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KNX (AM)

This article is about the AM radio station. For other uses, see KNX (disambiguation).

KNX (1070 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Los Angeles, California. It simulcasts an all-news radio format with sister station 97.1 KNX-FM, both owned by Audacy, Inc. KNX is one of the oldest stations in the United States, having received its first broadcasting license, as KGC, in December 1921, in addition to tracing its history to the September 1920 operations of an earlier amateur station. The studios and offices—shared with KNX-FM, KCBS-FM, KROQ-FM, KRTH and KTWV—are located on Wilshire Boulevard, along Los Angeles' Miracle Mile.

KNX
Broadcast areaSouthern California
Frequency1070 kHz
BrandingKNX News 97.1 FM
Programming
FormatAll-news
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
FoundedSeptember 10, 1920;
104 years ago (1920-09-10)
First air date
December 8, 1921;
102 years ago (1921-12-08)
Former call signs
  • 6ADZ (1920–1921)
  • KGC (1921–1922)
Call sign meaning
Randomly assigned. A backronym explanation suggested it came from the Spring Street Arcade Annex.[1]
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID9616
ClassA
Power50,000 watts (unlimited)
Transmitter coordinates
33°51′35″N 118°20′59″W / 33.85972°N 118.34972°W / 33.85972; -118.34972 (main)
33°51′38″N 118°20′57″W / 33.86056°N 118.34917°W / 33.86056; -118.34917 (KNX (auxiliary)) (aux)
Repeater(s)97.1 KNX-FM (Los Angeles)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live (via Audacy)
Websitewww.audacy.com/knxnews

KNX holds a Class A license as one of the original clear-channel stations. Its 50,000-watt non-directional signal is heard around Southern California. With a good radio, it can be picked up at night throughout much of the Western United States and parts of Mexico and Canada. The station is even received by DXers in Hawaii and across the Pacific Ocean. The transmitter site is in Columbia Park in Torrance, near Hawthorne Boulevard (California State Route 107) and 190th Street.[3] KNX is authorized to broadcast a digital HD Radio signal.

KNX and KFI are the local primary stations for the Los Angeles Emergency Alert System. They are responsible for activation of the EAS when hazardous weather alerts, disaster area declarations, and child abduction alerts are issued.[4][needs update]

Programming

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KNX-AM-FM broadcast "traffic and weather together" every ten minutes on the fives with traffic reports on the freeways and toll roads in the Greater Los Angeles area and weather forecasts for Southern California, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Business news from Bloomberg Radio and sports headlines are heard every half hour. Each hour begins with world and national news from CBS News Radio. The two stations are branded as "KNX News 97.1 FM".[5]

History

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Origin

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Although KNX received its first broadcasting station license on December 8, 1921,[6] the station has traditionally dated its founding to September 10, 1920,[7] reflecting boadcasts conducted by Fred Christian over his amateur station, 6ADZ.[8]

Mr. Christian was trained as a shipboard radio operator. He lived at 5118½ Harold Way in Hollywood, California. He was manager for the Electric Lighting Supply Company at 216 West Third Street, Los Angeles.[9][10] He once explained that he began the broadcasts in order to provide something to listen to for those customers who had constructed receivers from parts purchased for their radio shack.[11] Christian began making broadcasts with a five-watt vacuum-tube transmitter, operating on the standard amateur wavelength of 200 meters (1500 kHz).[12]

KGC

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Initially there were no specific standards in the United States for radio stations making transmissions intended for the general public, and numerous stations under various classifications made entertainment broadcasts. However, effective December 1, 1921, the Department of Commerce, regulators of radio at this time, adopted a regulation that formally created a broadcasting station category, and stations were now required to hold a Limited Commercial license authorizing operation on wavelengths of 360 meters (833 kHz) for "entertainment" broadcasts or 485 meters (619 kHz) for "market and weather reports".[13] By the end of 1922 over 500 stations were authorized nationwide.

