KHVN (970
AM) is a
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
Fort Worth, Texas
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 ...
, and serving the
Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, owned and operated by
iHeartMedia, Inc.
iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...
It airs an African American targeted
all-news
All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news.
All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news stations can run the ...
radio format
A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...
,
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 ...
with co-owned
KKGM
KKGM (1630 AM) is a radio station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, and serving the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, owned and operated by iHeartMedia. The station broadcasts an African American targeted news format, as one of two local affiliates, al ...
1630 AM,
affiliates
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 ...
of the national
Black Information Network
Black Information Network (BIN) is a radio network and content brand owned by iHeartMedia. Launched on June 30, 2020, it is an all-news radio network of stations targeting the African American community, carrying mostly important national news hea ...
.
By day, KHVN is powered at 1,000
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 ...
s. But to avoid interference with other stations on
970 AM
The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 970 kHz: 970 AM is a regional broadcast frequency.
In Argentina
* LRA43 Neuquén, Neuquén
* LT25 in Curuzú Cuatiá, Corrientes
In Mexico
* XECJ-AM in Apatzingán, Michoacán
* ...
, it reduces power to 270 watts at night. The
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 ...
is Kimbo Road near Mesquite Road in Fort Worth. Programming is also heard on 150 watt
FM translator
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 ...
K237HD in Fort Worth.
History
Early years
This station started out as
daytime-only KWBC on . It had an
Ethnic
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
and Variety format with mostly local, amateur, and public service programming under the ownership of Associated Broadcasters. In , J. Dean McClain joined the station with his hour-long ''Blues at Sunrise'' program. The
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
music program proved to be quite popular and propelled McClain into station management.
By the late McClain was
program director, and later was station manager and
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
.
By , most commercial billings were from Ethnic shows, so the owners reimaged the station as KNOK to serve an
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
audience. By , KNOK changed its format to
R&B with some
Country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
and
Spanish language
Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...
programming on weekends.
Urban programming
After , KNOK became a full-time R&B station, the first station in the DFW area adopt that format exclusively. In the late , the African American
Clay Smothers, who later served in the
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...
, was the station news editor known for his
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
commentary.
In 1965, it added an FM
sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement.
Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
, 107.5 KNOK-FM (now
KMVK
KMVK (107.5 FM, "La Grande 107.5"), is a commercial radio station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas and serving the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The station is owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. KMVK broadcasts in Spanish and airs a radio format ...
). From that point until , KNOK and KNOK-FM
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 ...
all programming. After sunset, the FM station continued with the R&B music format while the AM station was off the air. In , KNOK transferred its R&B format to sister station KNOK-FM and changed its format to
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
. Three years later, the station was renamed as KSAX (call sign to have stood for
SAXophone) while maintaining its Jazz format before making its final switch to an
Urban Gospel
Urban/contemporary gospel is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the genre was well established by the end of the 1980s. The radio format is pitched prima ...
formatted station as KHVN in as ''Heaven 97''.
Expanded Band assignment
On March 17, 1997 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) announced that eighty-eight stations had been given permission to move to newly available "
Expanded Band" transmitting frequencies, ranging from 1610 to 1700 kHz, with KHVN authorized to move from 970 to 1630 kHz.
["FCC Public Notice: Mass Media Bureau Announces Revised AM Expanded Band Allotment Plan and Filing Window for Eligible Stations"](_blank)
(FCC DA 97-537), March 17, 1997.
An application for the expanded band station, also licensed to Fort Worth, was filed in 1997. It was approved and issued a Construction Permit the next year that was assigned the call letters KBCM on March 6, 1998, which were changed to KOME on January 15, 1999 and to KNAX on March 20, 2001. The new station began regular service in July 2002, initially with a Spanish religious format as "Radio Christiana", and became KKGM in 2004.
The FCC's initial policy was that both the original station and its expanded band counterpart could operate simultaneously for up to five years, after which owners would have to turn in one of the two licenses, depending on whether they preferred the new assignment or elected to remain on the original frequency.
However, this deadline has been extended multiple times, and both stations have remained authorized. One policy the FCC has generally enforced is that the original stations and their expanded band counterparts must remain under common ownership, so in subsequent ownership transfers KHVN and KKGM have been paired together.
Acquisition by iHeartMedia, Black Information Network
![KHVN Heaven 97](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/KHVN_Heaven_97.png)
On December 2, 2020,
iHeartMedia
iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...
announced its purchase of KHVN and KKGM (including its translators, K221GV (92.1 MHz) and K237HD (95.3 MHz)) from
Mortenson Broadcasting
Mortenson Broadcasting was an independent media company based in Lexington, Kentucky. Mortenson primarily owned Christian radio stations in several market areas.
Mortenson Broadcasting Company began with the vision of Jack M. Mortenson and his ...
for $950,000. This included a
Local marketing agreement
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...
(LMA) that took effect on January 2, 2021, continuing until full consummation. The purchase allowed iHeartMedia to max out its DFW cluster threshold of allowable station holdings. Days later, it was further announced that these stations are to become affiliates of the Black Information Network, effectively eliminating KHVN's long-time gospel format.
On January 2, 2021, the stations began
stunting with African American speeches, interspersed with messages such as "Our Voices Will Be Heard" and "Our side of the story is about to be told," with the new
Black Information Network
Black Information Network (BIN) is a radio network and content brand owned by iHeartMedia. Launched on June 30, 2020, it is an all-news radio network of stations targeting the African American community, carrying mostly important national news hea ...
(BIN) format officially launching on January 4 at 12:00 noon. This new format competes with
Audacy
Audacy, previously known as Radio.com, is a free broadcast and Internet radio platform owned by the namesake company Audacy, Inc. (formerly known as Entercom). The Audacy platform functions as a music recommender system and is the national um ...
's heritage all-news station
KRLD.
The purchase was consummated on March 31, 2021.
References
External links
FCC History Cards for KHVN*
*
DFW Radio/TV History DFW Radio Archives
{{coord, 32, 47, 56, N, 97, 17, 43, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title
All-news radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1946
HVN
1946 establishments in Texas
Black Information Network stations
IHeartMedia radio stations