KVON
Radio station in Napa, California, United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
KVON (1440 AM) is a commercial radio station broadcasting a Spanish AC format. Licensed to Napa, California, United States, it serves the Napa County/Sonoma County region of Northern California. The station is owned by Wilfred Alexander Marcencia and Julissa Marcencia, through licensee Wine Down Media LLC.
| |
| |
Broadcast area | |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1440 kHz |
| Branding | Mega Mix 1440/96.9 |
| Programming | |
| Language | Spanish |
| Format | Spanish AC |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KVYN | |
| History | |
First air date | November 17, 1947 |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| 74430 | |
| Class | B |
| Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 38°15′44.7″N 122°16′59.9″W |
| Translator | 96.9 K245DK (Napa) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | kvon |
KVON's transmitter is sited south of Napa, adjacent to the Napa River. The station is also relayed over low-power FM translator K245DK (96.9 FM).
History
On November 17, 1947, KVON first signed on.[2] Originally it broadcast with 500 watts of power around the clock, before getting a power increase.[3] The station was owned by Thomas L. Young from 1971 to 1996. During Young's ownership, he founded sister station KVYN which went on the air in 1975.[4][5]
In May 2017 an announcement was made that the station along with KVYN had been sold by Wine Country Broadcasting to Wine Down Media for $425,000. The transaction was consummated on August 1, 2017.[6]
On December 14, 2021, KVON announced that it would flip to Spanish language programming on January 3, 2022, and some previous programming elements would move to sister station KVYN.[7] The station is currently the only station in Napa County broadcasting in Spanish 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The format is Spanish AC, branded as "Mega Mix 1440/96.9.[7] The switchover to the new format is a culmination of a 5 year transition, bourne out of several events starting with the October 2017 Northern California wildfires, followed by the 2019 California power shutoffs and the COVID-19 pandemic. Over one third of Napa County's population is Latino and during these events, Spanish speaking residents had a difficult time retrieving and understanding coverage and implications of these events at the local level.[8] The station's ownership was granted a license to broadcast by the FCC on December 8, 2021.[9]
Previous logo
