Broadcast Coverage Maps

FM Stations - Detail         FM Stations - Printable

AM Stations - Detail         AM Stations - Printable

FM Stations
KSOR		90.1	Ashland		KSYD	N	92.1	Reedsport
KSMF		89.1	Ashland		KWAX		91.1	Eugene
KSRG	N	88.3	Ashland		KWVZ	N	91.5	Florence
KSBA		88.5	Coos Bay		KWRX	N	88.5	Redmond
KLMF	N	88.5	Klamath Falls		KMHD	#	89.1	Gresham
KSKF		90.9	Klamath Falls		KBOO		90.7	Portland
KOOZ	N	94.1	Myrtle Point		KBPS		89.9	Portland
KSRS	N	91.5	Roseburg		KQHR	N	90.1	Hood River
KMUN		91.9	Astoria		KOPB		91.5	Portland
KLCC		89.7	Eugene		KOAB		91.3	Bend
KLFO	N	88.1	Florence		KOAP		88.7	Lakeview
KLCO	N	90.5	Newport		KRBM		90.9	Pendleton
KLFR	N	89.1	Reedsport		KWWS1	N	89.7	Walla Walla, WA
KRVM	#	91.9	Eugene					(Umatilla Cty, OR)
KAVE	#	92.1	Oakridge		KWSO		91.9	Warm Springs
AM Stations
KOAC		550	Corvallis		KRVM2	N	1280	Eugene
KBPS		1450	Portland		KAGI	N	930	Grants Pass
KSJK	N	1230	Talent		KTBR	N	950	Roseburg

¹ Operated by KWSU(AM), Pullman, WA.
² Licensed to School District 4J Lane County, Eugene, OR. Operated by KSJK, Talent, OR.   

General Comments

Public radio stations serving Oregon are licensed to four non‑profit community organizations, two school districts, two community colleges, one university and a Native American tribal organization.  KOPB and its repeater stations are operated by an organization that also provides public television to most of the state.  Seven of the ten public broadcasters are headquartered in the Willamette Valley, which runs from Eugene in Lane County north to Portland at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers.  Most Oregon public broadcasters extend their service through repeaters and translators and many of the largest population centers in the state are served by multiple stations.  Oregon is served by six public AM stations, the most of any state other than Alaska.

FM Service

The 1989 PTFP study reported 14 public FM stations in Oregon.  Over the past 15 years, the state's public broadcasters have made considerable progress in extending service throughout the state by constructing twelve FM stations.  Six of the new stations provide first service to communities along the Oregon coast; three of these six were built by KLCC.  Other new stations were built to provide improved service to Hood River along the Columbia River and Redmond east of the Cascade Mountains.  KSOR, operating as Jefferson Public Radio (JPR), built stations for improved program service in Roseburg, Ashland and Klamath Falls.  Most of the 30 new translators that have been built since 1989 are also located on the Pacific coast or near interior cities east of the Cascade Mountains.  Though recordkeeping is incomplete, it appears that in some cases a new station replaced one or more translators in order to improve coverage reliability and to protect future service through the use of a protected frequency.   A list of the translators now serving Oregon is included at the end of this narrative.

KWSU Pullman, Washington, erected one repeater station just inside the state of Oregon to serve the Washington state border community of Walla Walla.  Three stations that were broadcasting in 1989 but did not meet criteria for inclusion in the study at that time^­__KRVM Eugene, KAVE Oakridge and KMHD Gresham -- now meet criteria for inclusion in this coverage study and are indicated by the # symbol on the station list.

Many communities in Oregon receive a signal from more than one public radio provider. In some cases, the services are from different operators or as in the case of KSOR, separate and distinct services are provided by a single operator.

Oregon has increased the percentage of population receiving a public radio signal from 89% (in 1989) to 95.3% currently.  The number of people who do not receive public radio decreased from 296,000 in 1989 to 161,548.

AM Service

Public broadcasters operate six AM stations within Oregon.  KBPS(AM) 1450 kHz Portland broadcasting at 1 kW daytime and nighttime using non-directional day and night signal patterns is operated by KBPS‑FM.  KOAC 550 kHz Corvallis broadcasting at 5 kW daytime and nighttime using directional day and night signal patterns is operated by KOPB Portland.   Both KBPS and KOAC were operating in 1989.  In addition to JPR's new FM stations, JPR now operates four AM stations in the southwest part of the state which broadcast its News and Information service.  The stations are:  KAGI 930 kHz Grants Pass broadcasting at 5 kW daytime and 123w nighttime, KTBR 950 kHz Roseburg broadcasting at 3.4 kW daytime, 123w nighttime and KSJK 1230 kHz Talent broadcasting at 1 kW day/night.  KRVM(AM) 1280 kHz Eugene, broadcasting at 5 kW daytime, 1.5 kW nighttime, is licensed to the Lane County School District 4J and is programmed by JPR.  In eastern Oregon, a large area of sparsely populated Malheur County is covered by the AM service of KBSU Boise, Idaho.

