KTTO (970 kHz) is an 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 radi ...

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 Cana ...

, serving the

Spokane metropolitan area The Spokane–Spokane Valley Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of Spokane and Stevens counties in Washington state, anchored by the city of Spokane and its largest suburb, Spo ...

. The station is currently owned by Sacred Heart Radio, Inc. It airs a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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 was compelle ...

with most programming provided by the EWTN Radio Network. KTTO's

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

is located off East Thurston Avenue in Spokane. Programming is also heard on 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 ...

K291CO, powered at 155

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, broadcasting at 106.1

MHz 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 one he ...

History

The station first

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...

as KREM in 1946. It originally broadcast at 1340

kilocycle The cycle per second is a once-common English name for the unit of frequency now known as the hertz (Hz). The plural form was typically used, often written cycles per second, cycles/second, c.p.s., c/s, or, ambiguously, just cycles (Cy./Cyc.). The ...

s, at a power of 250 watts. KREM was owned by Cole E. Wylie, who served as president and general manager. By the 1950s, it had moved to its current spot on the dial,

AM 970 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 * X ...

, powered at 5,000 watts by day, 1,000 watts at night. In 1955, it put Spokane's first FM station on the air, 92.9 KREM-FM (now

KZZU-FM KZZU-FM (92.9 MHz 92.9 ZZU) is a commercial FM radio station in Spokane, Washington. The station airs an Adult Top 40 radio format which the station describes as "Today's Modern Hit Music". KZZU-FM is owned by Morgan Murphy Media, with the l ...

). They were joined by

KREM-TV KREM (channel 2) is a television station in Spokane, Washington, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside CW affiliate KSKN (channel 22). Both stations share studios on South Regal Street in the Southgate ne ...

in 1954. In the 1950s and 60s, when few people owned FM radios, KREM-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, simulta ...

the AM station's programming. In 1957, KREM-AM-FM-TV were acquired by

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

-based King Stations. In the 1960s, KREM became a

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 "cont ...

station, vying with

AM 790 The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 790 kHz: The Federal Communications Commission classifies 790 AM as a regional broadcast frequency. In Argentina * LR6 Mitre in Buenos Aires * LRA22 in San Salvador de Jujuy, Jujuy * ...

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 ...

for Spokane's young radio listeners. KREM-FM switched to a

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

sound in the late 1960s. On October 16, 1987, the station changed its

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 assign ...

to KHIT, playing hits of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. On February 22, 1988, it became KTRW, playing

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, ...

. The

KTRW KTRW (630 kHz) is a locally owned AM radio station licensed to Opportunity, Washington, and serving the Spokane metropolitan area. It airs a Christian talk and teaching radio format for part of its day, with adult standards heard in several ti ...

call letters are now on a Christian radio station at

AM 630 The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 630 kHz: 630 AM is a regional U.S. broadcast frequency. 630 kHz is a Philippine clear-channel frequency used by NTC. DZMM share Class A status at 630 kHz and being defunctional because of ...

. On September 29, 2005, it switched to the current KTTO. On November 20, 2015 KTTO was granted a

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 ...

construction permit to increase daytime power to 5,300 watts and decrease nighttime power to 750 watts. In 2017, KTTO added an FM

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

at 106.1

References

External links

FCC History Cards for KTTO
* * Radio stations established in 1947 1985 establishments in Washington (state)

TTO TTO may refer to: * Time-trade-off *Trinidad and Tobago, by ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 and IOC codes *Tactical Technology Office, a division of DARPA *Technology Transfer Office *''Toontown Online'', massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Disney ...

Catholic radio stations {{Washington-radio-station-stub