KJFK (AM)

KJFK
Broadcast areaAustin-San Marcos-Round Rock metropolitan area
Frequency1490 kHz (HD Radio)
Branding96.3 Jack FM
Programming
FormatAdult hits
AffiliationsJack FM network
Ownership
OwnerTownship Media, LLC
KTSN, KCTI-FM
History
First air date
1926; 98 years ago (1926)
Former call signs
  • KGDR (1926–1929)
  • KUT (1929–1932)
  • KNOW (1932–1988)
  • KEYU (1988–1989)
  • KMOW (1989–1993)
  • KFON (1993–2012)
  • KLGO (2012–2014)
  • KTAE (2014–2017)
  • KTSN (2017–2022)
  • KFIT (2022)
Former frequencies
1500 kHz (1926–1941)
Call sign meaning
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (former President of the United States of America)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID41211
ClassC
Power1,000 watts unlimited
Translator(s)96.3 K242DE (Austin)
Links
Public license information
Websitejack963fm.com
Satellite station
KJFK-FM
Broadcast areaLlano, Texas-Texas Hill Country area
Frequency96.3 MHz
Branding96.3 Jack FM
Programming
FormatAdult hits
AffiliationsJack FM network
Ownership
OwnerTownship Media, LLC
History
First air date
June 17, 2019; 5 years ago (2019-06-17)
Former call signs
KTHE (2016–2022)
Call sign meaning
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (former President of the United States of America)
Technical information[2]
Facility ID198631
ClassC3
Power8,000 watts
Links
Public license information

KJFK (1490 kHz) and KJFK-FM (96.3 MHz) are a pair of terrestrial radio stations, which serve Austin, Texas, and Llano, Texas, United States respectively. Both facilities are owned by Township Media and broadcast an adult hits format as "96.3 Jack FM", using the nationally syndicated Jack FM licensing. KJFK can also be heard in Austin proper on translator K242DE and in Giddings, Texas on KGID, both of which also operate on 96.3 FM.

1490 AM is the oldest continuously licensed radio station serving Austin. The facility broadcasts at 1,000 watts from a transmitter located on Tillery Street at East 4th Street near downtown Austin. The studios and offices for Township Media are in the Hill Country Galleria Mall on Hill Country Boulevard at State Highway 71 in Bee Cave.

History

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On December 7, 1926, the station's first license was granted, with the sequentially issued call sign of KGDR. It was owned by a company named "Radio Engineers" and broadcast from San Antonio, Texas.[3] In December 1929, the station was renamed KUT and moved to Austin.[4] Call letters were changed to KNOW on January 26, 1932.[5]

KNOW was owned by the KUT Broadcasting Company[6] and broadcast with 100 watts on 1,000 kilocycles.

In the 1940s, KNOW moved to its current frequency 1490 kHz, with power at 250 watts.[7] It served as Austin's ABC Radio Network affiliate, carrying ABC's schedule of dramas, comedies, news and sports during the "Golden Age of Radio".

In 1949, KNOW was acquired by Pioneer Broadcasting Company, owned and operated by radio executive Wendell Mayes. His son, Wendell Wise Mayes, Jr, would go on to earn KNOW a George Foster Peabody Award in 1973 for an editorial Mayes, Jr. wrote entitled "Marijuana and the Law," a series of documentaries and editorials to "separate facts about marijuana from fiction." In the 1950s, daytime power increased to 1,000 watts, but remained at 250 watts at night. In the 1960s, KNOW switched to Top 40. In the 1970s, airstaff included P.D. Dave Jarrott, Randall McKee, Jason Wayne. Bill Mayne, Gil Garcia, Jim Gossett, David Gayle, and Bill Moss. Chief Engineers during the 60s and 70s where Wayne Hardin and Gil Garcia. As contemporary music listening shifted to the FM band in the 1980s, KNOW began to serve Austin's growing African American community with an urban contemporary format. This was concurrent with Hicks Communications acquiring the station in 1981.[8]

In 1989, the now-KMOW was sold to Degree Communications, which switched the format to Oldies.[9] In 1996, the station was sold to San Antonio–based Clear Channel Communications and the format became talk radio. In 1997, the format shifted to sports talk as SportsFan 1490 and was the first full-time all-sports station in Austin.

In 2005, the station was acquired by Border Media Partners, which owned other stations in Texas, several serving the Latino community. Border Media switched the then-KFON to a Regional Mexican music format.[10] The 2010s saw additional call letter changes to KLGO and KTAE before the current owner, Township Media, changed the call sign to KTSN and operating as "Sun Radio". Sun Radio aired an adult album alternative/Americana format.

On May 29, 2022, KTSN changed its format to adult hits, branded as "96.3 Jack FM", feeding new translator K242DE. The Sun Radio intellectual unit moved to 1060 AM (now KTSN), feeding Sun Radio's existing FM rebroadcasters including 100.1 FM.[11] The two stations swapped call signs on June 3, 2022.

On November 4, 2022, Township Media was granted a second call sign change to KJFK, to match the station identification of both facilities; the call sign was changed officially by the FCC on December 7, 2022.

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KJFK". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KJFK-FM". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^ "New Stations: Broadcasting Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, December 31, 1926, page 4.
  4. ^ "Alterations and Corrections: Broadcasting Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, page 8. At the same time, the original KUT in Austin was renamed KTRH and moved to Houston, Texas.
  5. ^ "Alterations and Corrections: Broadcasting Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, January 30, 1932, page 21.
  6. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1935 page 58
  7. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1950 page 285
  8. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1985 page B-256
  9. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1990 page B-295
  10. ^ Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2010 page D-514
  11. ^ "Jack Arrives To Challenge Bob In Austin". RadioInsight. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
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FM translator

30°15′13″N 97°42′25″W / 30.25361°N 97.70694°W / 30.25361; -97.70694

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