KQED public radio out of San Francisco will move to Sacramento, competing with Capital Public Radio, whose license is owned by Sacramento State.

KQED purchased a new station for $3 million in North Highlands, and the call letters for the Sacramento area will be KEBR. The new station will operate at 89.3 FM and will begin broadcasting after approval from the Federal Communications Commission within months.

“Competition makes you better and helps you thrive,” said President and General Manager of CPR Michael H. Lazar. “We have served the Sacramento community for almost 25 years and KQED is unproven here.”

KXJZ has 137,000 listeners per week, Lazar said.

KQED’s Northern California audience consists of almost 750,000 listeners per week.

One of the programs that KQED offers that KXJZ does not is the “California Report.” The “California Report” is a news program that covers issues throughout the state.

KEBR will close reception gaps in KQED’s radio broadcasts, and the new station will offer 24-hour news and information but will not broadcast music. It will also cover Sacramento traffic, weather and sports.

The KEBR signal will come from CPR’s broadcasting tower, and KQED rents downtown office space from CPR.

KQED offered to promote CPR’s music programs, said KQED Vice President and General Manager Jo Anne Wallace. Since KQED does not broadcast music, Wallace hopes their new station and KXJZ will complement each other instead of compete. Listeners can hear news during the day and music in the evening.

“The new station will help us cover issues throughout Northern California and not only in the Bay Area,” Wallace said.

CPR operates five stations that will undergo changes to compete with KQED and other rival broadcast companies. KXPR will devote more play times to classical music, and KXJZ will play more jazz at night and during the weekend.

CPR has a new building under construction on the south end of the campus that will be ready for operation by 2004.

Lazar said he hoped the station’s proximity to the campus would increase student involvement in their internship programs.

“We are not new to the Sacramento area,” said Wallace. “We can be heard in Sacramento and KXJZ can be heard in San Francisco.”

Lazer welcomes the competition.

“Our listeners will sample new broadcasts,” said Lazar. “However, I feel we have more to offer than they do.”

CPR was established in 1970 at CSUS and began as a student-operated radio station.

In 1975, Professor Barbara O’Connor of the Communication Studies Department worked to bring National Public Radio programs to Sacramento.

In 1978, students worked together to develop KXPR, and in the following year the FCC approved the station for 23,000 watts of transmitting power.

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