KCKN (1020 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 ...

broadcasting a Spanish Religious

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 ...

in Roswell, New Mexico. It is owned by Radio Vision Cristiana Subsidiary Corp. Much of the programming is also heard on co-owned

WWRV WWRV (1330 AM) is a Spanish-language Christian music and teaching station, licensed to New York City. It is owned by Radio Visión Cristiana Management. History For years 1330 was WEVD, named after the Socialist Party leader Eugene V. Debs. Ho ...

1330 AM in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. KCKN is powered at 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 ...

s, the maximum for AM stations licensed 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). It is a Class B outlet, required to protect Class A

clear channel station A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-cou ...

KDKA

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

. So KCKN uses a directional antenna at all times, with a three-

tower array A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower ...

by day and a six-tower array at night. KCKN'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 on La Luz Road at Old Clovis Highway in Roswell.

History

The station signed on the air for the first time in December 1965 under 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 assign ...

KSWS. It was co-owned with KSWS-TV (now KOBR-TV). In 1987, the station changed its call letters to KCKN. On November 13, 2000, the station changed its call sign to KXEM and on December 1 of that year to KINF. As KINF, the station aired a news/talk format. The station reverted to the current KCKN calls on January 12, 2006. A sister FM station was purchased in 1986. In the Kansas City market the station was using the call sign KBCQ at the time programming

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 ...

and the FM station had the KCKN call sign and 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 April 1987, the call signs and formats of the two stations were flipped and 1020 became KCKN Country and the FM became KBCQ-FM Top 40. In the early 90s, KCKN switched to a

soft 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, quiet sto ...

format with a large news commitment. Night time programming has been religion for years. In late August 2005, while operating under a local marketing agreement (LMA), the station was off the air due to technical problems. The LMA was ended and the station signed back on the air in early February, 2006, under the call sign KCKN programming

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 ...

music. In 2012, the station was sold to Radio Vision Cristiana Subsidiary Corp. KCKN switched to

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in th ...

Christian radio. On June 11, 2018 the transmitter for KCKN caught fire and badly damaged the transmitter building. KCKN requested a special temporary authority (STA) to operate an auxiliary transmitter. The FCC approved the request; however, the fire department forbade using it until electrical inspections took place. KCKN remained silent until inspections took place.

References

External links

FCC History Cards for KCKN
{{Spanish Radio Stations in New Mexico Christianity in New Mexico CKN CKN Radio stations established in 1965 1965 establishments in New Mexico