

* KAUG (89.9 FM)

Radio stations in Southcentral Alaska
Anchorage
Kenai
Elsewhere in region
Southcentral Alaska

Other Alaska regions
The Bush
Fairbanks
Interior Alaska
Juneau
Southeast Alaska

See also
List of radio stations in Alaska
1 = Audio for TV channel 6 (KNIK-LD/Ind)

Authority control databases |

* VIAF

|

61°11′17″N 149°53′06″W﻿ / ﻿61.188°N 149.885°W﻿ / 61.188; -149.885
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