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| Broadcast area | Sacramento metro area |
| Frequency | 1140kHz |
| Branding | Sactown Sports 1140 |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | Sports |
| Network | Infinity Sports Network |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | November 12, 1926 (1926-11-12) (as KGDM at 1380) |
Former call signs |
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Former frequencies |
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Call sign meaning | Station formerly had ahot talk format |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 20352 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 50,000 watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 38°23′34″N121°11′51″W / 38.39278°N 121.19750°W /38.39278; -121.19750 |
| Repeater | 96.1 KYMX-HD2 (Sacramento) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast |
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| Website | www |
KHTK (1140AM) is acommercial radio stationlicensed toSacramento, California. KHTK broadcasts asports radioformat as "Sactown Sports 1140" and is anaffiliate of theInfinity Sports Network. It is owned bySalt Lake City–basedBonneville International, a profit-making subsidiary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The studios and offices are on Commerce Circle inNorth Sacramento, just north of theAmerican River.[2]
KHTK is powered at 50,000 watts, the maximum for AM radio stations in the United States. BecauseAM 1140 is aclear channel frequency reserved forClass A stationsXEMR-AM inMonterrey, Mexico, andWRVA inRichmond, Virginia, KHTK must broadcast with adirectional antenna at all times to avoid interference, using a five-tower array. Thetransmitter is on Rising Road inWilton, California.[3]
KHTK is the second Sacramento AM station, afterKIID, to broadcast using theHD Radio hybrid format. The signal is audible as far north asRedding, as far south asMonterey and into the suburbs of San Francisco. It is also simulcast on the third HD subchannel ofsister stationKNCI.[4]
Weekdays begin with "The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross" in morningdrive time. In middays, Allen Stiles and Chris Watkins are heard. KHTK's afternoon drive show,The Drive Guys, features Kevin Gleason and Kyle Draper. At night and weekends, when there is no live game scheduled, KHTK carries Infinity Sports Network shows.
KHTK serves asflagship station forSacramento Kings basketball andUC Davis Aggies football. Also heard areLas Vegas Raiders andSan Francisco 49ers football andSan Jose Sharks hockey.
KHTK firstsigned on the air on November 12,1926.[5] It was randomly assigned thecall sign KGDM from an alphabetic list of available call letters. The station was originally owned by Hercules Broadcasting, licensed toStockton, California, and operating at 1130 kHz with 1,000 watts of power. Initially it was adaytimer, required to go off the air from sunset to sunrise.
Following the establishment of theFederal Radio Commission (FRC), stations were initially issued a series of temporary authorizations starting on May 3, 1927.[6] In addition, they were informed that if they wanted to continue operating, they needed to file a formal license application by January 15, 1928, as the first step in determining whether they met the new "public interest, convenience, or necessity" standard.[7] On May 25, 1928, the FRC issuedGeneral Order 32, which notified 164 stations, including KGDM, that "From an examination of your application for future license it does not find that public interest, convenience, or necessity would be served by granting it."[8] However, the station successfully convinced the commission that it should remain licensed.
On November 11, 1928, the FRC implemented a major reallocation of station transmitting frequencies, as part of a reorganization resulting from its implementation ofGeneral Order 40. KGDM was assigned to 1150 kHz, and restricted to only daytime operation.[9]
The 1941North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement required the station to move its frequency. KGDM switched to 1140 kHz with 5,000 watts, now authorized to broadcast full-time. In 1957, the station changed call signs to KRAK, increased power to 50,000 watts and flipped to aTop 40 format. The station unsuccessfully competed withKSTN in Stockton, which at that time only ran 1,000 watts. KSTN would continue with Top 40 (later calledcontemporary hit radio) until 1999 though by the late 1980s had a rhythmic/urban slant to the format.