On December 8, 1921, the Electric Lighting Supply Company was issued a broadcasting station license with the randomly assigned call letters KGC, the second in the county after KQL,[14] authorizing operation on the 360-meter entertainment wavelength. The station's location was listed as Fred Christian's Harold Way home.[15] The shared 360 meter wavelength required timesharing agreements between an increasing number of stations needing exclusive time periods. On May 4 the Los Angeles Times reported that a total of seven local stations were slated to make broadcasts that day, comprising a schedule that ran from noon to 9:00 p.m., with KGC assigned 2:00-2:30 and 7:30-8:00 p.m.[16][17]

KNX

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April 1923 Electric Lighting Supply Company advertisement promoting its operation of KNX at the California Theater.

On May 4, 1922, the Electric Lighting Supply Company was issued a broadcasting license for a station with the randomly assigned call letters of KNX, also on 360 meters, and located at the company's Los Angeles store on West Third Street.[18] This was technically considered to be a second station in addition to KGC, however, after KGC was formally deleted on June 20, 1922, the Department of Commerce concluded that KGC and KNX were functionally the same station, and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) records list KGC's December 8, 1921, initial license date as KNX's "date first licensed".[19]

The new authorization coincided with preparations for a move to the California Theater, broadcasting live music, with Fred Christian continuing as station manager.[20] On June 12, 1922, the Los Angeles Times reported that "After more than two months of preparation, the new broadcast station at the California Theater had its opening program Saturday evening at 9:15, sending out a wavelength of 510 meters [588 kHz].[21] The station is said to be one of the best in the land, the call letters of which are KNX."[22] KNX's regular broadcast schedule on 360 meters was 9:00 to 10:00 a.m.[23] A week after it commenced operations from the theater, the Times reported that "Numerous reports have come into The Times radio department commending the quality and audibility of material broadcast from KNX, the California Theater radiophone. This station differs from other stations in that it gives its listeners-in the music of the complete orchestra of the California Theater."[24]

KNX's power was raised to 100 watts in early August 1922.[25]

Los Angeles Evening Express

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In the fall of 1924, Guy Earl Jr., owner of the Los Angeles Evening Express, arranged for the newspaper's purchase of KNX. The Express made significant upgrades, including increasing the power to 500 watts, and began broadcasting from the Paul G. Hoffman Studebaker building in Hollywood.[26] KNX was one of the last stations to remain on the original 360 meter wavelength, and the newspaper engineered a move to 890 kHz. It remained on this frequency until November 11, 1928,[27] when the station was reassigned to 1050 kHz, under the provisions of a major reallocation resulting from the Federal Radio Commission's (FRC) General Order 40.

In early 1928, Guy Earle sold his share of the Evening Express newspaper and reorganized KNX as the Western Broadcast Company.[20] In 1929, Earle moved the KNX studios to the Paramount Pictures lot,[20] signing a five-year contract, and the station's transmitter power was upgraded from 500 to 5,000 watts. In 1930, KNX became the first station to broadcast the Academy Awards.[20] In 1932, it increased to 10,000 watts. In 1933, the station moved its studios to the former Peerless Motor Company building at 5939 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood,[28][29][11][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][20] after being granted permission by the FRC on June 7, 1932, to raise its output to 25,000 watts.[37] The following year, KNX's transmitting power was raised to the nationwide maximum of 50,000 watts, which the station continues presently.[38]

CBS ownership

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CBS purchased KNX in 1936 and began operating it as its West Coast flagship, which ended CBS's eight-year affiliation with KHJ.[39] In 1938, the CBS Columbia Square studios[40] were dedicated for KNX as well as West Coast operations for the entire CBS radio network. That October, the station carried Orson Welles' celebrated version of The War of the Worlds. In March 1941 the station was shifted to 1070 AM as part of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement assignments, where it has been ever since.

Theatre legend Jerome Lawrence got his start in radio writing at KNX in the late 1930s. Legendary performers from the "Golden Age of Radio" used KNX studios for their national broadcasts, included Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, George Burns, Edgar Bergen and Gene Autry.[41] TV situation comedy star Bob Crane was KNX's morning host between 1957 and 1965 at the same time he was appearing as a featured supporting player on the ABC television network series The Donna Reed Show.[42]

FM and TV stations

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On March 30, 1948, KNX added a sister station. The original station with the call sign KNX-FM signed on the air, mostly simulcasting 1070 AM.[43] At first it was on the old FM band, but switched to 93.1 a few years later. Today that station is KCBS-FM.

