KSL (radio)
 | |
| City of license |
KSL: Salt Lake City, Utah KSL-FM: Midvale, Utah |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Salt Lake City and Utah |
| Branding | KSL NewsRadio |
| Frequency |
KSL: 1160 kHz KSL-FM: 102.7 MHz (also on HD Radio) 102.7-2 FM: Mormon Channel |
| First air date |
KSL: May 6, 1922 (as KZN) KSL-FM: 1985 (as KQMB) |
| Format | News/Talk |
| Power | KSL: 50,000 watts |
| ERP | KSL-FM: 25,000 watts |
| HAAT | KSL-FM: 1,140 meters (3,740 ft) |
| Class |
KSL: A (Clear channel) KSL-FM: C |
| Facility ID |
KSL: 6375 KSL-FM: 54156 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 40°46′46″N 112°05′56″W / 40.77944°N 112.09889°WCoordinates: 40°46′46″N 112°05′56″W / 40.77944°N 112.09889°W |
| Callsign meaning | Salt Lake City |
| Former callsigns |
KSL: KZN (1922–1924) KFPT (1924–1925) KSL-FM: KQMB (1985-2005) |
| Affiliations | ABC News |
| Owner | Bonneville International |
| Sister stations | KSL-TV, KRSP-FM, KSFI, KUTR |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | ksl.com |
KSL NewsRadio is a pair of radio stations located in Salt Lake City, Utah, which includes the original station, AM station KSL (1160 kHz at 50,000 watts) and the FM station KSL-FM (102.7 MHz, licensed to Midvale). Owned by Bonneville International (a broadcasting company ultimately owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), the stations share studios with sister television station KSL-TV at the Triad Center in downtown Salt Lake City. KSL's AM signal reaches most of the western US at night, as well as some areas in western Canada.
Both KSL's AM and FM feeds broadcast in HD Radio; KSL-FM carries the Mormon Channel over their HD-2 subchannel.
History
KSL is Utah's oldest radio station and was originally designated with the call letters KZN. KSL/KZN began life as the radio arm of the Deseret News, a Salt Lake City newspaper also owned by the LDS Church. The station's first broadcast aired on May 6, 1922 in the form of a talk by then-LDS Church president Heber J. Grant.[1] In 1924 the station was sold to John Cope and his father, F.W. Cope, who formed the Radio Service Corporation of Utah.[2] Earl J. Glade (later a four-term mayor of Salt Lake City) joined the station in 1925 and guided KSL's operations for the next fourteen years. John F. Fitzpatrick, publisher of the The Salt Lake Tribune (owned by the Kearns Corporation) acquired a quarter interest of KSL for a modest price, and did the LDS Church. This was the Tribune's first business partnership with the LDS Church, though the Church later acquired full interest in the station.[3]
In 1924, it changed its call letters to KFPT for one year and then adopted its current call letters in 1925 after they became available (until that time they had been used by a radio station in Alaska). A series of power boosts over the next decade brought the station to its current 50,000 watts (daytime broadcast power) in 1932. It spent time at several frequencies over the years before settling at 1160 kHz in 1941. Currently, KSL's AM signal can be heard across nearly all of Utah during the day, and in much of the western part of North America at night. Soon after becoming a clear-channel station, KSL joined the CBS Radio Network. It remained with CBS until 2005, when it switched to ABC News Radio. The station would also gain a television counterpart in 1949, the CBS affiliate KSL-TV (which switched to NBC in 1995 after KUTV was sold CBS O&O, following its acquisition by Westinghouse).
The station's owners made their initial foray into FM broadcasting in 1947 when they brought the original KSL-FM onto the then sparsely-populated FM dial at 100.3. The FM station format was beautiful music, a contrast to the then-current KSL format of news and commentary interspersed with adult contemporary music. The FM station was sold to a private owner in the mid-1970s due to FCC regulations on station ownership, since greatly relaxed. The station, now the AC station KSFI, was bought back by Bonneville Communications in 2003, along with classic rock station KRSP-FM (103.5) and then-Hot AC KQMB-FM (102.7). In the mid-1980s KSL adopted an all-talk format, completely dropping music programming, aside from its broadcasts of the Tabernacle Choir.
On September 3, 2005, KQMB was converted to become a simulcast of KSL, with the call sign changed to KSL-FM. The station's former branding, call signs, and format were later picked up an unrelated station licensed to Levan on 96.7 FM.
