| Broadcast area | Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1600kHz |
| Branding | VVA 1600AM |
| Programming | |
| Language | Vietnamese |
| Format | Full service, pop music andtalk |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Lrad Media, LLC |
| History | |
First air date | September 29, 1947 (1947-09-29) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | K RadioVietnameseAmerica |
| Technical information | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Class | B |
| Power |
|
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | vva1600 |
KRVA (1600kHz), branded as "VVA 1600AM", is acommercialAM radio station,licensed toCockrell Hill, Texas, and serving theDallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. It is owned by Lrad Media, LLC, and broadcasts afull service Vietnameseradio format, featuring pop music andtalk
By day it is powered at 25,000 watts. At night, to avoid interfering with other stations on1600 AM, it reduces power to 930 watts. It uses adirectional antenna at all times. Thetransmitter is on Woodvista Court in the Piedmont neighborhood of SoutheastDallas.[1]
This station started their broadcasting activities on September 29, 1947, as KMAE on an Entertainment format operating during the daytime hours only inMcKinney, Texas. Then in1965, the station changed to KYAL (call letters stood for "y'all"), playingcountry music. Over a decade later, the station has moved toPlano, Texas, as the branding and formats changed once again to KXVI (callsign stood for "16" in Roman numbers) under variousreligious formats. Recently, the KXVI calls were re-used at 100.5 FM inPittsburg for "The Bridge Network," a DFW-based religious broadcaster serving East Texas. In1985, the station changed to an all-news station as KTNS. It went off the air after January 7, 1987.
About seven months later, the station was revived by Spanish Radio Pioneer Marcos Rodriguez Sr., father ofMarcos A. Rodriguez as KSSA (recently resurrected from 1270 AM) on a Spanish format, relocated to Cockrell Hill (which has a high Hispanic population) and a sister station toKansas City-based KSSA-FM. In 1993, Z-Spanish Media andEntravision bought KSSA and changed the callsign to KRVA while maintaining its Spanish format. In the 1990s, it simulcastWFAA-TV's 6 p.m. newscast in Spanish.
There was also a period, including summer and autumn of 2005, during which 1600 AM broadcast an Asian format (including Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu and English languages), with music, talk, games and advertising relating to the Asian community in the D/FW area.
In November 2006, Entravision sold KRVA toMortenson Broadcasting after selling the other stations toLiberman Broadcasting.
It was announced on October 21, 2011, that Mortenson Broadcasting would be selling three of its sister stations and (2 AM and 1 FM translator) toSalem Communications. Mortenson would also spin off this station to Pacificstar Media II Corporation for $1.4 Million in cash.[2] Sometime in October 2012, KRVA switched to its current Vietnamese format (previously onKTXV), abandoning the previous Spanish religious programming.
Pacificstar Media sold the station to Lrad Media, LLC for $1.9 million; the transaction was consummated on March 17, 2014.
During the morning hours on October 29, 1981, KXVI went off the air for 45 minutes after a paddle-welding man from Dallas began commandeering the building and said that he was taken possession forSatan. After replying to the man that this is a gospel station, the man told the manager to "get out of here because this is Satan's station." He started to beat up the manager, was later caught by Plano Police, and was taken to Collin County's Memorial Hospital after being beaten up by the manager.
38°36′43″N121°25′58″W / 38.611817°N 121.432706°W /38.611817; -121.432706