KMIC (1590 AM) is an English language South Asian music and spoken word formatted

broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...

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 Houston, Texas, serving the

Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States, encompassing nine counties along the Gulf Co ...

area. The station, which began broadcasting in 1947, is owned and operated by DAIJ Media. KMIC is also licensed by the

U.S. 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 jurisdictio ...

(FCC) to broadcast in the HD (hybrid) format; however, was turned off in 2012.AM IBOC Stations on the Air
/ref>

Translators

History

Beginnings as KATL

This station began as KATL on 1590 kHz in 1947 and is the sixth-oldest surviving station licensed in the Houston area. The station launch was postponed by engineering problems. KATL went on the air at 6 p.m. on May 12, under special authority since it hadn't received its official license. KATL became an affiliate of

Gordon McLendon Gordon Barton McLendon (June 8, 1921 – September 14, 1986Texas State Historical AssociationMcClendon, Gordon Barton/ref>) was a radio broadcaster. Nicknamed "the Maverick of Radio", McLendon is widely credited for perfecting, during the 1950s ...

Liberty Broadcasting System The Liberty Broadcasting System was a U.S. radio network of the late 1940s and early 1950s founded by Gordon McLendon, which mainly broadcast live recreations of Major League Baseball games, by following the action via Western Union ticker reports. ...

KYOK

KATL was sold in 1954 to two

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

businessmen, Jules Paglin and Stanley Ray, for their "OK" group of stations targeted at

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

listeners. The call letters were then changed to

KYOK KYOK (1140 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Conroe, Texas, and serving Greater Houston. It is currently owned by Salt of the Earth Broadcasting and airs an urban contemporary gospel radio format. KYOK broadcasts at 5,000 watts by d ...

. Its

Urban contemporary gospel Urban/contemporary gospel is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the genre was well established by the end of the 1980s. The radio format is pitched prim ...

format lasted on and off for over four decades, and also aired an

Urban Contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban conte ...

(or

Soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

) format within that time frame. From 1988 to 1992, KYOK was known as "The New YO! 1590 Raps", and aired a hip hop-heavy

mainstream urban Mainstream may refer to: Film * ''Mainstream'' (film), a 2020 American film Literature * ''Mainstream'' (fanzine), a science fiction fanzine * Mainstream Publishing, a Scottish publisher * ''Mainstream'', a 1943 book by Hamilton Basso M ...

format. From the Fall of 1992 to the Fall of 1994, it aired an

Urban AC Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music o ...

format as "AM 1590 The New KHYS, playing the Hits & Dusties", and simulcasted along with Houston rimshots KJOJ-FM and KHYS. From Fall of 1994 to 1996, the station played Soul Oldies as "AM 1590 Solid Gold Soul". In late 1996, the station switched back to Gospel as "Gospel 1590 AM".

Radio Disney

The return to Gospel lasted until 1999, when the owners sold the station to

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

/ ABC Radio and switched it to an affiliate of

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within the Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

as in February 1999. The station's callsign was changed to KMIC in July 1999. KYOK, and its Gospel format, was moved to daytimer 1140 kHz, licensed to Conroe, north of Houston. On August 13, 2014, Disney put KMIC and 22 other

stations up for sale, in order to focus more on digital distribution of the Radio Disney network.

Radio Aleluya

In November, Radio Disney Group filed to sell KMIC to Ethnic and Religious broadcaster DAIJ Media. DAIJ Media is also owner of KRCM, KJOZ, KBRZ, KQUE, KCVH-LD and K29OH-D. On January 8, 2015, the FCC approved the sale of KMIC from Radio Disney Group to Daij Media, at a purchase price of $3.2 million. As a result, the station went

dark Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low l ...

the following day. The station resumed operations on January 23, 2015, with a Spanish Religious format as a result of the consummation of the sale.

Radio Dabang

In mid-October 2016, Radio Aleluya programming was replaced with brokered South Asian programming "Radio Dabang" which had aired on Siga Broadcasting station

KLVL KLVL (1480 AM) is a terrestrial radio station, paired with an FM relay translator. KLVL is licensed to Pasadena, serving the Greater Houston area. K235CS (94.9 FM; Channel 235) is licensed to Houston, serving northwest Houston, Cypress-Fairbank ...

in Pasadena. This was done in an effort to provide better nighttime service to the southwest areas of Houston that KLVL was unable to cover after sunset.

Return to "Aleluya"

By February 13, 2017, Radio Dabang had been replaced by Daij Media's main Spanish language Christian teaching and music format, simulcasting sister station KJOZ in Conroe. Radio Dabang, meanwhile, has returned to

and added an FM translator at 95.3 FM.

References

External links

Houston Radio History: Another 60 Years on 1590
*
FCC History Cards for KMIC
{{Houston AM MIC Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in Texas Former subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company MIC Spanish-language radio stations in Texas