A 14-year-old engagement will turn into wedded bliss when San Francisco’s KDFC and Los Angeles’ KUSC become one main channel this summer under the name of Classical California.
“We technically merged KDFC and KUSC 14 years ago,” KDFC President Bill Lueth told SF Classical Voice — on Valentine’s Day, as it happened. “Over time, we’ve been streamlining our operations to do more and do it more efficiently.”
When KDFC restructured as a nonprofit in 2011, the station came under the ownership of the USC Radio Group. The Classical California name may have been launched in 2022, but KDFC and KUSC still maintained separate channels.
No longer. Lueth cited the two stations’ signals in San Francisco, Napa, San Jose, Ukiah, Los Angeles, Monterey, Palm Springs, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura — with more locations to be added. “We’ve already been serving a broad audience, both on air and online. Now, we’re taking the final step in bringing everything together under one unified brand — Classical California.”
KUSC is the most listened-to classical public radio station in the U.S.; each week, KDFC reaches over 250,000 listeners on the radio, 160,000 listeners through digital devices.
The two stations started working on the concept of Classical California three years ago. Now, in about three months, Lueth explained, “instead of maintaining two separate audio feeds from L.A. and S.F. with nearly identical programming and announcers, we’re converting it into one main channel. The same great programming, the same beloved hosts — just alternating between our L.A. and S.F. studios.
“Our local broadcast centers remain, and our commitment to the arts communities in our hub cities stays strong. But this transition allows us to celebrate classical music across the state as one unified brand and one website, making it easier for audiences to connect with us.”
The two stations are the only listener-supported operation in California that plays classical music 24/7. The hope is for further audience-building with one name instead of multiple station call letters.
The recent devastating wildfires in Los Angeles impacted KUSC’s operations, the station having posted the following message (which was still online as late as last week):
“Due to the Eaton Fire, 91.5 FM is broadcasting at reduced power. As a result, you may notice a weaker signal in some areas. Our engineers are closely monitoring the situation and hope to restore full power as soon as possible.”