In 1951, KNX gained a television cousin when CBS acquired KTSL channel 2 and rebranded it as KNXT.[44] It took on the current KCBS-TV call sign in 1984. It traces its history back to 1930s experimental broadcasts and was originally owned by broadcast pioneer Don Lee.

Switch to all-news

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Logo as "KNX 1070 Newsradio", used until the start of the simulcast on 97.1 FM

KNX was a strong competitor in the Los Angeles market while Bob Crane was its morning personality, but began declining in popularity after he left to star in the CBS television series Hogan's Heroes. Following the example of corporate sister station WCBS in New York City, which had enjoyed success with an all-news format, KNX then became an all-news station in the spring of 1968.[45] By chance, its first major breaking news coverage was a major worldwide story that happened locally: the assassination of Democratic Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, on June 5 of that year.[citation needed]

In August 2005, KNX moved out of Columbia Square after operating there for 67 years, and began broadcasting from new studios in the Miracle Mile district on Wilshire Boulevard.[41]

In 2009, KNX adopted the slogan "All news, all the time". It was previously used for 40 years by KFWB, KNX's historic rival in the news radio wars before both became sister stations through the 1995 merger of Westinghouse Electric (KFWB's owner) and CBS. KFWB's format change to news-talk in September 2009 left KNX as the only all-news outlet in the Los Angeles area, which is now emphasized in its alternate slogan, "Southern California's only 24-hour local news & traffic station".

In 2017, KNX won its first ever national Edward R. Murrow award for "Breaking News". The station was also nominated for two 2017 NAB Marconi awards, Legendary Station of the Year and News/Talk Station of the Year.

Entercom and Audacy

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On February 2, 2017, CBS agreed to merge CBS Radio with Entercom, then the fourth-largest radio broadcaster in the United States. The sale was conducted tax-free using a Reverse Morris Trust. While CBS shareholders retained a 72% ownership stake in the combined company, Entercom was the surviving entity, separating KNX from KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV.[46][47] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated 8 days later.[48][49]

On March 30, 2021, Entercom announced that the company changed its name to Audacy.[50]

On December 6, 2021, KNX announced that it would be adding an FM simulcast. KNX's all-news programming would also be heard on sister station KNOU, replacing the Top 40 format on the station that began in 2009. KNOU changed its call letters to KNX-FM on December 21, 2021, to match its AM simulcast partner.

Transmitter site

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The station's antenna array features a 494-foot (150m) main antenna. The original main tower (circa 1936) was destroyed by vandals on September 14, 1965. An unused 365-foot (111m) tower was brought in from KFAC (now KWKW) and was used while the new main antenna was constructed. This antenna was formerly in what is now a residential area to the south of the main antenna.

The 365-foot tower now serves as KNX's emergency antenna. It was later relocated when much of the site was dedicated as a park in Torrance. It is now north of the main antenna, within the park.

Only one antenna is active at a time. An experiment in the late 1960s using both antennas in a directional setup during the daytime was abandoned.

The 494-foot main antenna is 0.53λ, or 193.5 electrical degrees. It has an efficiency of 400.73 mV/m/kW at 1 km.[51] This is much better than average for a Class A station's main antenna. The FCC's minimum efficiency requirement is 362.10 mV/m/kW at 1 km.[52]

The 365-foot emergency antenna is 0.40λ, or 145.5 electrical degrees. It has an efficiency of about 343 mV/m/kW at 1 km.[53] This is much better than average for a Class A emergency antenna but is inadequate for the main antenna.

