KTIX (1240
AM, "103.1 The Outlaw") 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 radi ...
licensed
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to serve
Pendleton, Oregon
Pendleton is a city and the county seat of Umatilla County, Oregon. The population was 17,107 at the time of the 2020 census, which includes approximately 1,600 people who are incarcerated at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution.
Pendleton ...
, United States. The station, which began broadcasting as KWRC in May 1941, is currently owned by Randolph and Debra McKone's Elkhorn Media Group and the
broadcast license
A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which vary f ...
is held by EMG2, LLC.
Programming
KTIX previously broadcast a 24-hour
sports radio
Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on ...
format as an affiliate of
ESPN Radio from October 2002 through at least early 2018.
The station has since switched affiliation to
Fox Sports Radio. In addition to its usual sports talk programming, KTIX broadcasts
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
games as an affiliate of the
Seattle Mariners Radio Network,
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
games as a member of the
Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...
radio network,
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
games as a member of the
Seattle Seahawks radio network, and
Oregon Ducks football as a member of the
Oregon Sports Network
Oregon Sports Properties is a division of Learfield which handles the sports broadcasting, accommodation, and billboard rights for the teams of the University of Oregon's athletic programs and its venues. Until 2012, it was known as the Oregon Spo ...
. KTIX also airs
high school football
High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...
games and other select sporting events featuring the
Pendleton High School Buckaroos.
Facilities
KTIX shares a studio building with
sister stations
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 ...
KUMA (1290 AM),
KUMA-FM (107.7 FM), and
KWHT (103.5 FM).
This multi-station facility, located at the west end of
Eastern Oregon Regional Airport, is also close to KTIX's new tower site.
The original tower, located on South Hill, served KTIX from 1941 to 2002.
That original tower was later re-erected east of Pendleton on Cabbage Hill for use by co-owned KUMA-FM.
History
The beginning
This station began regular broadcast operations in May 1941 with 250
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 ...
s of power on 1240
kHz as KWRC under the ownership of the Western Radio Corporation.
KWRC was run by general manager V.P. Kenworthy who owned the Western Radio Corporation as part of the Kenworthy Stations Group.
V.P. Kenworthy would continue to own and operate KWRC until December 23, 1958, when the station was sold to WSC Broadcasting Company of Oregon, Inc.
The KKID years
The new owners had the station's call letters changed to KKID in 1959
and by early 1961 had been authorized by 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 jurisdicti ...
(FCC) to increase its daytime signal strength to 1,000 watts while nighttime power remained at 250 watts.
On July 15, 1961, ownership of KKID passed from WSC Broadcasting Company of Oregon, Inc., to Roderick Sound, Inc.
The KTIX era
The callsign was changed again in 1964, this time to the current KTIX.
Eastern Oregon Broadcasters, Inc., acquired KTIX on August 1, 1967, and flipped the station to a
contemporary music format.
As a part of the Capps Broadcasting Group, this music format would endure on KTIX through the entire 1970s.
The station applied to the FCC to change the name of its licensee to Capps Broadcasting Group, Inc., to reflect the station's true ownership and this change was approved by the FCC on March 28, 1979.
Just after switching back to 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 January 1980, Capps Broadcasting Group, Inc., reached an agreement to sell this station to AgPal Broadcasting, Inc.
AgPal Broadcasting was owned by Pendleton residents Cheryl and Jim McAnally plus Andy and JoAnn Harle.
The deal was approved by the FCC on May 15, 1981.
The present
In September 1997, AgPal Broadcasting, Inc., reached an agreement to sell this station back to Capps Broadcast Group through its KSRV, Inc., subsidiary. The deal was approved by the FCC on May 14, 1998, and the transaction was consummated on August 27, 1998.
Effective November 1, 2017, Capps Broadcast Group sold KTIX and nine other broadcast properties to Elkhorn Media Group for $1.75 million.
Former on-air staff
*Dave Donahue, a 2000 inductee into the Country Music DJ and Radio Hall of Fame, got his first experience as a
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 DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...
in 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 when he joined the KTIX airstaff in 1960.
*Terry Herd, host of the nationally syndicated ''Into the Blue'' and a four-time (1998, 2002, 2003, & 2004) winner of Broadcaster of the Year Award from the
International Bluegrass Music Association
The International Bluegrass Music Association, or IBMA, is a trade association to promote bluegrass music.
Formed in 1985, IBMA established its first headquarters in Owensboro, Kentucky. In 1988 they announced plans to create the International ...
, started his
bluegrass radio program in May 1992 on
KUMA then KTIX before going national.
Previous logo
References
External links
KTIX official website
*
*
{{Country Radio Stations in Oregon
TIX
Andreas Andresen Haukeland (born 12 April 1993), better known as Tix (stylized as TIX), is a Norwegian singer. He represented Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Fallen Angel".
He has Tourette syndrome, a condition charact ...
Radio stations established in 1941
Umatilla County, Oregon
1941 establishments in Oregon