KNX () is a commercial AM radio station in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. It simulcasts an all news radio format with

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

97.1 KNX-FM, both owned by

Audacy, Inc. Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corp., it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning over 220 radio stations across 47 media ...

KNX is one of the oldest stations in the United States, having received its first broadcasting license, as KGC, on December 8, 1921, in addition to tracing its history to the September 1920 operations of an earlier amateur station. The radio studios and offices—shared with KNX-FM,

KCBS-FM KCBS-FM (93.1 FM) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. It is owned by Audacy, Inc., and broadcasts an adult hits music format branded "93.1 Jack FM". Unlike most radio stations airing t ...

KROQ-FM KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The sta ...

, KRTH and KTWV—are located on

Wilshire Boulevard Wilshire Boulevard ( wɪɫ.ʃɚ is a prominent boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue (Santa Monica), Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica, California, Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue (Lo ...

, along Los Angeles' Miracle Mile. KNX holds a class A license as one of the original clear-channel stations. Its 50,000-

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 ...

non-directional signal is heard throughout all of

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in the daytime. When conditions are right, it can be picked up at night throughout much of the

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and parts of

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and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. The station is even received by DXers in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and across the

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. The

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 ...

site is in Columbia Park in Torrance, near Hawthorne Boulevard ( California State Route 107) and 190th Street. KNX is authorized to broadcast a digital

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...

signal. KNX and KFI are the local primary stations for the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Emergency Alert System The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a Emergency population warning, national warning system in the United States designed to allow authorized officials to broadcast emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via Cable television, cable ...

. They are responsible for activation of the EAS when hazardous weather alerts, and

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declarations are issued.

Programming

KNX-AM-FM broadcast "traffic and weather together" every ten minutes on the fives with traffic reports on the freeways and toll roads in the Greater Los Angeles area and weather forecasts for Southern California, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Local news coverage include the latest news from the

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the Legislature, lawmaking body for the Government of Los Angeles, city government of Los Angeles, California, the second largest city in the United States. It has 15 members who each represent the 15 city council ...

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and public safety. Business news from

Bloomberg Radio Bloomberg Radio is a radio service of Bloomberg L.P. that provides global business news programming 24 hours a day. The format is general and financial news, offering local, national and international news reports along with financial market ...

and sports headlines are heard every half hour. Each hour begins with world and national news from

CBS News Radio CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. It ...

. The two stations are branded as "KNX News 97.1 FM".

History

Origin

Although KNX received its first broadcasting station license on December 8, 1921, the station has traditionally dated its founding to September 10, 1920, reflecting broadcasts conducted by Fred Christian over his amateur station, 6ADZ. Mr. Christian was trained as a shipboard

radio operator A radio operator (also, formerly, a wireless operator in British and Commonwealth English) is a person who is responsible for the operations of a radio system and the technicalities in broadcasting. The profession of radio operator has become l ...

. He lived at 5118½ Harold Way in

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

. He was manager for the Electric Lighting Supply Company at 216 West Third Street, Los Angeles. He once explained that he began the broadcasts in order to provide something to listen to for those customers who had constructed receivers from parts purchased for their

radio shack RadioShack (formerly written as Radio Shack) is an American electronics retailer that was established in 1921 as an amateur radio mail-order business. Its parent company was purchased by Tandy Corporation in 1962, which shifted its focus from ma ...

."KNX Spans 7 Decades of Los Angeles Radio History"
''Los Angeles Radio Guide'', November/December 1995, pages 22-26. Christian began making broadcasts with a five-watt vacuum-tube transmitter, operating on the standard amateur wavelength of 200 meters (1500

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 ...

KGC

Initially there were no specific standards in the United States for radio stations making transmissions intended for the general public, and numerous stations under various classifications made entertainment broadcasts. However, effective December 1, 1921, the Department of Commerce, regulators of radio at this time, adopted a regulation that formally created a broadcasting station category, and stations were now required to hold a Limited Commercial license authorizing operation on wavelengths of 360 meters (833 kHz) for "entertainment" broadcasts or 485 meters (619 kHz) for "market and weather reports". By the end of 1922 over 500 stations were authorized nationwide. On December 8, 1921, the Electric Lighting Supply Company was issued a broadcasting station license with the randomly assigned call letters KGC, the second in the county after KQL, authorizing operation on the 360-meter entertainment wavelength. The station's location was listed as Fred Christian's Harold Way home. The shared 360 meter wavelength required timesharing agreements between an increasing number of stations needing exclusive time periods. On May 4 the ''Los Angeles Times'' reported that a total of seven local stations were slated to make broadcasts that day, comprising a schedule that ran from noon to 9 p.m., with KGC assigned 2-2:30 and 7:30-8 p.m.

