| City of license | Houston, Texas |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Greater Houston |
| Branding | La Tremenda 1010 AM |
| Frequency | 1010 kHz |
| First air date | July 31 1961 |
| Format | Spanish language News/Talk |
| Power | 5,000 Watts (day) 3,600 Watts (night) |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | Latin or La Tremenda |
| Former callsigns | KODA (1961-1979) |
| Owner | Univision (Tichenor License Corporation) |
| Sister stations | KLTN, KOVE, KPTI, KPTY, KQBU, KRTX Also part of the Univision Cluster: TV Stations KFTH and KXLN |
| Website | La Tremenda 1010 AM Site |
KLAT (1010 AM), branded as "La Tremenda 1010", is a Spanish language news-talk radio station in the Houston, Texas, metropolitan area. It is currently owned by Univision. The station's name, La Tremenda 1010 (which translates literally to "The Tremendous 1010") was a slogan invented by the station's founder Marcos Rodriguez, Sr. The station also serves as the Spanish radio flagship of the Houston Astros and the Houston Texans.
KODA signed on July 31 1961 by Paul Taft of the Taft Broadcasting Company [1] (no relation to Taft Broadcasting of Cincinnati, Ohio) in order to reach a mainstream audience who, at the time, mostly had AM-only radios. They had been on FM radio since 1958 when the former KPRC-FM, then KODA-FM (now KODA), was acquired. Both stations had a beautiful music format (competing with KXYZ) and brought back ABC Radio network programs to Houston. Several years before, KXYZ dropped their ABC Radio affiliation and could be heard on KWBA Baytown, Texas until KODA's signon. KODA was a daytimer; they could operate their medium wave station only in the daytime (currently called "Class D") while the FM simulcasted the AM station during the day and provided continued programming when the AM station had to shutoff at sunset. In 1978, Group W Westinghouse Broadcasting purchased the stations and quickly re-sold the AM station. The station eventually obtained authorization for 24 hour operation ("Class B" status) and the call letters were changed to the current call sign in 1979.
That site was subject to a late 1970s fire when a Harris MW-5 transmitter melted down. The MW-5 used a step up transformer to raise the three phase input power (at 240 volts) to 17,000 volts. The primary wiring had been bundled closely to the secondary wiring and tightly lashed together. When an insulation breakdown allowed the input wiring to arc , the high temperatures allowed the secondary wires to short to the inputs. This caused extremely high circulating currents and a meltdown of the transformer frame (made of metal castings and laminations).
To add night authority, a seventh tower was added to the array in 1984. This was used with five of the existing day towers to make a new parallelogram shaped system. KLAT began night operation at 1,000 watts. This properly protected all stations on 1010 as required by FCC rules but did not cover all of Houston. This was allowed under a waiver for the then minority owned station. A while later the station got special authority to mitigate interference at night from foreign stations (as many south Florida stations get a break from Cuban interference see WAXY South Miami). This STA allowed the station to operate at 5,000 watts at night (using all 7 towers). This improved coverage but did not make it 100%.
In 1995 the station built a second tower site in north west Houston, using six towers and 3,600 watts for night only operation. The lowered power did not cover quite as large an area as the former setup but because of a better location covered more of Houston much better. The project used several consultants, ending with duTreil, Lundin and Rackley.
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