California Historical Radio Society in Fundraising Push to Buy KRE
I’m hoping that I can finally make it out to Berkeley to visit the historic KRE during the annual Radio Day by the Bay on July 21. I had no idea that the group behind this event, the California Historical Radio Society (CHRS), is in danger of losing its KRE home. Ben Fong-Torres’ mentioned in his Radio Waves column yesterday that CHRS is in the midst of a fundraising campaign so that it can purchase the KRE building in light of its landlord’s (Inner City Broadcasting) bankruptcy filing.
Inner City Broadcasting (via its subsidiary Urban Radio in the Bay Area) recently sold its FM license for Berkeley-based KBLX to Entercom and currently holds the license to KVTO 1400 AM, which broadcasts Chinese language programming from the KRE building. An application is on file with the FCC to transfer the KVTO-AM license to YMF Media (which recently purchased New York’s WBLS from Inner City).
So, in addition to gearing up for its big Radio Day by the Bay event, CHRS is also pitching for cash. They’ve already raised more than $563,000 out of a total goal of $750,000.
Radio Day by the Bay will be a great chance for radio enthusiasts to not only tour the historic KRE (built in 1937), but to also celebrate radio history. Some of the festivities will include a live radio play presented by The Broadcast Legends, an auction of vintage radios and radio equipment (see the catalog PDF here), live music, food, book signings, and a bake sale. The event takes place at KRE (601 Ashby Ave., Berkeley, CA) on Saturday, July 21, 2012 from 10am to 2pm.