KNX

On May 4, 1922, the Electric Lighting Supply Company was issued a broadcasting license for a station with the randomly assigned call letters of KNX, also on 360 meters, and located at the company's Los Angeles store on West Third Street. This was technically considered to be a second station in addition to KGC, however, after KGC was formally deleted on June 20, 1922, the Department of Commerce concluded that KGC and KNX were functionally the same station, and

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) records list KGC's December 8, 1921, initial license date as KNX's "date first licensed". The new authorization coincided with preparations for a move to the California Theater, broadcasting live music, with Fred Christian continuing as station manager. On June 12, 1922, the ''Los Angeles Times'' reported that "After more than two months of preparation, the new broadcast station at the California Theater had its opening program Saturday evening at 9:15, sending out a wavelength of 510 meters 88 kHz The station is said to be one of the best in the land, the call letters of which are KNX." KNX's regular broadcast schedule on 360 meters was 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. A week after it commenced operations from the theater, the ''Times'' reported that "Numerous reports have come into The Times radio department commending the quality and audibility of material broadcast from KNX, the California Theater radiophone. This station differs from other stations in that it gives its listeners-in the music of the complete orchestra of the California Theater." KNX's power was raised to 100 watts in early August 1922.

Los Angeles Evening Express

In the fall of 1924, Guy Earl Jr., owner of the ''Los Angeles Evening Express'', arranged for the newspaper's purchase of KNX. The ''Express'' made significant upgrades, including increasing the power to 500 watts, and began broadcasting from the Paul G. Hoffman Studebaker building in Hollywood. KNX was one of the last stations to remain on the original 360 meter wavelength, and the newspaper engineered a move to 890 kHz. It remained on this frequency until November 11, 1928, when the station was reassigned to 1050 kHz, under the provisions of a major reallocation resulting from the

Federal Radio Commission The Federal Radio Commission (FRC) was a government agency that regulated United States radio communication from its creation in 1927 until 1934, when it was succeeded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FRC was established by ...

's (FRC) General Order 40. In early 1928, Guy Earle sold his share of the Evening Express newspaper and reorganized KNX as the Western Broadcast Company. In 1929, Earle moved the KNX studios to the Paramount Pictures lot, signing a five-year contract, and the station's transmitter power was upgraded from 500 to 5,000 watts. In 1930, KNX became the first station to broadcast the Academy Awards. In 1932, it increased to 10,000 watts. In 1933, the station moved its studios to the former

Peerless Motor Company The Peerless Motor Car Company was an American automobile manufacturer that produced the Peerless brand of motorcars in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1900 to 1931. One of the "Three Ps"Packard, Peerless, and Pierce-Arrowthe company was known for buildi ...

building at 5939 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, after being granted permission by the FRC on June 7, 1932, to raise its output to 25,000 watts. The following year, KNX's transmitting power was raised to the nationwide maximum of 50,000 watts, which the station continues presently.

CBS ownership

CBS purchased KNX in 1936, and began operating it as its West Coast

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

, which ended CBS's eight-year

affiliation Affiliation or affiliate may refer to: * Affiliate (commerce), a legal form of entity relationship used in Business Law * Affiliation (family law), a legal form of family relationship * Affiliate marketing * Affiliate network or affiliation platf ...

with KHJ. In 1938, the CBS Columbia Square studios were dedicated for KNX as well as West Coast operations for the entire CBS radio network. That October, the station carried

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...

' celebrated version of ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...

''. In March 1941, the station was shifted to 1070 AM as part of the

North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA, ; ) refers to a series of international treaties that defined technical standards for AM band (mediumwave) radio stations. These agreements also addressed how frequency assignments were d ...

assignments, where it has been ever since. Theatre legend Jerome Lawrence got his start in radio writing at KNX in the late 1930s. Legendary performers from the "

Golden Age of Radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...

