KEXB (1440 AM) is a

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 ...

, licensed to

University Park, Texas University Park is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States of America, in suburban Dallas. The population was 23,068 at the 2010 census. The city is home to Southern Methodist University. University Park is bordered on the north, east and ...

, and serving the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. It is owned and operated by

Relevant Radio Relevant Radio (corporate name Relevant Radio, Inc.) is a radio network in the United States, mainly broadcasting talk radio and religious programming involving the Catholic Church. It is the largest Catholic radio network by owned station base. R ...

, Inc., and carries a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

talk and teaching

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...

. Most of the programming comes from the

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

-based radio network known as "Relevant Radio." By day, KEXB transmits 50,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s, the maximum for AM radio stations licensed by the

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 ...

, but at night, to protect other stations on

1440 AM 144 may refer to: * 144 (number), the natural number following 143 and preceding 145 * AD 144, a year of the Julian calendar, in the second century AD * 144 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar * ''144'' (film), a 2015 Indian comedy * ''14 ...

, it reduces power to 350 watts. It uses a directional antenna at all times, employing a four to five-

tower array A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower ...

. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to ...

is off Bruton Road in Dallas.

History

The station

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature, placing one's name on a document * Signature (disambiguation) * Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice * Digital signature A dig ...

from Denton in 1938 as KDNT, and would later become a Top 40 station throughout portions of the 1960s and 1970s before becoming a MOR station. It mainly served the Denton area until

Marcos A. Rodriguez Marcos A. Rodriguez (born 22 July 1958) is a Cuban-American entrepreneur, movie producer, businessperson and investor. He is the founder and CEO of numerous American media outlets including KLTY, KUUR, an FM radio station serving the Carbondale, ...

purchased it in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...

and converted it to a Spanish-language

Regional Mexican Regional Mexican is a Latin music radio format encompassing the musical genres from the different parts of rural Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Genres include banda, country en español, Duranguense, grupero, mariachi, New Mex ...

radio station. The transmitter was moved into the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and the

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 ...

was switched to University Park, Texas. It was announced on October 21, 2011, that Mortenson Broadcasting would be selling three of its AM stations (including then KTNO) and its

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tra ...

K273BJ to Salem Communications for a reported $2.2 million in cash. In August 2019, Salem announced that the company had secured a deal with Immaculate Heart Media, Inc. to sell nine stations (including 1440) and four translators. Prior to the closing of the sale, Salem moved the "Radio Luz" format to 620 AM on October 21, 2019. The call sign for this facility was swapped from KTNO to KEXB, and vice versa for the 620 facility. During the transition, 1440 ran a continuous redirect message, advising listeners of the Spanish language Christian programming to move their radio dials to 620 AM.Radio Luz Moves in Dallas
- ''Radio Insight'' (published October 21, 2019) The sale was consummated on November 14, 2019. Once the Spanish Religious format relocated to AM 620, 1440 KEXB became an owned-and-operated

network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

References

External links

*
DFW Radio/TV History's Tribute to KDNT
{{coord, 32, 45, 02, N, 96, 43, 22, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title Radio stations established in 1938 EXB Relevant Radio stations EXB