Berkeley's KBLX Swallowed by Chain

Berkeley's last black-owned commercial radio station has been sold to a chain.

The Pennsylvania-based Entercom bought the bankrupt KBLX, known for years as "The Quiet Storm," and fired longtime morning host Kevin Brown.

On June 21, the FCC approved the assignment of the radio license for Berkeley-based KBLX 102.9 FM from the bankrupt Inner City Broadcasting‘s subsidiary Urban Radio III to Entercom.

Entercom took control of the frequency on May 1 under a lease agreement, and by May 7, had made several programming changes, including replacing KBLX’s local morning show with the syndicated Steve Harvey Morning Show. By mid-June, Entercom had installed programming director Stacy Cunningham to replace Brown, Jennifer Waits writes in Radio Survivor.  

Listeners lamenting the loss of a station aimed at African-American audiences, launched a Change.org petition to return Brown to his post.

Follow us on Twitter | "Like" Berkeley Patch on Facebook | Get Free Berkeley Patch Newsletters | Blog on Patch.