KPAT

Orcutt, California
Broadcast area	Santa Maria, California
Frequency	95.7 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding	95.7 The Beat
Programming
Format	Rhythmic contemporary
Affiliations	Compass Media Networks Premiere Networks
Ownership
Owner	American General Media (AGM California, Inc.)
Sister stations	KBOX, KRQK, KSMA, KSNI-FM
History
First air date	1994 (as KGDP-FM)
Former call signs	KGDP-FM (1991-1999)
Technical information
Facility ID	54755
Class	B1
ERP	3,300 watts
HAAT	274 meters (899 ft)
Links
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	957thebeatfm.com

KPAT (95.7 FM, "95.7 The Beat") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Santa Maria, California, United States and serves the Santa Maria—Lompoc area. The station is owned by American General Media and broadcasts a rhythmic contemporary format.

History

The station first signed on in 1994 as KGDP-FM with a rhythmic oldies format. By the end of the 1990s, KGDP-FM featured Southern gospel music.^[1]

On March 24, 1999, KGDP-FM changed its call sign to KPAT. (Previously, the KPAT call letters belonged to a station in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, now known as KKRC-FM, from 1973 to 1994.) In November, Radio Representatives Inc., based in Los Osos, California, sold KPAT to American General Media for $900,000.^[2]

KPAT adopted a rhythmic contemporary format in 2004.

On January 18, 2010 at 11:30 a.m., high winds in the Santa Maria area triggered a power outage that knocked KPAT off the air. The station resumed broadcasting one hour later under generator power.^[3]