KATJ-FM (100.7

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one h ...

) is a commercial

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

located in

Victorville, California Victorville is a city in Victor Valley in San Bernardino County, California. Its population as of the 2020 census was 134,810. History In 1858, Aaron G. Lane came to what is now known as Victorville and founded a waystation called "Lane's Cr ...

that serves the

Victor Valley The Victor Valley is a valley in the Mojave Desert and subregion of the Inland Empire, in San Bernardino County in Southern California. It is located east of the Mojave's Antelope Valley, north of the Cajon Pass and the San Bernardino Valley, ...

area. The station is owned by El Dorado Broadcasters and broadcasts a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

format. The official

city of license In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American b ...

is George, referring to

George Air Force Base George Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base located within the city limits, 8 miles northwest, of central Victorville, California, about 75 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California. Established by the United States Army Air Co ...

, which at the station's 1989 sign-on was an active military base and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, su ...

. The base was decommissioned in 1992 and later annexed by the city of Victorville. KATJ-FM broadcasts in

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

History

KATJ-FM first signed on June 29, 1989 with a

format. It was

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

to the community of George, California; this referred to

, an active military base and

near

Victorville Victorville is a city in Victor Valley in San Bernardino County, California. Its population as of the 2020 census was 134,810. History In 1858, Aaron G. Lane came to what is now known as Victorville and founded a waystation called "Lane's Cro ...

. The base was decommissioned in 1992 and it became the civilian

Southern California Logistics Airport Southern California Logistics Airport , also known as Victorville Airport, is a public airport located in the city of Victorville in San Bernardino County, California, approximately north of San Bernardino. Prior to its civil usage, the facilit ...

, an area later annexed by the city of Victorville. Original owner Crown Broadcasting, headed by Sid King, attempted to sell KATJ-FM and

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

KCIN KCIN (94.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Cedar City, Utah, United States, the station is currently owned by Townsquare Media Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an Am ...

(1590 AM) to Victor Valley Broadcasting for $1.36 million in August 1989. The potential buyer was a company led by Kenneth Devine, Peter Trosclair, and John Binsfield, all partners in a

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...

(FCC) approved the transfer of both stations' licenses to the new owner December 21. In January 1995, Island Broadcasting sold KATJ-FM and KCIN to Park Lane Group for $1.8 million. In June 1996, the station hired Harry Hall, former afternoon drive show producer at Los Angeles country station

KZLA KZLA (98.3 FM, "Old School 98.3") is a radio station licensed to serve Riverdale, California. The station is owned by Riverdale Broadcasting, LLC. History The station was assigned the KHRN call letters by the Federal Communications Commission o ...

, as a part-time on-air personality. In June 1997,

Regent Communications Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

purchased Park Lane Group's 16 stations in California and Arizona, including KATJ-FM, for a total of $23.5 million. In April 2000,

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

proposed a complex station swap with Regent Communications which would have involved 20 stations nationwide, including KATJ-FM, and a payment of over $67 million by Regent to Clear Channel. This deal was one of many divestitures required of Clear Channel and AMFM, Inc. by the FCC as a condition of their merger, in order to satisfy ownership caps in each affected media market. While this exchange was not implemented fully, Clear Channel did acquire KATJ-FM and its AM sister station, now called KROY. In June 2007, Clear Channel sold 16 stations in California and Arizona, including KATJ-FM, to El Dorado Broadcasters for $40 million.

HD Radio

KATJ-FM broadcasts in

and offers two digital subchannels: *KATJ-HD1 is a digital

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simult ...

of the analog signal. *KATJ-HD2 airs a hip hop format branded as "HD 96.3". KATJ-HD2 is simulcast on

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

station K242CS in Victorville at 96.3 FM. The format was launched on March 15, 2016.

References

External links

* * {{coord, 34.611, N, 117.289, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title ATJ-FM Country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1989 1989 establishments in California Mass media in San Bernardino County, California Victorville, California