KTSA
 |
|
| City | San Antonio, Texas |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | San Antonio metropolitan area |
| Branding | 550 AM KTSA |
| Slogan | Stay connected San Antonio |
| Frequency | 550 kHz (also on HD Radio) |
| Translator(s) | 107.1 K296GK (Pleasanton) |
| First air date |
550: September 1922 (as WCAR) 107.1: March 13, 2015 |
| Format | News/Talk |
| Language(s) | English |
| Audience share | 1.6  (February 2017, Nielsen Audio[1]) |
| Power | 550: 5,000 watts |
| ERP | 107.1: 250 watts |
| HAAT | 107.1: 186 m (610 ft) |
| Class |
550: B 107.1: D |
| Facility ID |
550: 71087 107.1: 140646 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 29°29′47.5″N 98°24′57.5″W / 29.496528°N 98.415972°W |
| Callsign meaning | Keep Talking San Antonio (Originally Kome To San Antonio) |
| Former callsigns | WCAR (1922-?) |
| Owner |
Alpha Media (Alpha Media Licensee, LLC) |
| Sister stations | KJXK, KLEY-FM, KTFM, KHHL, KZDC |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | ktsa.com |
KTSA (550 AM & 107.1 FM) is a news-talk formatted radio station in San Antonio, Texas. KTSA was acquired by BMP Radio in August 2006. On July 27, 2009, Border Media Partners was taken over by its lenders in an "amicable manner," according to an FCC filing (radioink.com). Border Media had not made a debt payment in two years (San Antonio Express-News). This resulted in BMP selling the station to L&L Broadcasting (now Alpha Media) in 2013.
This radio station began as WCAR, founded by John C. Rodriguez of the Alamo Radio & Electric Company in September 1922. WCAR was the second radio station in San Antonio, taking the airwaves shortly after WJAE which only lasted a few months.
Full-time operation of KTSA was approved April 29, 1933, when the Federal Radio Commission approved KTSA's purchase of KFUL in Galveston, Texas, and the subsequent elimination of that station. Previously, the two had shared broadcast time. KTSA, which was owned by Southwest Broadcasting Company at that time, also became a full affiliate of the Southwest and CBS networks. On October 28, 1940, KTSA played host to the first and only meeting between noted science fiction author H.G. Wells and radio dramatist Orson Welles, which occurred nearly two years after the panic created by Welles' broadcast of The War of the Worlds.
For a time the Express News Corporation owned the station. In the 1950s rock and roll radio Pioneer Gordon McLendon bought KTSA and made it one of the first Top 40 stations in America. KTSA became an overnight sensation because of the music and outrageous for the time promotions including a "Flagpole" sitter in the O. R. Mitchell Dodge Used Car lot on Broadway, and the KTSA Easter Egg Hunt which swamped San Pedro Park with thousands of listeners searching for a $1000 KTSA Golden Egg. IN 1957 KTSA got competition from KONO radio which changed to the top 40 format and hired several of KTSA's disk jockeys. By this time McLendon had successful stations in El Paso (KELP) Dallas (KLIF) and Houston (KILT) and used the El Paso and San Antonio stations as farm teams for the larger markets. Under McLendon ownership, KTSA once obtained Federal Communications Commission (FCC) permission to change its call letters from KTSA to KAKI, reportedly to honor San Antonio's military personnel (with "KAKI" meaning "khaki", a type of fabric used in military uniforms). After KAKI letterhead and promotional materials were printed, management learned that their new call letters were slang in Spanish for baby feces. The call letter change was reconsidered and the station reverted to KTSA.
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Wikipedia