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| Broadcast area | Little Rock metropolitan area |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1090kHz |
| Branding | 1090 AM KAAY |
| Programming | |
| Format | Christian radio |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KARN,KARN-FM,KIPR,KLAL,KFOG,KURB | |
| History | |
First air date | December 20, 1924; 100 years ago (1924-12-20) (as KTHS at 800 AM) |
Former call signs | KTHS (1924–1962) |
Former frequencies | 800 kHz (1924–1927) 780 kHz (1927–1928) 600 kHz (1928–1929) 1040 kHz (1929–1934) |
Call sign meaning | Similarity to onetime sister station WAKY inLouisville, Kentucky, nowWKRD (AM) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 33253 |
| Class | A |
| Power | 50,000watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 34°36′00″N92°13′30″W / 34.60000°N 92.22500°W /34.60000; -92.22500 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast |
|
| Website | www |
KAAY (1090AM) is a commercialradio station inLittle Rock, Arkansas, owned byCumulus Media.[2][3] It airs aChristian radio format of instruction and preaching, with most of the schedule made up ofbrokered programming featuring local and national religious leaders, includingCharles Stanley,Jim Daly,John F. MacArthur, andAlbert Pendarvis. Overnight,automatedcontemporary Christian music is heard. The station's studios are located in West Little Rock, and the transmitter is located off McDonald Road inWrightsville. KAAY is Arkansas's primary entry point station for theEmergency Alert System.
KAAY first signed on as KTHS on December 20, 1924, inHot Springs, Arkansas.[4] It operated on 600, 780, 800 and 1040kilocycles at different times in its early days. By the 1930s, it moved to its current frequency of 1090 kHz, with 10,000watts in the daytime, allowing it to be easily heard in the larger capital city of Little Rock, about 50 miles to the northeast. KTHS was an affiliate of theNBC Blue Network, continuing with the affiliation when the network was renamedABC in 1945.KTHS was the founding station for theLum and Abner Show in 1932.
In 1953, KTHS got a big boost in power, going to its current 50,000 watts, and it also switched itscity of license to Little Rock. It became an affiliate of theCBS Radio Network.[5] Two years later, it signed onKTHV (channel 11) which affiliated with theCBS television network. In 1962, the TV and radio stations were sold to separate owners, with KTHS bought byLIN Broadcasting.
The new owners turned KTHS into atop 40 station in 1962, switching thecall sign to KAAY. In the 1960s, KAAY had plans to put a co-ownedFM station on the air at 98.5MHz, but due to the limited number of FM radios in those days, the project didn't get off the ground. KAAY was sold toMultimedia Radio in 1975; the following year, Multimedia bought an FM station at 94.1 MHz,KEZQ, that aired abeautiful music format.[6]
During the station's heyday, KAAY featured afull-service top 40 format and was the dominant contemporary station for most of the state of Arkansas. During the 1960s and 1970s, on-air personalities included Mike McCormick, Doc Holiday, Jonnie King, Buddy Karr, Ken Knight, Sonny Martin, and newscasters George J. Jennings,Wayne Moss, Phil North and Ray Lincoln of theRay and Ram Program. The station also broadcastUniversity of Arkansas football games.
KAAY's cult status was forged in the late 1960s, when, after 11p.m., the station abandoned the standard top 40 format for three hours ofunderground music with the programBeaker Street hosted byClyde Clifford.[7] Its nighttime signal extended well beyond Little Rock and Arkansas, covering much of theGreat Plains andMississippi Valley regions of the United States.
Owing to its 50,000-wattclear channel signal that could be received inCuba, KAAY provided residents of the island nation an important cultural link to the outside world in the years following theCuban Revolution. During the 1962Bay of Pigs Invasion, the United States government used the station to broadcast anti-Castro propaganda while working to win the release of Cuban exiles who participated in the failed exercise. KAAY was an inspiration to Cuban rock musicians and rock fans who tuned intoBeaker Street late at night, keeping themselves informed about American music and underground music in the 1970s.[7] They listened undercover withSoviet-madetransistor radios. In the late 1960s the station's jingle started out with roaring thunder followed by a deep voice: "Fifty thousand watts of music power, K-double-A-Y, Little Rock".
By 1980, listening to contemporary hits was shifting from AM to FM. The station tried moving toadult contemporary music and somecountry music. Eventually the station switched to anoldies sound, calling itself "Oldies 1090". At night, when the station's 50,000-watt signal could be heard over a large territory, the station aired nine hours of paid religious programming. In April 1985, KAAY was sold to theBeasley Broadcasting Group, which switched to a format ofSouthern gospel music and brokered religion. The FM station was sold to Signal Media, which owned KLRA.
In 1998, KAAY was bought byCitadel Broadcasting for $5 million.[8] In 2011, Citadel Broadcasting merged withCumulus Media, which continued the Christian programming.[9] KAAY is Cumulus' only station with a religious format.
On Labor Day weekend of 2003, the station returned to its roots with a historical segment called "KAAY Rewound". KAAY's Barry Mac and sister station KARN's Grant Merrill played 1960s and 1970s hits and took calls from all over the South. Clyde Clifford returned to talk aboutBeaker Street. The station at various times broadcasts a feature called "Radio Yesterday" which includes the memories of the station's top 40 heyday.
The KAAY transmission facilities in Wrightsville have been vandalized several times. Copper thieves stole a large amount of transmission line, degrading the station's signal significantly. Roof damage allowed water to enter the MW-5 5,000-watt transmitter, knocking it off the air with a shorted high voltage power transformer. Station staff reportedly "wanted way too much for a new transformer", and ended up getting aCollins 5,000-watt transmitter from their sister station in Dallas. Technical staff couldn't run the MW-50A, only having a 7/8-inch coax purchased to get something on the air. In 2015, the station purchased a3+1/8-inch (7.9 cm) transmission line and buried it 4 feet (1.2 m) underground to deter thieves and put the MW-50 back on at 50,000 watts day and 10,000 watts night. In 2017, KAAY purchased a newNautel NX-50 transmitter, new coax cable and a new phasor to connect the end towers. Mike Patton was contracted to install and tune the phasor. That June, Daniel Appellof, assistant chief engineer for KAAY Citadel/Cumulus Media Little Rock from July 2006 to September 2017, was tasked to remove the old RCA transmitter to make room for the phasor and the NX50. He had left the company to move to Las Vegas to be closer to his family. In December 2017, there was a major shake up in the engineering department and Appellof was asked to return to Little Rock to finish the project. The new Nautel transmitter and the phasor were installed in early 2018, and in late February KAAY was back to 50,000 watts day and 50,000 watts directional at night. In May 2020, the westernmost tower collapsed, and the station filed for special temporary authority (STA) to operate at a reduced night power of 12,500 watts non-directional.[10] As of July 2021, the station is still waiting on the owner of the tower site, Vertical Bridge, to make the repairs.[11] In February, 2022, KAAY applied to the commission to transmit permanently with eighty (80) watts omnidirectionally during nighttime hours, but still 50,000 watts daytime.