KRAK flipped to acountry music format in 1962. The station had changed its city of license to Sacramento and moved to new facilities. Some of the early personalities included "Oakie Paul" Westmoreland, Walt Shaw, and Dick Bains. With country music moving more into mainstream popularity during the 1970s, KRAK became one of the Sacramento area's most popular stations. Listeners were not only exposed to artists such asJohnny Cash,Dolly Parton,Waylon Jennings, andWillie Nelson, but enjoyed two decades of on-air personality stability. Joey Mitchell hosted the morning show, and was named "Sacramento Radio Personality of the Year" several times. Rick Stewart hosted middays, Big Jim Hall hosted afternoon drive, Hal Murray hosted nights, and Fred Hoffman hosted "Captain Fred's All-Night Truckin' Show. All had Top 40 backgrounds which led to a tighter, more upbeat format.
KRAK continued to broadcast into the 1990s, long after other music stations had switched to theFM band. KRAK-FM would eventually move ahead in the ratings, later becomingKNCI through changes after a purchase byCBS Radio and frequency switching.
On February 28, 1994, KRAK became KHTK, ahot talk station, as "Hot Talk 1140".[10] After a couple of years in the talk format, it flipped to its current all-sports format.[11] The call letters "KRAK" would make a brief return in the Sacramentomedia market as a classic country station atAM 1470 before that station was sold toRadio Disney and is todayKIID, airing programming inPunjabi. Most recently, the KRAK call letters were assigned to a CBS-owned station inVictor Valley, California, which would later becomeKMPS.[12]
KHTK was originally branded as "Sports 1140" before adopting "The Fan" branding in November 2011. On January 1, 2013, KHTK began to identify itself as "CBS Sports 1140". On July 1, 2013, six months after identifying as "CBS Sports 1140", KHTK switched its branding back to "KHTK Sports 1140", then to "Sports 1140 KHTK". One of KHTK's initial sports hosts wasPro Football Hall of FamerJack Youngblood, who co-hosted with Mike Remy, the station's former program director.
On July 31, 2008, theCBS Corporation announced that KHTK and its five sister stations in Sacramento were being put up for sale as part of the planned divestiture of radio stations outside the top-15 U.S. radio markets. KHTK would remain part of the CBS Radio family for nearly a decade.
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge withEntercom which locally ownedKKDO,KUDL,KSEG,KRXQ, andKIFM. The company formerly ownedKDND until it shut the station down and turned in its license to theFederal Communications Commission two days later.[13] On October 10, CBS Radio announced that as part of the process of obtaining regulatory approval of the merger, KHTK would be one of sixteen stations that would be divested by Entercom, along with sister stationsKYMX,KZZO, andKNCI;KSFM would be retained by Entercom.[14]
On November 1, Entercom announced thatBonneville International would begin operating KHTK, KYMX, KZZO and KNCI via alocal marketing agreement (LMA) when the merger of CBS and Entercom closed on November 17, while their licenses were placed into a divestiture trust pending a sale to a different owner within 180 days.[15][16][17] On August 3, 2018, Bonneville announced it would buy the stations outright in a $141 million deal.[18] The sale was completed on September 21, 2018.[19]
Former KHTK afternoon host and Kings play-by-play announcerGrant Napear was a staple of the station's programming from 1997 until 2020. In June 2020, Bonneville fired Napear for insensitive remarks towards former Kings playerDeMarcus Cousins in a series of Twitter feeds regarding theBlack Lives Matter movement.[20]
On June 20, 2022, KHTK rebranded as "Sactown Sports 1140".[21] The station acquired local broadcast rights to theSan Francisco 49ers in March 2023, replacing former affiliateKIFM.[22]
KHTK served as the Sacramento affiliate ofOakland Athletics baseball via theOakland Athletics Radio Network from 2013[23] through 2024. Following the temporary move of theAthletics (A's) toWest Sacramento as part of theirrelocation to Las Vegas, on February 14, 2025, the team announced thatKSTE would replace KHTK as the team's Sacramento radio outlet.[24]