KCLE (1460
kHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...
) is a
commercial
Commercial may refer to:
* a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television)
** Radio advertisement
** Television advertisement
* (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
AM radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
licensed to
Burleson, Texas which serves the
Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex
The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is a conurbated metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas encompassing 11 counties and anchore ...
. It is owned by Tron Dinh Do, through licensee Intelli, LLC., and broadcasts Vietnamese language music and talk from a network based in California. First licensed in July 1922, it is one of Texas' oldest radio stations.
KCLE programming is also heard on two
FM translator station
A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...
s: 93.1 K226BM in
Cleburne and 95.7 K239CC in
Burleson.
History
KCLE was first licensed, with the sequentially assigned call letters of WJAD, to Jackson's Radio Engineering Laboratories in
Waco, Texas
Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the ...
on July 21, 1922. The call letters were changed to WACO in February 1930. WACO was owned by three men, Frank P. Jackson, J. M. Gilliam, and
Orville Bullington
Orville may refer to:
People
* Orville (given name), a list of people with the male given name
* Howard Thomas Orville (1901–1960), American naval officer and meteorologist
* Max Orville (born 1962), French politician
* Merlyn Orville Valan (19 ...
of
Wichita Falls
Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the seat of government of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita counties. Accordin ...
, the 1932
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
gubernatorial
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...
nominee.
In 1962, it put an FM station on the air, 99.9
WACO-FM
WACO-FM (99.9 MHz, "WACO 100") is a commercial FM radio station in Waco, Texas. It airs a country music radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios and offices are located on West Highway 6 in Southwest Waco. The transmitter is o ...
. The two stations
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
a
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
format. In the late 1970s and for most of the 1980s, the FM station switched to an
easy listening
Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...
/
middle of the road music format as KHOO, while the AM station continued as country outlet WACO. The FM station came back to country music in 1990, returning to its WACO-FM
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
, while the AM station was rebranded as KKTK in 1996.
In 2002, Lee Glascow sold the station for $405,000. It became a joint venture between M&M Broadcasters (80%) and George Marti (20%). The owners changed the station’s call sign to KTFW as a simulcast of its sister station 92.1
KTFW-FM
KTFW-FM (92.1 FM, branded as "Hank FM") is a country music radio station focusing on serving the western half of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Licensed to Glen Rose, Texas, United States, it strongly emphasizes classic, traditional, and ne ...
in
Glen Rose, Texas
Glen Rose is a city in and the county seat of Somervell County, Texas, United States. As of the 2012 census estimate, the city population was 2,502.
History
19th century
The area was first settled in 1849 by Charles Barnard, who opened a tradin ...
, which broadcast a country format.
In 2005, the station and its
city of license
In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator.
In North American broa ...
were moved to
Burleson, Texas, in the larger
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
-
Fort Worth
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
radio market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...
. The call letters were switched to KHFX. It began carrying Fox Sports Radio programming after the network's previous Dallas affiliate, 1190
KFXR, switched to classic country music. George Marti sold the remaining shares to M&M that same year. Eventually the station switched its call letters to KCLE, flipping its format to classic country music.
On April 14, 2009, KCLE lost its fight with the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) to keep
AM 1480
AM or Am may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* A minor, a minor scale in music
* ''A.M.'' (Chris Young album)
* ''A.M.'' (Wilco album)
* ''AM'' (Abraham Mateo album)
* ''AM'' (Arctic Monkeys album)
* AM (musician), American musicia ...
KNIT (now
KNGO
KNGO (1480 AM) is a commercial Vietnamese full service radio station licensed to serve Dallas, Texas, and covering the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. It calls itself "Viet Radio" and simulcasts its programming with KGOW (1560 AM) in Bellaire, Tex ...
) from increasing its daytime power to 50,000 watts. KCLE feared the high powered station, only 20 kHz away, would drown out 1460 KCLE for some listeners close to KNIT's transmitter.
It was announced on July 23, 2013, that KCLE would jettison its classic country format and become a second
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...
Network affiliate
In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...
in the Dallas/Fort Worth area by June 24. The station's schedule would complement
KESN ESPN 103.3, which serves the Metroplex from its tower north of Dallas, while KCLE's transmitter is south of Fort Worth. While KESN carried ''
Mike & Mike in the Morning'' and the first two hours of
Colin Cowherd
Colin Murray Cowherd (born January 6, 1964) is an American sports media personality. Cowherd began his broadcasting career as sports director of Las Vegas television station KVBC and as a sports anchor on several other stations before joining ...
, KCLE would air a local sports talk morning show from 6 to 9 a.m. and continue its long-running "DFW Tradefair"
tradio
Tradio is a type of talk radio show format, though now considered archaic, where listeners call in to buy or sell items. The concept is analogous to classified ads in local newspapers and most prevalent in the south and midwest.
"Tradio" is a p ...
program from 9 to 11 a.m. After KESN shifted to local programming at 11 a.m., KCLE would pick up the network programming.
On February 25, 2015, Intelli, LLC closed on its purchase of KCLE from M&M Broadcasters for $1.6 million.
KCLE went off the air in July 2016.
"KCLE Goes Dark"
by Todd Glasscock, ''Cleburne Times Review'', July 11, 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2018 The station returned to the air in late June 2017, airing Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
ese music and talk.
References
External links
DFW Radio/TV History
FCC History Cards for KCLE
(covering WJAD / WACO from 1927-1980)
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{{coord, 32, 34, 43, N, 97, 16, 50, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title
Radio stations established in 1922
CLE
1922 establishments in Texas
Radio stations licensed before 1923 and still broadcasting
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