KULF (1090

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) was an

AM daytimer 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-coun ...

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 ...

, paired with an FM relay translator, based in

Bellville, Texas Bellville is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Austin County. The city's population was 4,206 at the 2020 census. Bellville is on the eastern edge of the Texas-German belt, and Bellville is known for its German culture and descenda ...

. Licensed to

, United States, it served the

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

regional area. The station was last owned by James Su, through licensee Trade Route Media, Inc. The station operated on a Class D daytime license on 1090 kHz. Because KULF shared the same frequency as

clear-channel station A clear-channel station is an AM broadcasting, AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from Interference (communication), interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The syste ...

KAAY KAAY (1090 AM) is a commercial radio station in Little Rock, Arkansas, owned by Cumulus Media. It airs a Christian radio format of instruction and preaching, with most of the schedule made up of brokered programming featuring local and national ...

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

, it only broadcast during daytime hours. The KULF call sign previously resided on 790 AM in Houston from August 1970 to early July 1982. (now KBME).

History

Birth of Radio 1090 KACO

1090 signed on the air in 1974 as Austin County's first and only licensed radio station. It was owned by Mr. and Mrs. J. Lee Dittert. 1090 was granted the calls of KACO, representing not just service to its community of license Bellville, but to the entire Austin County population. KACO started as a 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 Wa ...

daytimer 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-coun ...

featuring a

country & western 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, old ...

format.

KACO sold; Henderson stewardship

In 1990, the Dittert family sold the facility to Roy Henderson, with the original KACO call letters being retired in 1993, as 1090 changed its callsign to KFRD, which itself had been located at 980 AM in

Rosenberg, Texas Rosenberg is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the Greater Houston, Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area and Fort Bend County, Texas, Fort Bend County. The population was 38,282 at the 2020 census, up from 30,61 ...

, since its sign-on in 1949. Four years later, 1090 received a grant to change its call letters again and use the KNUZ calls that had occupied 1230 AM in Houston since the 1940s. As KNUZ, and under Roy Henderson's direction, the station simulcasted "Lite 94.1"

KLTR KLTR 94.1 FM is a radio station broadcasting an adult contemporary format. The station is currently licensed to Brenham, Texas, with a construction permit in place to move the facility farther north and upgrade the facility to 50 kilowatts wit ...

out of

Brenham Brenham ( ) is a city in east-central Texas in Washington County, United States, with a population of 17,369 according to the 2020 U.S. census. It is the county seat of Washington County. Washington County is known as the "Birthplace of Texas, ...

. In November 2009, the facility dropped the KNUZ call letters and briefly used KBAL, until a switch could be made with the co-owned facility in San Saba. As a result of the call switch, the KNUZ calls are now used for 106.1 FM in San Saba, the former KBAL.

Sale to JLF Communications; flip to brokered

In December 2009, the station was sold for a reported $500,000 by Roy E. Henderson to JHT Ventures, Inc., 100% controlled by Janice Hollan. JHT sold KULF to Jerome Friemel's JLF Communications, LLC at a purchase price of $10,000; the transaction was consummated on January 29, 2013. 1090 returned to the air with an Oldies format stunt that lasted until paid programming could be secured for the signal to air. Once that occurred, the temporary Oldies format was dropped and replaced with Spanish language Christian programming "La Luz". This programming would prove to be short lived as well. In August 2015, JLF Communications added a translator at 102.5, bringing 1090's programming to FM. In January 2016, KULF was stopped as a result of non-payment of rent to the landowner on which the KULF towers and transmission equipment reside. According to radio insider sources, the landowner had a court order that gave him legal possession of all equipment related to KULF, sans the broadcast license itself. The Houston FCC agent took KULF off of the air, as for a period of over a month, 1090 remained on air both day and night, running 1,000 watts of dead air. As of May 2016, KULF had returned to the air at full power, resuming programming. Effective May 1, 2019, JLF Communications sold KULF and translator K273CD to James Su's Trade Route Media, Inc. for $2.3 million. Trade Route Media surrendered KULF's license to the FCC on September 30, 2022; the station's license was cancelled on October 3, 2022.

Translator

References

External links

FCC Station Search Details: DKULF
(Facility ID: 48653)
FCC History Cards for KULF
(covering 1968-1980 as KACO) {{Daytime-only radio stations in Texas

ULF Ulf, or Ulv is a masculine name common in Scandinavia and Germany. It derives from the Old Norse word for "wolf" (''úlfr'', see Wulf). The oldest written record of the name's occurrence in Sweden is from a runestone of the 11th century. The fe ...

Radio stations established in 1974 1974 establishments in Texas Radio stations disestablished in 2022 2022 disestablishments in Texas Defunct radio stations in the United States