" used KNX studios for their national broadcasts, included

Jack Benny Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky; February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success as a violinist on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...

George Burns George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film, and television. His arched eyeb ...

Edgar Bergen Edgar John Bergen (né Berggren; February 16, 1903 – September 30, 1978) was an American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, vaudevillian and radio performer. He was best known for his characters Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. Bergen ...

and

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...

Steve Allen Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television and radio personality, comedian, musician, composer, writer, and actor. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-creator and ...

conducted a freewheeling late night show over KNX in the late 1940s, which opened the door to his national success. TV

situation comedy A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

star Bob Crane was KNX's morning host between 1957 and 1965 at the same time he was appearing as a featured supporting player on the ABC television network series ''

The Donna Reed Show ''The Donna Reed Show'' is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the middle-class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz co-stars as her Pediatrics, pediatrician husband Dr. Alex Stone, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage childr ...

''.

FM and TV stations

On March 30, 1948, KNX added a

. The original station 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 ...

KNX-FM signed on the air, mostly simulcasting 1070 AM. At first it was on the old FM band, but switched to 93.1 a few years later. Today that station is

, while a new version of KNX-FM exists today on 97.1 as a simlicast of the AM station. In 1951, KNX gained a television cousin when CBS acquired KTSL channel 2 and rebranded it as KNXT. It took on the current

KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2), branded CBS Los Angeles, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship station of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the n ...

call sign in 1984. It traces its history back to 1930s experimental broadcasts and was originally owned by broadcast pioneer Don Lee.

Switch to all-news

KNX was a strong competitor in the Los Angeles market while Bob Crane was its morning personality, but began declining in popularity after he left to star in the CBS television series ''

Hogan's Heroes ''Hogan's Heroes'' is an American television sitcom created by Bernard Fein and Albert S. Ruddy which is set in a Prisoner-of-war camp, prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in Nazi Germany during World War II, and centers around a group of Allied prisoner ...

''. Following the example of corporate sister station WCBS in New York City, which had enjoyed success with an all-news format, KNX then became an all-news station in the spring of 1968. By chance, its first major breaking news coverage was a major worldwide story that happened locally: the

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

of Democratic Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, on June 5 of that year. In August 2005, KNX moved out of Columbia Square after operating there for 67 years, and began broadcasting from new studios in the Miracle Mile district on

.KNX History
/ref> In 2009, KNX adopted the slogan "All news, all the time". It was previously used for 40 years by KFWB, KNX's historic rival in the news radio wars before both became sister stations through the 1995 merger of

Westinghouse Electric The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was ...

(KFWB's owner) and CBS. KFWB's format change to

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...

in September 2009, left KNX as the only all-news outlet in the Los Angeles area, which is now emphasized in its alternate slogan, "Southern California's only 24-hour local news & traffic station". In 2017, KNX won its first ever national Edward R. Murrow award for "Breaking News". The station was also nominated for two 2017 NAB Marconi awards, Legendary Station of the Year and News/Talk Station of the Year.

Entercom and Audacy

On February 2, 2017, CBS agreed to merge CBS Radio with

Entercom Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corp., it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning over 220 radio stations across 47 media ...

, then the fourth-largest radio broadcaster in the United States. The sale was conducted tax-free using a Reverse Morris Trust. While CBS shareholders retained a 72% ownership stake in the combined company, Entercom was the surviving entity, separating KNX from KCBS-TV and

KCAL-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). The two stations share studios at the ...

. The merger was approved on November 9, and was consummated 8 days later. On March 30, 2021, Entercom announced that the company changed its name to Audacy. KNX 971 NewsTalk

On December 6, 2021, KNX announced that it would be adding an FM simulcast. KNX's all-news programming would also be heard on sister station KNOU, replacing the

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

format on the station that began in 2009. KNOU changed its call letters to KNX-FM on December 21, 2021, to match its AM simulcast partner.

