KFTK (AM)

KFTK

City	East St. Louis, Illinois
Broadcast area	St. Louis, Missouri
Branding	FM News Talk 97.1
Slogan	In Touch and Up to Date
Frequency	1490 kHz AM
Translator(s)	98.7 K254CR (St. Louis)
First air date	July 10, 1972 (1972-07-10) (as WESL)^[1]
Format	News/talk (simulcast of 97.1 KFTK-FM)
Power	1,000 watts (day) 1,000 watts (night)
Class	C
Facility ID	72815
Transmitter coordinates	38°37′16″N 90°09′36″W / 38.62111°N 90.16000°W / 38.62111; -90.16000
Callsign meaning	FM TalK
Former callsigns	WESL (1972–2007) WFFX (2007–2010) WQQX (2010–2016)
Affiliations	Fox News Radio
Owner	Entertainment Media Trust (Dennis J. Watkins, Trustee)
Sister stations	KQQZ, KZQZ
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	www.971talk.com

KFTK (1490 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a news/talk format. Licensed to East St. Louis, Illinois, United States, it serves the St. Louis metropolitan area. Established in 1972 as WESL, the station is owned by Entertainment Media Trust (Dennis J. Watkins, Trustee), and serves as a simulcast of Emmis Communications-owned KFTK-FM (97.1 FM). KFTK's programming is also heard on translator station K254CR (98.7 FM) in St. Louis. The station broadcasts 24 hours a day. KFTK's transmitter is located in East St. Louis.

History

The station was first licensed in 1972 as WESL.^[2] 1490 AM in East St. Louis was previously occupied by WAMV,^[2] which operated from 1935^[3] until 1965.^[4]

In July 2007, WESL changed its format from oldies to sports talk and its call letters to WFFX.^[5]

In July 2009, WFFX dropped Fox Sports Radio, including Dan Patrick and Jim Rome, and changed to "urban sports talk" as what may be the nation's first sports talk format with only African-American hosts. Richard "Onion" Horton is a veteran of St. Louis radio.^[6]

On January 19, 2010, the station again changed call signs, this time to WQQX. In February 2010, WQQX changed formats from sports talk to adult standards.

In December 2011, WQQX flipped to a Rhythmic Oldies format.

In March 2014, the station returned to the sports format. During its second incarnation with the format, WQQX aired local shows, Fox Sports Radio, and the Big Ten Network's BTN Live Radio show.^[7]

WQQX began simulcasting news/talk station KFTK-FM (97.1 FM) on September 15, 2016; concurrently, WQQX added a translator station, K254CR (98.7 FM) in St. Louis. The translator had been acquired by Emmis Communications, KFTK-FM's owner, from Cornerstone Community Radio earlier in 2016 and relocated from Atlanta, Illinois to be used by WQQX. The simulcast allows KFTK-FM (whose transmitter is located in O'Fallon, Missouri, west of St. Louis) to improve its coverage of the Illinois side of the market and downtown St. Louis..^[8] The call letters were changed to KFTK on September 16, 2016.^[9]

References

↑ Broadcasting Cablecasting Yearbook 1982 (PDF). 1982. p. C-71. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
1 2 "WESL History Cards" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
↑ 1965 Broadcasting Yearbook (PDF). 1965. p. B-49. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
↑ "Price Firm is Denied East Side Radio Station". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 7, 1971. Retrieved September 15, 2016. East St. Louis has had no AM station since WAMV went out of business in 1965 because of financial problems.
↑ "St. Louis sports-talk WFFX (1490) drops syndicated shows for local 'urban sports talk'". Radio-Info.com. 2009-07-17. Retrieved 2009-10-27.
↑ Caesar, Dan (2009-07-17). "Urban sports-talk radio to begin next week in St. Louis". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 2009-10-27.
↑ "WQQX Website".
↑ Venta, Lance (September 15, 2016). "FM NewsTalk 97.1 St. Louis Adds Two Additional Signals". RadioInsight. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
↑ "Call Sign History". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved September 16, 2016.

External links

Official website

Query the FCC's AM station database for KFTK

Radio-Locator Information on KFTK

Radio stations in the St. Louis market
by AM frequency	550 590 630 690 730 770 850 880 920 1010 1080 1120 1190 1260 1280 1320 1350 1380 1400 1430 1460 1490 1570 1600
by FM frequency	88.1 88.7 89.1 89.5 89.5 89.7 89.7 89.9 89.9 90.3 90.7 91.5 91.9 92.3 92.7 92.9 93.3 93.7 94.1 94.3 94.7 95.1 95.5 95.9 96.3 96.7 97.1 97.7 98.1 98.5 98.7 99.1 99.5 99.9 100.3 100.7 101.1 101.5 101.7 101.9 102.5 103.3 103.7 104.1 104.5 104.5 104.9 105.3 105.7 106.5 106.9 106.9 107.3 107.7
NOAA Weather Radio frequency	162.45 162.55
by callsign	K220HT K236CS K240ES K254CR K268CT K270BW K283CI K287BY K295CQ K297BI KATZ KCFV KCLC KDHX KDO89 KEZK-FM KFAV KFNS KFNS-FM KFTK KFTK-FM KFUO KGNA KGNX KHOJ KHZR KJFF KLJY KLLT KLOU KMJM-FM KMOX KNLH KNOU KPNT KPVR KQQZ KRAP KSD KSHE KSIV KSIV-FM KSLQ KSLZ KSTL KTGP-LP KTJJ KTRS KWAP-LP KWEC-LP KWMU KWRE KWRH-LP KWUL KWUR KXEN KXFN KXI70 KYFI KYGV-LP KYKY KYRO KZQZ W224DC W232CR W248CH W279AQ WARH WBGZ WCBW-FM WEW WFUN-FM WGNU WHHL WIJR WIL-FM WLCA WLUQ WRYT WSDZ WSIE WXOS
Defunct, now internet-only	KFUO-FM
Satellite radio local traffic/weather XM Channel 217 Sirius Channel 151 Nearby radio markets Cape Girardeau Columbia-Jefferson City Hannibal/Quincy Marion–Carbondale Mount Vernon Springfield, IL See also List of radio stations in Missouri List of radio stations in Illinois

News/talk radio stations in the state of Illinois
All-news	WBBM – Chicago WCFS – Elmwood Park
News and talk	KFTK – East St. Louis KQQZ – Fairview Heights WAIK – Galesburg WBBA-FM – Pittsfield WBEL – South Beloit WBGZ – Alton WBIG – Aurora WBOW – Paris WCIL – Carbondale WCMY – Ottawa WCPT – Willow Springs WCRA – Effingham WCSJ – Morris WDAN – Danville WDWS – Champaign WFIW – Fairfield WGEM – Quincy WGIL – Galesburg WGN – Chicago WGNU – Granite City WHOW – Clinton WIBK – Watseka WIND – Chicago WJBC – Bloomington WJBM – Jerseyville WJIL - Jacksonville WJOL – Joliet WJPF – Herrin WKAN – Kankakee WKEI – Kewanee WKYX – Golconda WLBK – DeKalb WLMD - Bushnell WLS – Chicago WMAY – Springfield WMIX – Mount Vernon WRMN – Elgin WROK – Rockford WRPW – Colfax WSDR – Sterling WSDZ – Belleville WSOY – Decatur WTAD – Quincy WTAX – Springfield WTIM – Assumption WTRH – Ramsey WZOE – Princeton WZUS – Macon
See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in Illinois

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