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KUFX (98.5 FM broadcasting) is a classic rock radio station licensed to San Jose, California. Its studios are located along Junipero Serra Boulevard in Daly City, and the transmitter is located on Blackberry Hill above Los Gatos.
KUFX is owned by Salt Lake City-based Bonneville International. It was previously operated by Entercom; as part of its merger with CBS Radio, the company was required to divest four of its radio stations in San Francisco in order stay within ownership caps. KUFX was placed in a trust and its operations taken over by Bonneville under a local marketing agreement; the company acquired the station in 2018.
On January 24, 2011, KUFX began simulcasting on KUZX 102.1 MHz in San Francisco. This simulcast switched to 102.1-HD2 on August 1, 2014; 102.1 now broadcasts as KRBQ. HD Radio Guide for San Jose
KUFX is the official radio station for the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League. In a 2006 column, a writer for the San Jose Mercury News noted that he could only listen to a broadcast of a Stanley Cup playoff game on KUFX since his cable company did not carry OLN (later Versus, now NBC Sports Network), which had exclusive television rights to the game. That situation, he noted, provided an ironic twist to him living in the technology-rich Silicon Valley.
The morning show was hosted by Greg Kihn, a musician who had a few Top 40 hit songs in the 1980s, until September 14, 2012.
KFOX also holds a Last Band Standing competition every year, between bands that play classic rock cover songs. The three categories of competition include Cover Bands, Tribute Bands, and Under 18 Bands. The past overall winners are Aja Vu in 2004 (A Steely Dan tribute band and two-time winner of its category), The Strobe in 2005 (An Under 18 band from Leigh High School who specializes with Peter Frampton songs), and last years winner, Sage (a cover band).
In June 1997, KUFX, KBAY, and KBRG were involved in a three-way frequency swap, which saw KUFX moving from 94.5 to 104.9, and later to 98.5 FM. KBAY moved to 94.5, and KBRG got the coveted 100.3 signal and studios. 104.9 eventually became KCNL.
Owner iHeartMedia placed the station's assets, along with those of KSJO and KCNL, into an entity called the Aloha Station Trust on August 4, 2008 in order to seek a buyer for the station. This was due to Clear Channel being above the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ownership limits. These limits were imposed when Clear Channel was officially taken private by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners on July 30, 2008.
On January 11, 2011, Entercom Communications agreed to purchase KUFX, and on January 18, Entercom announced an agreement for the call sign and intellectual property of the company's KDFC in San Francisco and their classical music programming (but not the frequency) to be acquired by the University of Southern California's Classical Public Radio Network. That move allowed them to simulcast KUFX's programming on the 102.1 MHz frequency, as KUFX's main signal on 98.5 only provides grade B coverage of San Francisco. This simulcast switched to 102.1-HD2 on August 1, 2014, when KUZX flipped to rhythmic AC as KRBQ.
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced that it would merge with Entercom. To comply with FCC ownership limits, it was announced that KUFX, along with sister stations KBLX and KOIT, CBS-owned KMVQ, and a cluster in Sacramento, would be divested. Under a local marketing agreement, Bonneville assumed operations of the stations following the completion of the merger on November 17. On August 3, 2018, Bonneville announced that it would acquire all of the divested Entercom stations it had been operating for $141 million; the sale was completed on September 21, 2018.
In 2020, KUFX, along with the other Bonneville stations, moved their studios from the SoMa district in San Francisco into a newly-built studio along Junipero Serra Boulevard in Daly City.
On May 10, 2024 KUFX-HD2 changed their format from rock to bilingual soft adult contemporary, branded as "Bay Area Magic". Bonneville Brings Bilingual Magic to HD in the Bay Area Radioinsight - May 10, 2024
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