KUFO (AM)

KUFO
City Portland, Oregon
Broadcast area Portland metropolitan area
Branding Freedom 970
Frequency 970 kHz
First air date October 18, 1925 (as KQP)[1]
Format Talk
Power 5,000 watts
Class B
Facility ID 26926
Transmitter coordinates 45°30′56″N 122°43′56″W / 45.51556°N 122.73222°W / 45.51556; -122.73222Coordinates: 45°30′56″N 122°43′56″W / 45.51556°N 122.73222°W / 45.51556; -122.73222
Callsign meaning warehoused from 101.1 FM, now KXL-FM (K Unidentified Flying Object)
Former callsigns KQP (1925-1926)
KOIN (1926-1977)
KYTE (1977-1990)
KESI (1990-1991)
KBBT (1991-1996)
KUPL (1996-2001)
KUFO (2001-2002)
KUPL (2002-2005)
KCMD (2005-2010)
KXFD (2010-2011)[2]
Former frequencies 1208.8 kHz (11/9/1925-11/17/1925)
1414.1 kHz (11/1925-12/1925)
1309.1 kHz (12/1925-1/1926)
1410 kHz (1/1926-3/1926)
939.8 kHz (1926-1927)
940 kHz (1927-1941)
Affiliations Fox News Radio
Westwood One Network
Premiere Networks
Owner Alpha Media
(Alpha Media Licensee LLC)
Sister stations KBFF, KINK, KUPL, KXTG, KXL-FM
Webcast Listen Live
Website freedom970.com

KUFO (970 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station owned by Alpha Media and licensed to Portland, Oregon. The station, owned by Alpha Media calls itself Freedom 970. Since June 2008, it has featured a talk radio format. KUFO's offices and studios are on Southwest 5th Avenue in Portland. Its transmitter is in Portland's west hills. KUFO broadcasts with 5000 watts around the clock. By day, the signal is non-directional but at night, KUFO uses a directional signal to protect other stations on 970 kHz.

Programming

KUFO features mostly nationally syndicated talk shows. Weekday mornings start at 6 a.m. with Kilmeade & Friends with Fox News Channel host Brian Kilmeade. At 9 a.m. Laura Ingraham airs, followed by Sean Hannity at noon. At 3 p.m. it's Mark Levin followed by Dana Loesch at 6 p.m. At 9 p.m., KUFO airs Lars Larson's national show, which is only heard live for the first hour (3-4 pm) on co-owned 101.1 KXL-FM, which is where Larson does both his local/regional and national shows for six consecutive hours. Overnight, Red Eye Radio airs.

Weekends feature shows on money, the outdoors, real estate and firearms. Syndicated shows include Science Fantastic with Dr. Michio Kaku and Beyond the Beltway with Bruce DuMont. Some weekend shows are paid brokered programming. The station also airs Portland State Vikings college football and basketball games and Portland Steel Arena Football League games. Hourly national news is supplied by Fox News Radio.

History

KUFO is among Portland's oldest radio stations, first signing on the air on October 18, 1925 as KQP, then changing calls to KOIN in 1926.[3] In March 1941 (after moving from 940 kHz), KOIN aired a middle-of-the-road format. On May 12, 1977 the call letters changed to KYTE featuring a Top 40 hits format until September 4, 1979, when it switched to country music (as "97 Country"). In 1981, the station flipped to automated "Music of Your Life" adult standards programming until January 27, 1989 when the format was changed to classical music, picking up that format when KYTE-FM dropped classical for contemporary jazz as KKCY "The City". This turned out to be short-lived.

In 1990, the station changed call letters to KESI and aired a mostly instrumental easy listening format branded as "Easy 970". On May 1, 1991, the station changed call letters to KBBT and began stunting. 18 days later, the format was changed to an Alternative rock format known as "970 The Beat". In July 1996, KBBT began simulcasting on KDBX 107.5 FM (now KXJM), and tweaked their format to Modern AC. On October 2, 1996, The Beat was moved to FM and 970 changed call letters to KUPL and switching to classic country (as "Straight Country 970").

On September 19, 1997, American Radio Systems, owner of six Portland radio stations, announced that Westinghouse Broadcasting, the owner of Infinity Broadcasting, had bought all of its U.S. radio stations,[4] including KUPL, the country radio station broadcasting on AM 970. KUPL switched to oldies (as "Cruisin' Oldies 970") on January 23, 2001.[5] On August 1, 2001, KUPL changed call letters to KUFO with a new Hot talk format branded as "Extreme Talk 970". On October 11, 2002, after a brief simulcast with rock-formatted KUFO-FM, 970 changed its call letters back to KUPL and switched to classic country (again as "Straight Country 970").

KCMD branding

AM 970 continued as KUPL until 2005,[6] when it became KCMD, letters chosen to reflect its "all-comedy format" at the time. That same year, after MAX 910 abandoned its hot talk format, CBS Radio (formerly Infinity Broadcasting before December 2005), hoping to enlarge the station's audience, decided to broadcast syndicated programming, including The Tom Leykis Show, Phil Hendrie, and Don and Mike, shows that had previously aired on MAX 910. At the same time, the station was renamed to "Johnson 970". By early 2006, CBS Radio asked Rick Emerson to take over as program director and return on-air after being dropped from "MAX 910"; he was accompanied by on-air producer Sarah X Dylan and newsman Tim Riley. Within months, Johnson 970 became “AM 970 Solid State Radio”, and took on more syndicated broadcasts from around the country, including Dennis Miller.

After the launch of “Solid State Radio”, the station added a local weekend show (Miles Around Radio & Television), and became the affiliate for Dr. Demento, The Mike O'Meara Show, and The John and Jeff Show, as well as syndicating Fox Sports Radio.

On June 23, 2008, KCMD's slogan changed from "Solid State Radio" to "The Talker". On March 12, 2009, The Rick Emerson Show moved to KCMD's sister station KUFO-FM to replace the canceled The Adam Carolla Show.

In August 2009, CBS Radio sold its Portland cluster (including KCMD) to Alpha Broadcasting in an effort to focus on major market stations. Alpha rebranded the station to "Freedom 970" on September 14, 2009, and on May 24, 2010 changed its call letters to KXFD to reflect this branding.

On March 22, 2011, the station was reassigned the call sign KUFO which it had previously held from August 2001 to October 2002.[2] The call sign became available after its sister station at 101.1 FM changed its call letters from KUFO to KXL-FM.

In 2016, they began covering Portland Steel Arena Football League games. [7]

References

  1. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1977
  2. 1 2 "Call Sign History". FCC Media Bureau. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  3. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1977
  4. ↑ http://www.pdxradio.com/twist97.htm
  5. ↑ http://www.pdxradio.com/twist2001.htm
  6. ↑ http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/altc_list.pl?Facility_id=26926
  7. ↑ 2016 Week 9 Portland Steel vs Los Angeles Kiss, YouTube, May 29, 2016
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