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| Broadcast area | Tulsa metropolitan area |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1170kHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | 1170 News on 6 Now |
| Programming | |
| Format | All-News (KOTV television newssimulcast) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KHTT,KRQV,KVOO-FM,KXBL,KOTV-DT,KQCW-DT | |
| History | |
First air date | June 23, 1926; 98 years ago (1926-06-23) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | "Oklahoma Television" (derived from sister television stationKOTV-DT) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 68329 |
| Class | A |
| Power | 50,000watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 36°8′47.35″N95°48′26.95″W / 36.1464861°N 95.8074861°W /36.1464861; -95.8074861 |
| Repeater(s) | 106.9-2 KHTT-HD2 (Muskogee) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
KOTV (1170kHz) is acommercialAMradio station inTulsa, Oklahoma. It is owned byGriffin Communications and airs anall-newsradio format. Studios and offices are located across from Guthrie Green inDowntown Tulsa. Thetransmitter is on East 11th Street (Route 66) in an undeveloped area of East Tulsa.[2]
KOTV is aclear channelClass A station broadcasting at 50,000watts, the maximum power for American AM stations. The station uses anon-directional antenna by day, heard over much ofEastern Oklahoma and parts ofKansas,Arkansas andMissouri. It provides secondary coverage as far north asWichita, as far east asFayetteville andFort Smith, Arkansas. At night, it uses adirectional antenna with a three-tower array to protect the other Class A station on 1170 AM,WWVA inWheeling, West Virginia. Even with this restriction, KOTV's nighttime signal can be heard over much of theCentral United States and well into theRocky Mountains with a good radio.
The station carriesNews on 6 Now, asimulcast of the TV newscasts on channel 6KOTV-DT and sister station channel 19KQCW-DT. When channel 6 or channel 19 are broadcasting entertainment shows or syndicated programs, 1170 AM replays the most recent TV newscast.
KOTV-DT is theCBSNetwork affiliate while KQCW-DT isThe CW network affiliate for the Tulsa TV market. It airs local news on weekdays from 4:30 to 10 a.m., noon to 1 p.m., 4 to 5:30 p.m., 6 to 6:30 p.m. and 9 to 10:35 p.m. It also has several newscasts on Saturdays and Sundays. Griffin Media owns channel 6, channel 19, and 1170 AM.
Founded by E. H. Rollestone, KOTV firstsigned on the air on June 23, 1926; 98 years ago (June 23, 1926). Its originalcall sign was KVOO, the "Voice Of Oklahoma".[3] At the time, it was powered at 1,000 watts with its transmitter inBristow, Oklahoma. Rollestone, a young oil millionaire, had previously founded another station in Bristow known asKFRU, which had already been sold toStephens College inColumbia, Missouri.
KVOO was moved to Tulsa on September 13, 1927, after being partially purchased byWilliam G. Skelly. Skelly later purchased the entire company on June 28, 1928. In 1933, radio legendPaul Harvey began his radio career at KVOO.
From the 1970s until May 2002, the station was primarily known for itscountry music heritage, as well as being nationally famous forWestern swing music. KVOO hosted such musicians asBob Wills and hisTexas Playboys,Johnnie Lee Wills andBilly Parker, who has won awards as country musicdisc jockey of the year. One of the places in Tulsa made famous by KVOO Radio wasCain's Ballroom, located on Main Street. Cain's Ballroom was the performing place for Bob Wills, with live broadcasts on KVOO.
In addition, KVOO hostedThe John Chick Show, a full hour of local country music talent, also seen onKTUL (channel 8) until 1979. This program broadcast at 7 a.m., and regularly beat outNBC'sToday Show and theCBS Morning News in the local ratings. KTUL's network,ABC, had no morning news program until 1975; when ABC premieredGood Morning America, KTUL continued to air the Chick program instead. When Elton Rule, president of ABC, visited KTUL-TV to see why the ABC affiliate was pre-emptingGood Morning America, Jimmy C. Leake, owner of KTUL-TV, showed the Tulsa ratings book to Rule, and ABC backed off. KTUL began carryingGood Morning America in 1979, when Chick left the station due tomultiple sclerosis.
In 1971, Billy Parker joined KVOO. While at the station, Parker's awards included theCountry Music Association Disc Jockey of the Year honor in 1974 and theAcademy of Country Music Disc Jockey of the Year awards in 1975, 1977, 1978 and 1984. Parker was inducted into the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame in 1992, the Western Swing Hall of Fame in 1993, and scored the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters' Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.
The Interstate Road Show was also hosted on the station by veteran country DJ Larry Scott who is also in the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame. The last live country show was broadcast by veteran Tulsa radio personality Bob O'Shea. O'Shea first worked at KVOO in 1979. He later rejoined KVOO in August 1999 and retired on June 26, 2006, after more than 34 years in radio. The last three songs O'Shea played were "Hello Out There" by Billy Parker, "T-U-L-S-A, Straight Ahead" by Ray Benson &Asleep at the Wheel and "Take Me Back To Tulsa" by Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys.
The NBC television affiliate in Tulsa went on the air as KVOO-TV (channel 2) on December 5, 1954. Both KVOO-TV and KVOO radio shared the same building for many years. In 1970, KVOO sold off the television station to Scripps-Howard Broadcasting (now theE. W. Scripps Company). As separately-owned broadcast stations could not sharecall signs at the time, the TV station's call letters became KTEW. In 1980, KTEW becameKJRH-TV.
In 1987, KVOO acquired an FM station, KCFO-FM, which airedChristian contemporary music. At the time, KVOO had plenty ofdisc jockey chatter and information, in addition to playing the country hits. Management flipped KCFO-FM to be a more-music FM country outlet, to contrast with KVOO on the AM dial, as KUSO, "US-98.5". Later, it became "Country 98" KVOO-FM, using the same call letters as the heritage AM station. The Stuart family sold KVOO-AM-FM to Great Empire Broadcasting in 1990.
At midnight on May 15, 2002, the country music ended. KVOO changed to KFAQ with atalk radio format. Most of the DJs moved to co-owned 98.5 KVOO-FM and that station added moreclassic country. In 2003, co-ownedKXBL flipped to all-classic country music, playing many of the same songs KVOO AM aired in previous decades. KXBL calls itself "Big Country", the same slogan KVOO AM used when it was at its height.
Journal Media Group announced on July 30, 2014, that it would merge with Scripps. Scripps would retain the two firms' broadcasting properties, including KFAQ; this reunited the station with KJRH-TV.
On June 26, 2018, Scripps announced that it would sell its Tulsa radio stations, including KFAQ, toOklahoma City-basedGriffin Communications for $12.5 million. The sale would make the radio stations co-owned withCBS affiliateKOTV-DT (channel 6) andCW affiliateKQCW-DT (channel 19), both competitors to KJRH.[4][5][6][7] Griffin began operating the stations under alocal marketing agreement on July 30, and completed the purchase October 1.[8] On September 7, 2021, the station flipped tosports radio as "1170 The Blitz", carrying a mix of local programming andFox Sports Radio.[9] The call letters were changed to KTSB, representing "Tulsa's Sports Blitz."
On June 26, 2024, citing low ratings, the "Blitz" format was dropped. The station then began airing an audio simulcast of KOTV-DT's "News on 6 Now" subchannel.[10][11] This was coupled with a call sign change to KOTV, to match the call letters on the co-owned television station.