KBED (1510 AM; branded as Sports Radio Beaumont) is a radio station serving the Beaumont- Port Arthur area with a

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

format. It is under ownership of

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdi ...

; until going silent in 2025, it simulcast with sister station

KIKR KIKR (1450 AM broadcasting, AM, branded as Sports Radio Beaumont) is a radio station serving the Beaumont, Texas, Beaumont/Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur area with a Sports radio, sports format when it is in operation. It is under ownership of ...

in Beaumont, Texas. Its studios are located on South Eleventh Street in Beaumont and its transmitter is located south of

Vidor, Texas Vidor ( ) is a city in western Orange County, Texas, United States. A city of Southeast Texas, it lies at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Farm to Market Road 105, east of Beaumont. The town is mainly a bedroom community for the nearby ...

History

KBED was initially proposed by Felix and James Joynt in 1959. The Joynts requested to obtain a construction permit to build a 1 kilowatt daytime broadcasting radio station at 1510 kHz, under the name KWEN Broadcasting on October 26, 1959, which was filed with the

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

(FCC) the following day. The proposed facility was constructed 3 miles northwest of 16th Street, on U.S. Highway 69 in Port Arthur, receiving a license to cover on February 20, 1969. The facility was issued its first

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

KCAW, standing for

country and western A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, or d ...

, on November 7, 1968. The Joynts would file to modify the location of the transmission site to a location on Texas State Highway 347, .7 miles northwest of 39th Street, which is where the facility signed on from in Port Arthur. That tower now is used as a cell site tower. The transmitter was moved to its current South Vidor location (where its former FM sister

KYKR-FM KYKR (95.1 FM, "Kicker 95.1") is a radio station broadcasting a Country format. Licensed to Beaumont, Texas, it serves the Beaumont/ Port Arthur metropolitan area, owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The "Kicker" branding and country format were first ...

was located) when the FCC approved a power increase from 1,000 watts to the current 5,000 watts on August 1, 1980. Accompanied by the upgrade in ERP, the

community of license In U.S., 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 broadcast ...

was changed to Nederland. The callsign changed to KYKR, along with its FM sister 93.3, in 1974. Eventually, owner Jimmie Joynt sold both the AM and FM to different owners. The AM station saw a couple of different owners (including

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., or 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 founded by ...

at one time) including various

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

owners. On January 4, 1988, the KYKR tower in South Vidor suffered a massive fire believed to be arson. Both 93.3 FM and 1510 AM transmitters were lost. KYKR struggled with borrowed equipment to make it back on the air at low power and eventually recovered. KBED-KIKR SportsRadio1510-1450 logo

Because it shares the same frequency as " clear channel" radio station

WLAC WLAC (1510 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America. Owned by iHeartMedia, it broadcasts a talk radio radio format, format. The radio studio, studios are in Nashvill ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, KBED only broadcasts during the

daytime Daytime or day as observed on Earth is the period of the day during which a given location experiences Daylight, natural illumination from direct sunlight. Daytime occurs when the Sun appears above the local horizon, that is, anywhere on the ...

hours. KBED, along with simulcast partner KIKR, went silent in March 2025. They were two of six Cumulus stations to close the weekend of March 7, as part of a larger shutdown of underperforming Cumulus stations.

References

External links

Sports radio stations in the United States BED Cumulus Media radio stations BED Infinity Sports Network stations Radio stations established in 1969 1969 establishments in Texas {{Texas-radio-station-stub