Service from Adjacent States

Public radio signals cover the border areas of Oregon from the adjacent states of Idaho and Washington. As noted, there is one station in the state that is operated by KWSU Pullman.  There is no appreciable coverage in Oregon from California-based public broadcasters. Where signals from out‑of‑state stations cover Oregon, the areas are principally rural with low population density.

Unserved Areas

Public radio coverage in western Oregon follows a north‑south axis along I‑5 and the Willamette Valley. The coastal areas of the state are separated from I-5 by coastal mountains and national forest. The Cascade Mountains and national forest holdings form a large swath of unserved territory east of the Willamette Valley. Just east of the Cascade Mountains public radio stations are KOAB Bend and KWSO Warm Springs on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.

The large areas of Oregon without public radio include mountains and canyon lands in the state's northeast corner, semiarid desert areas across the state's southeast quadrant and the Cascade Mountains in the west.

Region A

This region consists of the Coastal Range Mountains which stretch from the Washington border to California.  This mountainous area has a low density population and spotty public radio service.  There are approximately 40,000 people who cannot receive a public radio signal. Almost half of these unserved people live in Tillamook and Yamhill counties.  Just over 5,000 unserved people live in Douglas County.

Region B

This area is the high ridge of the Cascade Mountains and consists of a series of national forests, national parks and wilderness areas extending from the Columbia River to the California border. There are approximately 25,000 people in Linn County who do not receive public radio.  The remainder of this region is sparsely populated.             

Region C

Four counties along the Columbia River collectively contain 10,000 unserved people. KMHD Gresham near Portland has a construction permit to increase operating power and extend its coverage to residents in the Willamette and Columbia River valleys.

Region D

This region of Oregon consists primarily of national forests and recreation areas to the north and high desert to the south.  Large geographic areas have no public radio service.  Eight of the nine counties east of the Cascade Mountains contain some of the lowest population concentrations in the United States and have limited public radio service.  These counties -- Wallowa, Baker, Malheur, Harney, Lake, Crook, Wheeler and Grant -- cover a geographic area larger than the state of Virginia but have a total population of 100,000.

Two-thirds of the people in these counties receive public radio from the translators shown, leaving approximately 34,000 people in this region without public radio service.  East of  I‑84 in Wallowa County in the northeast corner of Oregon, Washington public broadcaster KWSU has an application on file to install a new translator in the town of Enterprise Oregon.  A large area of sparsely populated Malheur County is covered by the AM Service of KBSU Boise, Idaho.

Translators listed by operating station Facilities in italics operated by out‑of‑state broadcasters

KSOR Ashland, OR					K218AG		91.5	Oakridge
K219AM		91.7	Bandon		K280BH	N	103.9	Riddle
K206AF	N	89.1	Beaver Marsh		K215AK	N	90.9	Reedsport
K216AK		91.1	Brookings		K203BE		88.5	Roseburg
K204AG		88.7	Camas Valley		K212AS	N	90.3	Sisters
K208CC	N	89.5	Cave Junction		KRVM Eugene, OR
K215AR		90.9	Cave Junction		K211BP		90.1	Florence
K219AP		91.7	Chiloquin		KWAX Eugene, OR
K206AI		89.1	Coos Bay		K205BJ		88.9	Bend
K201BK		88.1	Coquille		K220CX		91.9	Newport
K201BG	N	88.1	Dead Indian		K215AK	N	90.9	Reedsport
K218AH		91.5	Gold Beach		K215ED	N	90.9	Sunriver
K220AJ		91.9	Gold Beach		K231AB	N	94.1	Turner
K205BD		88.9	Grants Pass		KBOO Portland, OR
K217BZ	N	91.3	Grants Pass		K264AA	N	100.7	Corvallis
K213AI		90.5	Klamath Falls		K220HR	N	91.9	Hood River
K220BJ		91.9	Klamath Falls		KOPB Portland, OR
K208AX		89.5	Lakeview		K211BF		90.1	Burns
K217AF		91.3	Langlois		K219BH		91.7	Burns
K204AV		88.7	Lincoln		K276BU	N	103.1	Corvallis
K207BQ	N	89.3	Port Orford		K219FJ	N	91.7	Gleneden Beach
K213BU	N	90.5	Port Orford		K217BO	N	91.3	Halfway
K220AC		91.9	Riddle		K228DT	N	93.5	Happy Hollow
K220DQ		91.9	Roseburg		K232CK	N	94.3	Hood River
K207AB		89.3	Sutherlin/Glide		K218BA		91.5	John Day
KMUN Astoria, OR					K210AV		89.9	La Grande
K208AZ	N	89.5	Cannon Beach		K214AQ	N	90.7	Mount Vernon
K216BQ	N	91.1	South Astoria		K289AC	N	105.7	Nedonna Beach
K211BM	N	90.1	Tillamook		K298AC	N	107.5	Ontario
K208BA	N	89.5	Wheeler		K220DA	N	91.9	Richland
KLCC Eugene, OR					K212AQ		90.3	Riley
K201BP	N	88.1	Bend		K219BG	N	91.7	Silver Lake
K218AE		91.5	Cottage Grove		K218AZ		91.5	The Dalles
K202BQ	N	88.3	Florence		K216BI		91.1	Valley Falls