KTUV (1440
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 radi ...
broadcasting a
Spanish Variety
Regional Mexican is a Latin music radio format encompassing the musical genres from the different parts of rural Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Genres include banda, country en espaƱol, Duranguense, grupero, mariachi, New Mexico m ...
format. Licensed to
Little Rock, Arkansas
( The "Little Rock")
, government_type = Council-manager
, leader_title = Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_party = D
, leader_title2 = Council
, leader_name2 ...
, United States, it serves the Little Rock area. The transmitter is located on S. Arch St. in Little Rock near Interstate 30. The station is currently owned by Sima Birach's
Birach Broadcasting Corporation
Birach Broadcasting Corporation is a company based in Southfield, Michigan, USA, that owns several AM radio stations and, formerly, one low-power television (LPTV
Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a broadcast station at a low transmitter ...
.
History
1440 was built and signed on in October 1956 by John McLendon's Ebony Radio of Arkansas as KOKY, the first station targeted at Little Rock's
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 ...
community, with studios just blocks from
Central High School.
It was a 5,000-watt daytime station. Ebony already operated WOKJ in
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, along with Raymond. The city had a population of 153,701 at t ...
and also came to own stations in
Shreveport, Louisiana and
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...
. Among the station's personalities was
Al Bell
Al Bell (born Alvertis Isbell; March 15, 1940) is an American record producer, songwriter, and record executive. He is best known as having been an executive and co-owner of Stax Records, based in Memphis, Tennessee, during the latter half of the ...
, who would later go on to be an executive of
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records.
Stax was ...
.
In 1964, McLendon sold KOKY to KOKY, Inc., and the Midwest Broadcasting Company acquired the station in 1968. Two more sales followed in 1972 and 1973, leaving the station in the hands of Brien-KOKY, Inc. When Forus Communications of Arkansas acquired 1440, effective January 1, 1979, the call letters changed to KITA and the station flipped to gospel music. KOKY, in turn, moved to one of the oldest radio frequencies in Arkansas, 1250 AM (now
KFOG
KNBR-FM (104.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, serving the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Owned by Cumulus Media, KNBR-FM features a sports radio format in a simulcast with co-owned KNBR. Both stati ...
).
A new limited partnership bought KITA in 1984 and added nighttime service with 240 watts. The station was sold in 1994 to KITA, Inc., and again in 2006 to Davidson Media Group, which gave the station new KTUV call letters and instituted a new Spanish-language format. Birach acquired KTUV in 2007.
On June 3, 2019, KTUV relaunched as "La Voz", simulcasting on a new translator, 99.9 K260DT. The new station is commonly operated with 760
KMTL by Radio La Patrona, LLC, which is in the process of buying KMTL.
References
External links
FCC History Cards for KTUV*
TUV
TUV
Birach Broadcasting Corporation stations
{{Arkansas-radio-station-stub