Notable former on-air staff

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Call Sign Letter Meaning Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KNX". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^ Radio-Locator.com/KNX
  4. ^ "FCC Local Area Plan for the Emergency Alert System" Los Angeles County: Revision 2.0 7-24-2002 (caloes.ca.gov)
  5. ^ "Audacy Brings KNX Los Angeles To FM". RadioInsight. 6 December 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-07.
  6. ^ "KNX Los Angeles Turns 99". radioheritage.net. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  7. ^ "45th Year Marked By Station KNX", Billboard, September 25, 1965, page 56.
  8. ^ The government's June 30, 1921, annual listing of amateur radio stations has 6ADZ licensed to the Electric Lighting Supply Company, 216 West Third Street, Los Angeles. ("Sixth District", Amateur Radio Stations of the United States (edition June 30, 1921), page 122.) The leading "6" in 6ADZ's call sign specified that the station was located in the sixth Radio Inspection district. The fact that the call sign's first letter, "A", was in the range A-W reflected its status as a standard amateur station.
  9. ^ "Advertisements Column 1". Los Angeles Herald. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 1 October 1913. p. 5. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  10. ^ "Los Angeles radio (1920)". earlyradiohistory.us. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  11. ^ a b c "KNX Spans 7 Decades of Los Angeles Radio History", Los Angeles Radio Guide, November/December 1995, pages 22-26.
  12. ^ "Here's how KNX 1070 AM is celebrating 100 years on the radio". Daily News. 1 September 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  13. ^ "Miscellaneous: Amendments to Regulations", Radio Service Bulletin, January 3, 1922, page 10.
  14. ^ Mishkind, Barry. "The First Hundred Stations". Broadcast Archive. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  15. ^ "New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, January 3, 1922, page 2. One year Limited Commercial license with the call letters KGC, serial #248, issued December 8, 1921, to the Electric Lighting Supply Company, 51181⁄2 Harold Way, Hollywood, California. This license was canceled on June 20, 1922.
  16. ^ "What's Doing Today: Radio", Los Angeles Times, May 4, 1922, Part II, page 20.
  17. ^ Mishkind, Barry (2015-11-25). "General History". Broadcast Archive. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  18. ^ "New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, June 1, 1922, page 3. Three month Limited Commercial license with the call letters KNX, serial #358, issued May 4, 1922, to the Electric Lighting Supply Company, 216 West Third Street, Los Angeles.
  19. ^ Due to the overlap of the KGC and KNX licenses, the Department of Commerce's June 1, 1922, list of active authorizations included both KGC and KNX (June 1, 1922 list). However, the station list in the May 11, 1922, issue of the Los Angeles Times no longer included KGC, with KNX designated as one of the "stations not yet on the air". ("What's Doing Today: Radio", Los Angeles Times, May 11, 1922, Part II, pages 1, 10.)
  20. ^ a b c d e "KNX Los Angeles - A Centennial Station". theradiohistorian.org. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  21. ^ Although 360 meters was the normal transmitting wavelength during this period, on occasion the sixth district Radio Inspector, J. F. Dillon, would give permission for stations to make broadcasts on 510 meters. ("Radio Puts on Miners' Benefit", Oakland Tribune, September 15, 1922, page 32.)
  22. ^ "Listening in: KHJ", Los Angeles Times, June 12, 1922, Part II, page 2.
  23. ^ "What's Doing Today: Radio", Los Angeles Times, June 8, 1922, Part II, page 24.
  24. ^ (untitled filler, third column), Los Angeles Times, June 19, 1922, Part II, page 2.
  25. ^ "KHJ's 'Radio Cave'", Los Angeles Times, August 6, 1922, Part II, page 6.
  26. ^ "New Radio Station to Open Tonight", Santa Ana (California) Register, October 10, 1924, page 1.
  27. ^ Commercial and Government Radio Stations of the U.S. (Edition June 30, 1928), page 173.
  28. ^ Harnisch, Larry (28 September 2021). "Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Hollywood's Long Struggle for a Movie Museum". ladailymirror.com. Retrieved 9 March 2022. The Motion Picture Museum and Hall of Fame, about 1932. Photo courtesy of Marc Wanamaker, Bison Archives.......Young millionaire Harry Crocker, Charlie Chaplin's personal assistant, opened the Museum of Motion Picture History at 5935-5945 Sunset Blvd. in what was originally the luxurious Peerless Automotive Showroom
