KKXA (

1520 __NOTOC__ Year 1520 ( MDXX) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–June * January 19 – King Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeats the Swedes, at ...

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 ...

"Classic Country KXA") is a commercial 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

Snohomish, Washington Snohomish is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The population was 9,098 at the 2010 census. It is located on the Snohomish River, southeast of Everett and northwest of Monroe. Snohomish lies at the intersection of U.S. Rou ...

and serving the Seattle metropolitan area. The station's broadcast license is held by CAAM Partnership, LLC., an entity controlled by the Skotdal family, which also publishes the ''Everett Post'' newspaper. The KKXA studios are shared with

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 ...

AM 1380

KRKO KRKO (1380 kHz, "Everett Radio") is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Everett, Washington. The station broadcasts an oldies-classic hits-sports radio format to the Seattle metropolitan area. The station was established in 1922, and is cur ...

at the Key Tower building in downtown

Everett, Washington Everett is the county seat and largest city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett is the seventh-largest city in the ...

. 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 off Short School Road (115th Avenue SE) in Snohomish. KKXA airs a

classic country Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades. Repertoire The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on innov ...

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, ...

Broadcast Signals

KKXA is licensed to broadcast a digital hybrid HD signal. KKXA broadcasts at the maximum power for commercial AM stations, 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 ...

s around the clock. By day, it uses a

non-directional antenna In radio communication, an omnidirectional antenna is a class of antenna which radiates equal radio power in all directions perpendicular to an axis (azimuthal directions), with power varying with angle to the axis (elevation angle), declining ...

. But during night, KKXA uses a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates or receives greater power in specific directions allowing increased performance and reduced interference from unwanted sources. Directional antennas provide increased performance ...

. Because 1520 kHz is a clear channel frequency, KKXA must avoid interfering with KOKC in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

and WWKB in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, the Class A stations on the frequency. KKXA also broadcasts on a 250 watt FM translator, K266CJ at 101.1 FM.

Programming

KKXA broadcasts

music, branded as "Classic Country KXA." In addition to its music programming, KKXA is an affiliate of the

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

Cougar football and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

network, and also carries Western Conference high school football and basketball. Occasional

Everett AquaSox The Everett AquaSox are a Minor League Baseball team in Everett, Washington. The team is a member of the Northwest League and is affiliated with the Seattle Mariners. The AquaSox play their home games at Funko Field, which has a seating capacity o ...

baseball (

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

affiliate) and Everett Silvertips hockey games are also aired on KKXA.

History

Building The Station

In January 2004, the Skotdal family applied to 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) for 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 ...

for a new broadcast radio station. The FCC granted this permit on March 16, 2011, with a scheduled expiration date of March 16, 2014. The Skotdal family won a comparative hearing before the Federal Communications Commission against mutually exclusive applicants hoping to place the signal in Hawaii, Whidbey Island, and on the Olympic Peninsula. The station was assigned the

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 ...

"KKXA" by the

(FCC) on March 28,

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. Known on-air as "KXA" as a tribute to pioneering radio station KXA (770 AM), the station began airing a loop of test audio in August 2011. KKXA broadcasts to the greater Seattle metropolitan area. On October 11, 2011, KKXA began regular broadcasting at 4:00 pm with a

format branded as "Classic Country 1520 KXA". The first song was " Simple Man" by Charlie Daniels. The station received its broadcast license on November 4, 2011. Stitch Mitchell has been doing the morning show since the Classic Country format began in 2011. Stitch was previously with KBSG/Seattle, B-87/Portland, and KMZQ/Las Vegas.

Digital (HD) Broadcasting

On October 4 and 5, 2014, KKXA was the only radio station in North America broadcasting a 100% digital signal during historic tests for NAB Labs, a division of the

National Association of Broadcasters The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a trade association and lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States. The NAB represents more than ...

. KKXA suspended analog transmissions for four hours on Saturday and eight hours on Sunday for nighttime and daytime tests, respectively. KKXA was the third commercial AM station in North America to test all-digital daytime transmissions. KKXA currently broadcasts using HD Radio technology alongside its analog signal.

Translator

References

External links

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KKXA
on RadioMixer {{Country Radio Stations in Washington HD Radio stations Classic country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 2011 KXA Snohomish, Washington Mass media in Snohomish County, Washington 2011 establishments in Washington (state)