City | St. Louis, Missouri |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Greater St. Louis |
Branding | The Big 5-50, KTRS |
Slogan | "The Talk of Saint Louis |
Frequency | AM 550 kHz |
First air date | June 26, 1922 (as KSD) |
Format | News/Talk |
Power | 5,000 watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 38°39′45″N 90°7′43″W / 38.66250°N 90.12861°W |
Callsign meaning |
K Talk Radio St. Louis. |
Former callsigns | KSD (1922-1982) KUSA (1983-1993) KSD (1993-1997) |
Affiliations |
NBC News (1939-1994) ABC News (1994-present) |
Owner | KTRS-AM LICENSE, L.L.C. and the majority owner, the St. Louis Cardinals |
Webcast | Listen Live |
Website | www.ktrs.com |
KTRS (550 AM) in an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Saint Louis, Missouri that carries a News/Talk format. The station is owned by the St. Louis Cardinals and CH Radio Holdings. It broadcasts with 5,000 watts of power, day and night. KTRS' studios are located in Westport Plaza in Maryland Heights, while its transmitters are located near Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison.
Weekday programming includes Coast to Coast AM, "Farmer Dave" Schumacher on early mornings, McGraw Milhaven on morning drive, Martin Kilcoyne on mid-days, John Carney on early afternoons, followed by The Large Morning Show in the Afternoon, & The Big Sports Show with John Hadley and Jim Heuer.
KTRS carries ABC newscasts for national news, followed by local news from Colin Jeffery, Jill Enders, Trevor Phillips and Jessica Machetta.
Frequent traffic reports are provided by Tim Wilund, Frank Ladd, and Ed Smaron.
Weekend programming consists of how-to, advice, and trivia shows with occasional sports events.
KSD, owned by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, began broadcasting experimentally in 1921 at 833 kc. with 27 watts of power. The official sign-on didn't take place until June 26, 1922. KSD moved to 550 kc. in 1923, with an increase in power to 5,000 watts daytime and 1,000 watts nighttime taking place in 1934. With a new transmitter in place, in November 1948 KSD increased its night output, reaching a status of 5 kW (full-time).
KSD was one of the first eight radio stations of the NBC Radio Network in 1926. That association lasted until the early 1980s. Sister station KSD-TV (now KSDK) went on the air February 8, 1947. KSD radio also played standards and classical music, before moving to a Top 40 format in early 1971.