KLAA (AM)

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KLAA-AM is a general talk radio station licensed to the city of Orange, California, and broadcasting at 830 AM. It is owned by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball team.

Currently, hosts on KLAA include Glenn Beck, Dr. Roy Masters and Michael Savage (commentator). Much of the station's air time also consists of time-brokered programs that could eventually house other talk shows. The station carries hourly news from NBC Radio, a division of Westwood One.

In 2006-07, it assumed the broadcast rights for the Anaheim Ducks, a National Hockey League team.[1] On September 16, 2006, it aired an Angels game in English when KSPN, the actual flagship of the Angels, instead broadcast a football game between the University of Southern California and the University of Nebraska. The Angels' broadcast could eventually lead to a full-time relationship carrying the team's broadcasts, as speculated by the Los Angeles Times in early 2006. However, the Angels' contract with KSPN is good through the 2007 season.

KLAA broadcasts as a full-power 50,000 watt AM radio station during the daytime. However, at nighttime it drops to 20,000 watts and switches to a directional antenna which projects most of the signal to the west. This is done to protect "clear channel" WCCO-AM in Minneapolis, MN.

[edit] History

830 AM first came on air on January 9, 1986 as KSRT.

In 1991, the station became KPLS "Radio AAHS" and was part of the first nationwide network of radio programs for children. The downfall of Radio AAHS came when the Walt Disney Company established a competitor, Radio Disney. After the sign off of Radio AAHS, the parent company, Children's Broadcasting Company, needed programming for the network of station until they could find buyers. KPLS and the rest of the former Radio AAHS stations flipped to "Beat Radio," which carried electronic dance music (aka techno) 24 hours a day. Later that year, KPLS was sold and flipped to Catholic talk. During this period, the station was owned by John Lynch, father of the veteran National Football League cornerback of the same name.

KPLS was later sold again, at which time it flipped to a conservative talk station as "HotTalk 830 - LA's Conservative Voice" which featured Laura Ingraham and Michael Savage. KPLS had close ties to the Orange County community and was the flagship station of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim hockey team.

In 2004, it flipped to a Spanish-language station that operated as KMXE. It was the Angels' flagship station in that language. (In fact, the team continues to broadcast Angels games in Spanish to fulfill contractual obligations.) Its slogan was "¡Así Se Habla!".

The current format began in the summer of 2006. The station's website was not renewed and taken over by cybersquatters on February 22, 2007.

[edit] External links

Query the FCC's AM station database for KLAA