KXTG (750 AM, "The Game") is a

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

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 ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. Its transmitter is located in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

, while studios are in downtown Portland. It is owned by

Alpha Media Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , which ...

, a company owned by veteran radio executive Larry Wilson.

Programmimg

KXTG is Portland's

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

home to the

March Madness The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

, the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

, and the

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 ...

. It also served as home of the Portland Steel of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

in 2016. The Bald Faced Truth with host

John Canzano John Canzano is an American sports columnist, radio talk show host on Portland's 750 AM "The Game". The show is also syndicated in Eugene. and Klamath Falls, Oregon. From 2002 to 2022, he was the lead sports columnist at ''The Oregonian'' and a ...

airs weekdays on KXTG. Canzano's show was the inaugural sports program on the station and remains on air today. The Bald Faced Truth launched The Game's sports programming on May 12, 2008. Among the first guests that first day were golfer Peter Jacobsen and former United States' President Barack Obama.

History

KXTG first began broadcasting in 1926 as KXL. KXL was bought by Alpha Broadcasting in 2009, along with a sister station,

KXTG KXTG (750 AM, "The Game") is a sports radio station in Portland, Oregon. Its transmitter is located in Damascus, while studios are in downtown Portland. It is owned by Alpha Media, a company owned by veteran radio executive Larry Wilson. Progra ...

, on the FM band. That station first signed on as 95.5 KXL-FM in June 1965 with a long-running

beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...

format followed by

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

. On March 26, 1999, KXL-FM became KXJM, with a successful

Rhythmic contemporary Rhythmic contemporary, also known as Rhythmic Top 40, Rhythmic CHR or rhythmic crossover, is a primarily American music-radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip hop and upbeat R&B hits. Rhythmic contemporary never uses ...

format that lasted until May 12, 2008, when it switched formats to

. The KXJM

call letters 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 ...

, Rhythmic format, and all other intellectual property were acquired by

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...

and moved to 107.5 FM. At 8:47 a.m. on March 15, 2011, KXL started

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 ...

ing on 101.1 FM, replacing the

Active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

format of KUFO. After two months of the KXL

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

format being heard on both stations, at 4 p.m. on May 25, 2011, the 750 frequency switched from news/talk to sports, changing its branding to "750 The Game" (from

95.5). Thus, KXL's news/talk format is now exclusively on FM. On June 1, 2011, KXL changed call letters (after 85 years) to KXTG to match "The Game" branding. The KXTG call letters and "The Game" sports format were recently at 95.5 FM (now

KBFF KBFF (95.5 FM, "Live 95.5") is a commercial radio station licensed to Portland, Oregon, and serving the Portland metropolitan area, including parts of Oregon and Washington. The station airs a Top 40 (CHR) radio format and is owned by Alpha ...

). In 2013, KXTG switched affiliations from

Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an American sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports division and iHeartMedia, parent company ...

NBC Sports Radio NBC Sports Radio was a sports radio network that debuted on September 4, 2012. The network content was produced by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and distributed by Westwood One, which is the corporate successor to the remains of ...

. (Fox Sports Radio is now on 620

KPOJ KPOJ (620 AM) is a radio station serving the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon and neighboring Washington. It airs a sports format, and is affiliated with Fox Sports Radio. Its transmitter is located in Sunnyside, Or ...

.) In October 2015, KXTG switched affiliations from NBC Sports Radio to CBS Sports Radio. In July 2014, KXTG began simulcasting on

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 ...

K274AR 102.7 FM. On December 19, 2014, K274AR upgraded from 10 watts at 102.7 FM to 99 watts at 102.9 FM. On February 3, 2015, K274AR changed call letters to K275CH. In August 2019, KXTG would drop its simulcast on the 102.9 FM translator frequency, due to a format change.KXTG to Drop FM Simulcast
Radioinsight -August 23, 2019

Ownership history

From 1955 to 1998, KXL was owned by Les Smith; Rose City Radio, a company owned by

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 ...

owner

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American business magnate, computer programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which h ...

, bought it and KXTG from Smith in 1998 for a reported $42 million. In May 2009, it was announced that Larry Wilson, the founder and former owner of

Citadel Broadcasting Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country. Only iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media ...

, bought KXL and KXTG from Rose City for $11 million.

References

External links

KXTG official website
*
FCC History Cards for KXTG
{{Alpha Media XTG Sports radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1926 1926 establishments in Oregon CBS Sports Radio stations Alpha Media radio stations