  29. ^ Robert A. Ring: Recollections of Life in California, Nevada Gaming, and Reno and Lake Tahoe Business and Civic Affairs. University of Nevada Oral History Program. 1985. Retrieved 9 March 2022. Eventually, we opened another Bingo parlor, known as the Vogue. ... Our experience in Reno, Nevada, with our Bingo-Tango game was a touch-and-go situation.
  30. ^ "Hollywood Wins ' Tango Game Ban". Daily News. Los Angeles: California Digital Newspaper Collection. 15 March 1933. Retrieved 9 March 2022. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, various Hollywood churches and civic organizations . yesterday were again victors In their battle against having "tango games in that area when the police commission denied a second applicant a permit. Request by F. W. Babcock of 323 North Broadway to' open a "tango parlor" at 6525 Hollywood boulevard was turned down "without prejudice by the commission, which said he might seek some other location. Last week a similar application by W. H. Weaver was denied.
  31. ^ Vaught, Steve (23 February 2012). "R.I.P. Old Old Spaghetti Factory Building 1924-2012". Paradise Leased. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  32. ^ Kudler, Adrian Glick (24 February 2012). "Old Spaghetti Factory Will Be Recreated For Sunset Blvd. Tower". Curbed LA. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  33. ^ Lester, Gene (1943). "KMPC building purchase". Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  34. ^ "KMPC radio station". calisphere. 1944. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  35. ^ "5929-5945 Sunset Boulevard & 1512-1540 N. Gordon Street" (PDF). Los Angeles City Planning Commission. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  36. ^ "KNX Set to Celebrate 100 Year Anniversary". Los Angeles Radio People. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  37. ^ "KNX Gets 25 Kw". Broadcasting. June 15, 1932. p. 19. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  38. ^ "KNX 1070 kHz Los Angeles, CA" by Paul Sakrison (sakrison.com)
  39. ^ "Biggest station deal in history effected." Broadcasting, April 1, 1936, pp. 7, 62.
  40. ^ Today in Radio History August 12 2005
  41. ^ a b KNX History
  42. ^ "Bob Crane Biography" (who2.com)
  43. ^ "KNX-FM Starts" (PDF). Broadcasting. April 5, 1948. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  44. ^ "Don Lee sale; General Tire bid sets record." Broadcasting — Telecasting, October 30, 1950, pp. 21, 30. [1][permanent dead link][2][permanent dead link]
  45. ^ knx1070 Our Heritage Archived March 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  46. ^ "CBS Sets Radio Division Merger With Entercom". Variety. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  47. ^ "CBS and Entercom Are Merging Their Radio Stations". Fortune. Retrieved 2017-02-02.
  48. ^ "Entercom Receives FCC Approval for Merger with CBS Radio". Archived from the original on 2017-11-17. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
  49. ^ Entercom Completes CBS Radio Merger
  50. ^ "Entercom Rebrands, Changes Name to Audacy". www.businesswire.com. 2021-03-30. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
  51. ^ From FCC public information files.
  52. ^ From FCC rules, 47 CFR Part 73.
  53. ^ Calculated from the electrical height, using FCC formulae.
  54. ^ Cox, Jim (2007). Radio Speakers: Narrators, News Junkies, Sports Jockeys, Tattletales, Tipsters, Toastmasters and Coffee Klatch Couples Who the Jargon of the Aural Ether from the 1920s to the 1980s--A Biographical Dictionary. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-6086-1. Pp. 98-99.
  55. ^ "Behind the Microphone: Michael Fitzmaurice". Broadcasting. June 1, 1935. p. 30. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  56. ^ Abbott, Sam (January 17, 1942). "Hollywood". Billboard. p. 7. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  57. ^ "Guide to the Chet Huntley Papers 1920-1977". Northwest Digital Archives. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  58. ^ Abbott, Sam (January 24, 1942). "Hollywood". Billboard. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  59. ^ Brian Ping (@brianpingnews) on Twitter. "After 13 years, my time at KNX has come to an end. Thank you for letting me keep you company every evening. On to the next chapter." April 24, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  60. ^ "KNX News morning anchor Dick Helton signs off". Los Angeles Times. 14 October 2022.
  61. ^ "Pat Sajak says goodbye to 'The Wheel'". audacy.com/knxnews/news. 12 June 2023.
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