KNSN (1240

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base uni ...

) is an AM

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

licensed to

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, United States. The station is owned by

Crawford Broadcasting Crawford Media Group is a family-owned media company based in Denver, Colorado.Contact information
https://crawford ...

, through licensee Kiertron, Inc. It airs a brokered

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

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, ...

, mostly

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of 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, simultaneously) ...

with co-owned

KBRT KBRT (740 AM, known on-air as K-BRITE) is a Southern Californian radio station. It airs a Christian talk and teaching radio format and is owned by Crawford Media Group. It is licensed to Costa Mesa, California, and serves Los Angeles and ...

(740 AM) in

Costa Mesa Costa may refer to: Biology * Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy * Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus * Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral * Costa (entomology), the leading edge o ...

. Programs include half-hour weekday shows from

Charles Stanley Charles Frazier Stanley Jr. (September 25, 1932 – April 18, 2023) was an American Southern Baptist pastor and writer. He was senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta for 49 years and took on ''emeritus'' status in 2020. He founded a ...

Joyce Meyer Pauline Joyce Meyer (née Hutchison; June 4, 1943) is an American Charismatic Movement, Charismatic Christian author, speaker, and president of Joyce Meyer Ministries. Joyce and her husband, Dave, have four grown children and live outside St. L ...

and

David Jeremiah David Jeremiah (born February 13, 1941) is an American evangelical Christian author, founder of Turning Point Radio and Television Ministries and senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch in El Cajon, Ca ...

. Studios for KBRT and KNSN are on Airway Avenue in Costa Mesa. KNSN transmits with a power of 550

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), 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 quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s, day and night, with its

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 ...

off Newton Avenue in San Diego, at the intersection of Route 15 and

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

. KNSN shares the tower with KURS (1040 AM). Programming on KNSN is also heard on 15-watt FM

translator station 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 tran ...

K277DG at 103.3

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

in San Diego.

History

The station

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 ...

in 1947 as KSON. KSON used a 250-watt

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

transmitter with a tower that was 250 feet tall. The station was owned and operated by Fred Rebal. Through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, KSON was a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

station, mostly simulcast with KSON-FM (97.3 FM, now on

103.7 FM The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on FM broadcasting, FM frequency 103.7 MHz: Argentina * Metropolitana in Rosario, Santa Fe * Radio María in Pilar, Santa Fe Australia * 2KY in Moree, New South Wales * 2NUR in Newcastle ...

). In 1985, KSON-AM-FM were acquired by Jefferson Pilot Broadcasting. On July 24, 1996, the AM station's format was changed to

children's radio Children's radio is a term used to refer to both Radio program, radio series and Radio format, formats designed specifically for Child, children. It has existed as far back as the beginning of Radio broadcasting, broadcasting in the 1920s, and surv ...

as KDDZ, with the

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 ...

standing for "Kids." It started as a KidStar Radio

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 ...

; that network was short-lived and closed on February 14, 1997. A year later the station gave children's radio another try with

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

in late January 1998, which lasted until July 1, 2003. During a heavy rain and wind storm near the end of December 2004, approximately half of the radio antenna tower collapsed and fell, leaving the tower at a height of about 200 feet. It had been 442 feet tall. Later, KNSN was a

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music vary according to culture and social context. Gospel music is compo ...

radio station, having that format from January 2007 until July 2007. The station was sold to

Multicultural Broadcasting Multicultural Broadcasting is a media company based in New York City founded by Chinese-American businessman Arthur Liu. It caters mostly to the Asian American community and owns television and radio stations in several of the top markets in mu ...

Inc., owned by Arthur Liu, on June 1, 2009. In the early 2000s, it shifted to a

Spanish-language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

Christian radio Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

format. On May 22, 2014,

Crawford Broadcasting Crawford Media Group is a family-owned media company based in Denver, Colorado.Contact information
https://crawford ...

announced it would acquire KNSN for $1.5 million through licensee Kiertron, Inc. The sale was consummated on July 25, 2014, with the Spanish Christian programming shifting to 1040 KURS.http://www.crawfordbroadcasting.com/Local_Oscillator/June%202014%20Local%20Oscillator.pdf KNSN went silent in late July 2014 in preparation for a new format under Crawford Broadcasting ownership. KNSN returned to air on September 29, 2014. The format ended up being the previous religious format, this time in English. It is mostly a simulcast of co-owned

. In 2017, a 15-watt FM

was added, 103.3

K277DG. It shares the same broadcast tower as the AM signal. The translator is often cut off as distant station KRUZ in Santa Barbara, the dominant station at 103.3, often hashes out K277DG's signal in tropospheric ducting.

References

External links

FCC History Cards for KNSNK-BriteThe Soul of San Diego (website of previous gospel format)
{{San Diego Radio Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in California NSN