Transmitter site

The station's antenna array features a 494-foot (150m) main antenna. The original main tower (circa 1936) was destroyed by vandals on September 14, 1965. An unused 365-foot (111m) tower was brought in from KFAC (now

KWKW KWKW (1330 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station in Los Angeles, California, United States, featuring a Talk radio, news/talk and sports radio, sports format known as , 1330 AM. Owned by Lotus Communications, the station services Greater L ...

) and was used while the new main antenna was constructed. This antenna was formerly in what is now a residential area to the south of the main antenna. The 365-foot tower now serves as KNX's emergency antenna. It was later relocated when much of the site was dedicated as a park in Torrance. It is now north of the main antenna, within the park. Only one antenna is active at a time. An experiment in the late 1960s, using both antennas in a directional setup during the daytime was abandoned. The 494-foot main antenna is 0.53λ, or 193.5 electrical degrees. It has an efficiency of 400.73 mV/m/kW at 1 km. This is much better than average for a Class A station's main antenna. The FCC's minimum efficiency requirement is 362.10 mV/m/kW at 1 km. The 365-foot emergency antenna is 0.40λ, or 145.5 electrical degrees. It has an efficiency of about 343 mV/m/kW at 1 km. This is much better than average for a Class A emergency antenna but is inadequate for the main antenna.

Notable former on-air staff

—former late night host. (deceased) * Pete Arbogast – news and sports anchor. Longtime broadcaster for

USC Trojans Football The USC Trojans football program represents the University of Southern California in the sport of American football. The Trojans compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate ...

from 1989 to 1994 and since 2001. * Bill Ballance (deceased) * Bob Barker (deceased) * Bob Crane (deceased) * Michael FitzmauriceCox, Jim (2007). ''Radio Speakers: Narrators, News Junkies, Sports Jockeys, Tattletales, Tipsters, Toastmasters and Coffee Klatch Couples Who the Jargon of the Aural Ether from the 1920s to the 1980s--A Biographical Dictionary''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . Pp. 98-99. (using the name Mike Kelly) (deceased) *

Chet Huntley Chester Robert Huntley (December 10, 1911 – March 20, 1974) was an American television newscaster, best known for co-anchoring NBC's evening news program, '' The Huntley–Brinkley Report,'' for 14 years beginning in 1956. Early life Hunt ...

(special events) and news commentary (deceased) * Bill Keene – traffic reporter best known for nicknames of freeway interchanges. (deceased) * Knox Manning – (newscaster) (deceased) * Brian Ping – evening/overnight weeknight news anchor, left KNX effective April 24, 2024. * Gil Stratton – longtime sportscaster who worked with KNXT and KNX on and off from 1954 to 1997. (deceased) * Jim Thornton – news and traffic anchor. Also the off-screen voice of Wheel of Fortune since 2011. * Larry Van Nuys * Dave Zorn (deceased) * Jennifer York - traffic reporter * Dick Helton *

Pat Sajak Patrick Leonard Sajak ( ; né , born October 26, 1946) is an American game show host, television personality, and creative consultant. He is best known as the host of the television game show '' Wheel of Fortune'', a position which he held fr ...

- weather reporter

Current on-air staff

* Craig Fiegener -

Los Angeles City Hall Los Angeles City Hall, completed in 1928, is the center of the government of the city of Los Angeles, California, and houses the Mayor of Los Angeles, mayor's office and the meeting chambers and offices of the Los Angeles City Council. It is loca ...

reporter * Pete Demitriou - Public safety reporter * Brian Douglas - News anchor * Brian Ping - News anchor * Vicky Moore - News anchor * Elsa Ramon - News anchor * Chris Seetons - News anchor * Nataly Tavidian - General assignment news reporter * Emily Valdes - General assignment news reporter * Karen Adams - General assignment news reporter * John Bard - General assignment news reporter * Charles Feldman - News analyst

References

External links

* *
FCC History cards for KNX
(covering 1927–1980)

(earthsignals.com)
Recording of KNX's September 10, 1955 35th Anniversary broadcast
(pastdaily.com)
Farewell broadcast from Columbia Square
(August 4, 2006, linder.com)
KCBS-TV video, KNX Columbia Square sign-off

(sakrison.com) {{Authority control 1920 establishments in California All-news radio stations in the United States Audacy, Inc. radio stations Clear-channel radio stations Radio stations established in 1920 NX