KGST (1600 AM) is a

commercial radio Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship, for example. It was the United States' first model ...

station in

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

, broadcasting a

brokered programming Brokered programming (also known as time-buy and blocktime) is a form of broadcast content in which the show's producer pays a radio or television station for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot com ...

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 broadcasting, ...

, with shows in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Armenian. It is owned by

Lotus Communications Lotus Communications Corporation is a media company that owns numerous radio stations and a few TV stations, and is one of the largest privately owned radio station groups in the United States. Headquarters are located in Los Angeles, and the co ...

with studios on East Olive Avenue in Fresno. KGST is powered at 5,000 watts non-directional by day. At night, to avoid interfering with other stations on

1600 AM The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on AM broadcasting, AM frequency 1600 kHz: 1600 AM is classified as a regional frequency by the Federal Communications Commission. Argentina * Armonia in Caseros * EME (radio station), EM ...

, it uses a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

with a four-

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 station's

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is off West Church Avenue in the Edison neighborhood of Fresno.Raido-Locator.com/KGST
/ref>

History

KGST

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air in 1949. It started out as a mixed-format "international" station with programs available in Armenian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Serbian. Its programs were hosted by brokers who paid for airtime. It later became one of the earliest radio stations in California and the first in the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

with full-time Spanish-language programming. At its inception, KGST was the only independent (not affiliated with the four major networks) station in Fresno's five-station market (cf. White's Radio Log, Fall 1949). For most of the years it played

Regional Mexican Regional Mexican music refers collectively to the regional subgenres of the country music of Mexico and its derivatives from the Southwestern United States. Each subgenre is representative of a certain region and its popularity also varies by ...

music, it was known as "La Mexicana." Juan Mercado, who got his start as the Spanish-language programming director at a Visalia station, was one of the most popular deejays at the station. In 1959, he was able to buy the station due to his success. Mercado died just two years later and the station was bought by a couple of men who were at the time also running KLOK in San Jose. In the mid-1950s to 1960s, KGST was an "eclectic" mix of C&W, Blues, Jazz, and Spanish and other language programming. "Happy Harold's House of Blues" was a program fixture for many years (cf. Fresno Bee radio logs). In that time, KGST was a

daytimer A clear-channel station is a North American AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classification exists to ensure the viability of cross ...

, running 1,000 watts and required to sign off at sunset.(cf. White's Radio Log, various editions). KGST later got a boost in power to 5,000 watts and full time authorization. In 1988, KGST was bought by Lotus Corporation. For a time, KGST was the Fresno

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 ...

for

ESPN Deportes ESPN Deportes (, ) is an American multinational Spanish-language pay television sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the ...

, a Spanish-language sports service.

References

External links

* ( Guide to reading History Cards)
History of KGST "La Mexicana" 1600 AM (history thesis)
{{Coord, 36, 42, 36, N, 119, 50, 06, W, type:landmark_region:US, display=title 1949 establishments in California Japanese-language radio stations Lotus Communications stations Mass media in Fresno, California Radio stations established in 1949 GST GST