KTSM (AM)
Radio station in El Paso, Texas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
KTSM (690 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to El Paso, Texas. It is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and airs a talk format. The studios are on North Mesa Street at West Waymore Drive in west central El Paso.[2]
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| Broadcast area | El Paso metropolitan area |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 690 kHz |
| Branding | News Radio 690 KTSM |
| Programming | |
| Format | Talk radio |
| Network | Fox News Radio |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | 1947 |
Former call signs |
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Call sign meaning | Tri-State Music Company (original owner) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 69561 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 10,000 watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 31°58′11.4″N 106°21′16.9″W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (via iHeartRadio) |
| Website | ktsmradio |
KTSM broadcasts with 10,000 watts around the clock. Because the station operates on 690 AM, a Mexican and Canadian clear-channel frequency, KTSM uses a directional antenna with a four-tower array to avoid interfering with other stations operating on the same frequency. Its transmitter site is located off O'Brian Street near U.S. Route 54 in north east El Paso.[3]
Programming
KTSM weekday schedule is made up of nationally syndicated conservative talk shows, mostly supplied by Premiere Networks, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia: Your Morning Show with Michael DelGiorno, The Glenn Beck Radio Program, The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, The Sean Hannity Show, The Jesse Kelly Show, The Mark Levin Show, Coast to Coast AM with George Noory and This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal.[4]
Weekends feature a mix of local and syndicated shows on money, health, technology, travel, home repair and the law. Weekend programs include The Kim Komando Show, Bill Handel on The Law, At Home with Gary Sullivan, Armstrong & Getty, Our American Stories with Lee Habeeb, Sunday Nights with Bill Cunningham, The Ben Ferguson Show and Somewhere in Time with Art Bell. Some weekend hours are paid brokered programming. Most hours begin with an update from Fox News Radio.
History
In 1947, the station signed on the air at 690 kHz as KEPO.[5] It was powered at 5,000 watts and owned by H.J. Griffith, who served as station president.
In 1957, its call letters were changed to KHEY, airing a country music format for many years. Historically, KHEY was one of several country music stations in El Paso, and was the last AM station in the market to keep its country format. In 1974, KHEY added a sister station, 96.3 KEZB, which aired a beautiful music format.[6] That station today is co-owned KHEY-FM.
In 1998, San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications (renamed iHeartMedia in 2014), acquired both KHEY-AM-FM and KTSM-AM-FM. Under Clear Channel management, the two AM stations' call signs and formats were swapped in 2000, with KHEY on AM 690 becoming KTSM and inheriting its talk format, while KTSM on AM 1380 became KHEY and inherited its country music format. (It has since flipped to sports radio programming.)