KNIT (AM)
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| KNIT | |
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| City of license | Dallas, Texas |
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| Broadcast area | Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex |
| Branding | "ESPN Deportes 1480" |
| Frequency | 1480 kHz |
| First air date | January 25, 1953 as KGKO |
| Format | Spanish language Sports |
| Power | 5,000 Watts (day) 1,900 Watts (night) |
| Class | B |
| Former callsigns | KGKO (1953-1958), KBOX (1958-1982), KMEZ (1982-1989), KDBN (1989-1991), KCMZ (1991-1993), KMRT (1993-1998), KDXX (1998-2002), KHCK (2002-2005) |
| Affiliations | ESPN Deportes Radio |
| Owner | James Crystal Radio (operated by The Walt Disney Company) (JCE Licenses, LLC) |
| Sister stations | KESN, KMKI |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
KNIT (1480 AM) is a Spanish language sports/talk radio station that serves the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex as an ESPN Deportes affiliate. It operates on AM frequency 1480 kHz and is operated and managed by ESPN, but owned by JCE Licenses, Inc (James Crystal Radio in Florida) under a Local marketing agreement.
[edit] History
The station now known as KNIT signed on as KGKO in 1953, playing pop music and jazz. In 1958, KGKO changed calls to KBOX and adopted a Top 40 format to compete with Gordon McLendon's top-rated 1190 KLIF. Future WABC staple Dan Ingram was an early voice on KBOX. Within a year, the station, known variously as "Wonderful K-Box in Dallas," "Big Top Radio," and "Tiger Radio," had rocketed from the bottom of the ratings to a near-tie with KLIF, and remained highly rated through the coming decade. K-Box was also notable for being the only radio station covering President John F. Kennedy's motorcade live when he was assassinated on November 22, 1963 (although KLIF was widely acclaimed for its later coverage of the President's death and the ensuing events, it was not broadcasting live from the motorcade route).
However, the station was never able to defeat the Mighty 1190, and so on January 24, 1967, KBOX changed direction and went to a country format. The first song played on the new country KBOX was "I've Got a Tiger By the Tail" by Buck Owens (a nod to the station's former "Tiger Radio" moniker). As a country station, KBOX remained a market leader into the 1970s, but by 1980, the station had fallen behind country competitors WBAP and KSCS in the ratings. In 1982, the station dropped the longtime KBOX calls to become KMEZ-AM and simulcast the Beautiful Music format of 100.3 KMEZ-FM (the former KBOX-FM, also formerly KTLC).
In 1989, KMEZ-AM broke away from the FM station to adopt a Business News/Talk format as KDBN. This was followed in 1991 by satellite-fed Adult Standards from the Unistar radio network (later Westwood One) as KCMZ.
Marcos Rodriguez purchased the station and changed the format to Banda with call sign KMRT (1993-1998). Marcos Rodriguez picked the calls to connote the retailer K-Mart and imply good value for advertisers. KMRT was first in America to air Banda with an automated Audio Server delivery.
Eventually the calls changed to KDXX (1998-2002), and KHCK-AM (1998-2005), a simulcast of Tejano KHCK-FM "Kick FM" until the FM changed format to cumbia music and the AM continued as a standalone Tejano station for a few months). The current KNIT calls and a Southern Gospel format were adopted in March 2005 when it was briefly owned by Salem Communications.
In June 2007, the station joined the Spanish language sports network ESPN Deportes, and the station is managed and operated by ESPN.[1]
[edit] External links
- Query the FCC's AM station database for KNIT
- Radio Locator Information on KNIT
- Query Arbitron's AM station database for KNIT
- KNIT (AM) is at coordinates Coordinates:
- Mike Shannon's Tribute to KBOX and KGKO Radio
- DFW Radio Archives
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