KGA

KGA
City of license Spokane, Washington
Broadcast area Spokane and Vicinity
Branding Sports Radio 1510
Slogan Everything Sports
Frequency 1510 kHz
First air date February 4, 1927
Format Sports
Power 50,000 watts (daytime)
15,000 watts (nighttime)
Class B
Facility ID 11234
Affiliations CBS Sports Radio, Dial Global
Owner Mapleton Communications
(Mapleton License Of Spokane, LLC)
Sister stations KBBD, KDRK, KEYF-FM/AM, KJRB, KZBD
Webcast Listen Live
Website 1510kga.com

KGA is a sports radio station based in Spokane, Washington.

History

Licensed on February 4, 1927, KGA was a successful country music outlet for most of its life until 1994, when it switched to a news/talk format. KGA's former owners also established a short lived, lower powered Country Music station based out of Kirkland, WA (near Seattle) called, KGAA (now KARR). Also in the history of KGA were the Top 40 years, from January 1968 until June 1969. With its 50,000 watts, KGA was a station with an incredible night time reach (all of western Canada) and the best top 40 DJs and that included "Shane" and Joe Fiala. "Shane Showtime" had a large and loyal following and introduced many to some of the greatest music of that time. There was great sadness among young KGA listeners when the station switched to country music in 1969.

From 1994 until 2008, KGA relied on network shows from commentators Bill O'Reilly, Laura Ingraham and Michael Savage.

Former Los Angeles Police detective/best selling author Mark Fuhrman, who lives in nearby Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, hosted a live and local morning slot weekdays until his firing in November 2007. No replacement was named.

Radio station KGA has a long history beginning in 1927 with its studios in the old Radio Center Building across the street from the Davenport Hotel and transmitter on the northside of Spokane where the Lidgerwood Elementary School is located when it was owned by Mr. Louis Wasmer to its current studio location on 57th Avenue on Moran Prairie and current transmitter site in Spangle under the ownership of Mapleton Communications.

Although the station has had several owners (notably Gonzaga University), has changed frequency several times, and has had its studio and transmitter site changed over the years, including the old insurance building on W. Riverside, which was being used by the Spokane Catholic Diocese in January 2007, it has retained the same set of call letters over the years. In fact, the call letters KGA have been continuously used on AM longer in Spokane than any other set of call letters.

In April 2008, KGA's news/talk format moved to sister station KJRB. In return, KJRB's sports format moved to KGA.

On July 15, 2008, KGA reduced its nighttime power from 50,000 watts to 15,000 watts, changed its class from Class A to Class B (Class A stations are required to operate at 50,000 watts at all times) and changed its directional antenna system, all so that its sister station KSFN AM in Piedmont, California, which serves San Francisco, but not the entire San Francisco Bay Area, could increase its nighttime power to 2,400 watts, up from 230 watts. The justification for this change was gaining several hundred thousand potential listeners in San Francisco while sacrificing a few thousand potential listeners in the Pacific Northwest. The hope for a larger audience did not materialize. It can never become a Class A station again.

Previous logo

(KGA's logo under previous talk format)

References

    1. Harms, William. Radio Station KGA. 2005. http://spokane.philcobill.com/kga/index.php
    2. Scott, Xen. Transcription of FCC microfiche files KGA, November 11, 1994.
    3. McGoldrick, Jim. Early Memories of Radio in Spokane; letter to Thorwald Jorgenson, about 1981. Used by permission of Dean Carriveau, Spokane, Washington

    External links

    Coordinates: 47°30′08″N 117°23′06″W / 47.50222°N 117.38500°W