KBDS
radio station in Taft—Bakersfield, California
KBDS (103.9 FM) is a radio station licensed to Taft, California, United States. It is owned by Farmworker Educational Radio (through licensee Chavez Radio Group), which itself is owned by the Cesar Chavez Foundation. The station is operated by SheMogul Media, which also owns KVPM. KBDS airs an urban contemporary and hip-hop format.
The studios are in southwest Bakersfield, and its transmitter is in Taft.
History
Adult standards
This station was granted its original construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission on January 18, 1985. The new station was assigned the call letters KTLM by the FCC on December 3, 1985. During that time, the station featured an adult standards and big band format, playing Swing Era music from the 1930s and 1940s.
In March 1988, Louise E. Mann's Mann Broadcasting Company reached an agreement to transfer the permit for this station to The Great Southwest Broadcasting Company. The deal was approved by the FCC on April 27, 1988, and the transaction was consummated on September 13, 1988.
AC and country
KTLM received its broadcast license from the FCC on August 22, 1989.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “KBDS” as radio station in Taft—Bakersfield, California. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as radio station in Taft—Bakersfield, California. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6325730. Authority coordinates are 35.118, -119.459. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1985, 1988 and 1989.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “KBDS”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow KBDS primary sources, KBDS archive and KBDS research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “KBDS”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “KBDS” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.