K-Love Classics was a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...

radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio ( duplex communication) type ...

owned by

Educational Media Foundation Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest ...

(EMF) and was carried over FM stations,

translators Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

, and HD subchannels in the United States. Such stations include WAIW 88.1 in

Wheaton, Illinois Wheaton is a suburban city in Milton and Winfield Townships and is the county seat of DuPage County, Illinois. It is located approximately west of Chicago. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 52,894, which was estimated ...

. The network was one of the formats produced by EMF. Airing Christian music from the 1980s, 1990s, and early in the decade of the 2000s, the K-Love Classics format debuted in June 2018 as an internet-only station but quickly moved to terrestrial radio on FM and

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

subchannels after a large response to the new format. On November 2, 2020, K-Love Classics was discontinued, and was subsequently replaced by new decade-specific networks devoted to the 1990s and 2000s.

History

K-Love Classics was launched in June 2018 as an

internet radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...

station featuring classic

Contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...

(CCM) from the 1980s, 1990s, and the early part of the decade of the 2000s, akin to the secular

format. In response to popular demand,

(EMF) began airing the format over its nationwide network of full-power FM stations, low-power

, and

subchannels. In August 2018, WAIW in

(a suburb of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

) became the first terrestrial radio station to broadcast K-Love Classics. More stations were added over the next several weeks, including in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...

as well as subchannels of WLVU in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

and

KLVB KLVB (99.5 FM) is a radio station serving the Sacramento metropolitan area with the contemporary Christian format K-Love. It is owned and operated by the Educational Media Foundation, based in nearby Rocklin, California. EMF re-launched KLVS i ...

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

. For a brief period starting in August 2018, K-Love Classics was available in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

on KKLQ-HD3, but the following month it was replaced with

Radio Nueva Vida Radio Nueva Vida (''New Life'') is a Spanish-language Christian radio network based in Camarillo, California, United States. It is owned and operated by The Association for Community Education, Inc., a California non-profit 501(c)(3) organization ...

programming. However, in August 2020, K-Love Classics came back to the Los Angeles airwaves on KYLA-HD3 and KYRA-HD3. On November 2, 2020, K-Love Classics was discontinued; the network began carrying "K-Love

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

" as a temporary format, with the EMF stating plans for new programming to premiere in 2021. On January 1, 2021, the K-Love Classics network was divided into two new networks—"K-Love 90's" and "K-Love 2000's"—devoted to CCM from the 1990s and 2000s respectively. In September 2022, as part of the 40th anniversary of K-Love's launch, the EMF added additional internet radio stations devoted to CCM from the 1970s, 1980s, and 2010s, as well as the "K-Love Birthday Blend", which carries CCM spanning the network's 40-year history.

List of stations

In addition to the online stream, K-Love Classics was relayed by numerous terrestrial radio stations throughout the United States. The following list of stations is the extent of the network as of its total shutdown in early November 2020. Unless otherwise indicated, all stations are on the

FM band The FM broadcast band is a range of radio frequencies used for FM broadcasting by radio stations. The range of frequencies used differs between different parts of the world. In Europe and Africa (defined as International Telecommunication Union ( ...

Former Stations Prior to November 2020 Network Closure

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:K-Love Contemporary Christian radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 2018 2018 establishments in California Radio stations disestablished in 2020 2020 disestablishments in California Defunct radio networks in the United States