KGA (1510 AM) is a radio station serving

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

. Owned by

Stephens Media Group Stephens Media Group is an Oklahoma based radio broadcaster that owns 75 radio stations particularly in small to mid-size markets. Its flagship stations are at its headquarters in Tulsa. Stephens refers to itself as "A portfolio of People", ref ...

, through licensee SMG-Spokane, LLC, it broadcasts a

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

format. KGA's studios and offices are located on East 57th Avenue and its

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

site is in

Spangle, Washington Spangle is a city in Spokane County, Washington, Spokane County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The population was 278 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The name comes from William Spangle, an early pioneer. History ...

. Going on the air in 1927, it was one of the earliest radio stations in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. It is also broadcast by a translator in Spokane on 103.5 FM. The station carries broadcasts of the

Spokane Indians The Spokane Indians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Spokane Valley, the city immediately east of Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest. The Indians are members of the High-A Northwest League (NWL) as an affiliate of the Color ...

minor league baseball team, the

Spokane Chiefs The Spokane Chiefs are a major junior ice hockey team that plays in the Western Hockey League based out of Spokane, Washington. The team plays its home games at the Spokane Arena. Their uniforms are similar to those of the NHL's Montreal Canadi ...

junior ice hockey Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...

team, and teams fielded by

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) () is a private Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Founded in 1887 by Joseph Cataldo, an Italian-born priest and Jesuit missionary, the univ ...

History

KGA was first licensed on February 4, 1927, by original owner Louis Wasmer. KGA's first studios were in the old Radio Center Building across the street from the Davenport Hotel and its transmitter was on the northside of Spokane where the Lidgerwood Elementary School is now located. KGA was a successful

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, ...

outlet from 1969 until 1994, when it switched to a

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

format. KGA's former owners also established a short-lived, lower-powered country music station based in

Kirkland, Washington Kirkland is a city in King County, Washington, United States. A suburb east of Seattle, its population was 92,175 in the 2020 U.S. census which made it the sixth largest city in the county and the twelfth largest in the state. The city's downto ...

(near Seattle) called KGAA (now KARR). Also in the history of KGA were the

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

years, from January 1968 until June 1969, featuring

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

s Shane Showtime (Gibson) and Joe Fiala. From 1994 until 2008, KGA relied mostly on nationally syndicated talk shows from commentators such as Bill O'Reilly,

Laura Ingraham Laura Anne Ingraham (born June 19, 1963) is an American conservative television host. Gale Biography In Context. She has been the host of ''The Ingraham Angle'' on Fox News Channel since October 2017, and is the editor-in-chief of LifeZette. ...

and

Michael Savage Michael Alan Weiner (born March 31, 1942), known by his professional name Michael Savage, is a far-right author, conspiracy theorist, political commentator, activist, and former radio host. Savage is best known as the host of '' The Savage Na ...

, along with several local programs. Former

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' ...

police detective and author

Mark Fuhrman Mark Fuhrman (born February 5, 1952) is a former detective of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). He is primarily known for his part in the investigation of the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in the O. J. Simpson murd ...

, who lives in nearby

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Coeur d'Alene ( ; french: Cœur d'Alène, lit=Heart of an stitching awl, Awl ) is a city and the county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the largest city in North Idaho and the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolita ...

, hosted a local morning show on weekdays until his program was discontinued in November 2007. In April 2008, KGA's news/talk format moved to sister station 790

KJRB KJRB (790 AM) is a commercial radio station in Spokane, Washington. KJRB is owned by Stephens Media Group, through licensee SMG-Spokane, LLC, and airs a classic rock radio format. It calls itself "94.1 The Bear". KJRB has a daytime power of ...

, with KJRB's sports format switched to KGA. Although KGA has had several owners (including

), has changed frequency several times, and has had its studio and transmitter site relocated over the years, it has retained the same set of call letters from its founding. The call sign KGA has been continuously used in Spokane longer than any other set of call letters. KGA was a 50,000-

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

clear-channel A clear-channel station is an AM broadcasting, AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from Interference (communication), interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The syste ...

Class A station for most of its life, and could be heard after sunset around the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

, plus part of

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

. On July 15, 2008, KGA reduced its nighttime power from 50,000 watts to 15,000 watts, surrendered its status as a Class A to Class B, and changed its directional antenna system.. Class A stations have the widest coverage areas and best protection from interference from other stations. All of this was done so that its sister station,

KSFN KSFN (1510 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station broadcasting a Spanish Regional Mexican music radio format. Licensed to Piedmont, California, the station serves the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is currently owned by Alfredo Plascencia's L ...

Piedmont, California Piedmont is a small city located in Alameda County, California, United States, completely surrounded by the city of Oakland. Its residential population was 11,270 at the 2020 census. The name comes from the region of Piedmont in Italy, and it me ...

, could increase its nighttime power from 230 watts to 2,400 watts. The justification for this change was gaining several hundred thousand potential listeners in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

while sacrificing KGA's smaller potential audience in the Pacific Northwest. The station currently has a

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

to simplify its antenna system to a single tower with non-directional operation (FCC.gov AM Station Query). Included is a further nighttime power reduction, to 540 watts, with a slight power reduction just after sunrise and just before sunset

critical hours Critical hours for radio stations is the time from sunrise to two hours after sunrise, and from two hours before sunset until sunset, local time. During this time, certain American radio stations may be operating with reduced power as a result of S ...

to 45,000 watts. In January 2019, after adding a new translator in Spokane on 103.5 FM, the station dropped

Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an American sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports division and iHeartMedia, parent company ...

and flipped to

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...

as ''103.5 The Game''. Positioned as "Sports & Hip-Hop", the station retained its existing sports play-by-play rights. On September 30, 2019, the station was sold to

after it acquired most of the properties of former owner

Mapleton Communications Mapleton Communications (MC) was a media company. It was formed in May 2001 to acquire and operate radio stations in mid-sized markets in the western United States. Mapleton owned and operated 41 radio stations (11 AM radio, AM and 30 Frequency m ...

. On March 19, 2021, the station dropped its urban format and returned to being a full-time affiliate of Fox Sports Radio.

Former logos

Image:1035 The Game logo.png, ''103.5 The Game'' logo (January 2019-March 2021)

References

1. Harms, William. ''Radio Station KGA''. 2005. http://spokane.philcobill.com/kga/index.php
2. Scott, Xen. Transcription of FCC microfiche files KGA, November 11, 1994.
3. McGoldrick, Jim. Early Memories of Radio in Spokane; letter to Thorwald Jorgenson, about 1981. Used by permission of Dean Carriveau, Spokane, Washington

External links

*
List of license dates
* * * {{coord, 47, 30, 08, N, 117, 23, 06, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title GA Fox Sports Radio stations Sports radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1927 1927 establishments in Washington (state)