Programming
Weekdays
Notable weekday programs include a talk show hosted by Jim Bohannon, Bloomberg Radio, Utah's Morning News, The Doug Wright Show, The Movie Show, Utah's Noon News, The Browser, Utah's Afternoon News, and The Nightside Project.
Once a month during non-election cycles (usually on the last Thursday of the month), the Governor of Utah has airtime on the station for a "Let Me Speak to the Governor" segment, where they take calls from constituents and answer questions and concerns.
Another notable program was Herb Jepko's Nitecaps, which began in the 1960s and was one of the first U.S. radio shows to be syndicated nationally.
Weekends
Notable programming airing on Saturday includes a talk show hosted by Jim Bohannon, "KSL Outdoors", "The KSL Greenhouse Show", "The Matt Townsend Show", "Cougar Sports Saturday", "The Movie Show Matinee", Best of "The Doug Wright Show", and paid programming.
KSL is also the flagship station of Brigham Young University's football and men's basketball teams. Commentary for football games is provided by Greg Wrubell, the "Voice of the Cougars."
Due to its affiliation with the LDS Church, KSL, along with its television counterparts and other LDS-affiliated outlets in Utah, also airs simulcasts of its General Conferences, held twice a year during April and October.
On Sunday mornings, KSL airs its most notable program, Music and the Spoken Word, a weekly broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir also syndicated nationwide via CBS Radio and television. Continuously airing for over 80 years since 1929, it is one of the longest-running radio programs in the world, and one of only two radio shows to be inaugurated into the National Association of Broadcasters' hall of fame, along with the Grand Ole Opry[4]
On Sunday mornings and evenings for 22 years, KSL has broadcast "Religion Today" with host Martin Tanner, a unique program providing information about Jewish and Christian history and doctrine.
Personalities
Hosts
- Grant Nielsen & Amanda Dixon, "Utah's Morning News"
- Doug Wright, "The Doug Wright Show"
- Doug Wright, Steve Sales & Michael Reagan, "The Movie Show", "The Movie Show Matinee"
- Tim Hughes, "Utah's Noon News"
- Jay Mcfarland & Amy Iverson, "The Browsers"
- Scott Seeger & Maria Shilaos, "Utah's Afternoon News"
- Ethan Millard & Alex Kirry "The Nightside Project"
- Greg Wrubell, "The Bronco Mendenhall Show", "The Dave Rose Show", "Cougar Tracks", BYU football & men's basketball game broadcasts
- Martin Tanner, "Religion Today"
Reporters and Anchors
- Andrew Adams
- Don Brinkerhoff (Overnight 10p-5a)
- Becky Bruce (Executive Producer, "Utah's Morning News" with Grant & Amanda)
- Roger Carey
- Andy Farnsworth (Drive-time Traffic 6-9a, 3-7p)
- Mark Giauque (Executive Producer, "Utah's Noon News")
- David Hagan (Nighttime Co-Anchor; "Nightside Project" News & Commentary)
- Jill Hansen
- Nkoyo Iyamba
- Randall Jeppesen
- Brian Martin (Executive Producer, "Utah's Afternoon News" with Scott & Maria)
- Logan Daniels (Producer of "Nightside Project")
- Rikki Meece (Traffic 5a-1p)
- Charles Moran (Traffic 1p-7p)
- Paul Nelson (Nighttime Traffic/Co-Anchor 30 Minute News Updates [7p-11p], "Nightside Project" with Ethan Millard & Alex Kirry)
- Angie Reed
- Mary Richards
- Peter Samore
- Cleon Wall (National News-desk)
- Sheryl Worsley (News Director)
See also
References
- ↑ Arave, Lynn (May 4, 2006). "KSL wins another Crystal Award". Deseret News.
- ↑ "KSL Radio: On-air highlights". Deseret News. May 3, 2002. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
- ↑ O. N. Malmquist, The First 100 Years: A History of the Salt Lake Tribune, Utah State Historical Society, 1971, pp 388
- ↑ NAB Radio Hall of Fame Inductees, National Association of Broadcasters. Retrieved on March 28, 2007.
External links
- KSL NewsRadio
- Query the FCC's AM station database for KSL
- Radio-Locator Information on KSL
- Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for KSL
- Query the FCC's FM station database for KSL
- Radio-Locator information on KSL
- Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for KSL
- Story about the new FM signal
- KSL's tower along with other signals in the area
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