KTCT (1050 AM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

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 Mateo, California San Mateo ( ) is the most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It is part of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan region, and is located about south of San Francisco. San Mateo border ...

, and serving the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. It is owned by

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdi ...

and airs a

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

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, ...

as KNBR 1050, a

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 ...

KNBR KNBR may refer to: * KNBR (AM), a radio station (680 AM) licensed to serve San Francisco, California, United States * KNBR-FM, a radio station (104.5 FM) licensed to serve San Francisco, California {{Call sign disambiguation ...

and

KNBR-FM KNBR-FM (104.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, serving the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Owned by Cumulus Media, KNBR-FM features a sports radio format in a simulcast with co-owned KNBR. Both stati ...

. In contrast to KNBR-AM-FM having local sports talk and play-by-play most of the day, KTCT is mainly a pass-through for

nationally syndicated Broadcast syndication is the practice of content owners leasing the right to broadcast their content to other television stations or radio stations, without having an official broadcast network to air it on. It is common in the United States whe ...

programming from

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

. KTCT is also the flagship station for

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional association football, soccer club based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Origin ...

soccer, Stanford University football, and University of San Francisco men's basketball. By day, KTCT is powered at 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 ...

s, the maximum for commercial AM stations in the U.S. But because

1050 AM The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on AM broadcasting, AM frequency 1050 kHz: 1050 AM is a Mexican clear-channel frequency. XEG-AM, XEG in Monterrey (Guadalupe, Nuevo León) is the dominant list of broadcast station c ...

is a clear channel frequency reserved for Class A XEG

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

, KTCT reduces power at sunset to 10,000 watts. 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 ...

at all times with a 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 (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 Winton Avenue in Hayward, near

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...

History

KVSM

In 1946, the station first

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 ...

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 ...

KVSM, standing for the "Voice of San Mateo". The station ran only 250 watts and 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 ...

. The station was a

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 ...

of the short lived

Progressive Broadcasting System The Progressive Broadcasting System (PBS) was an American commercial radio network of 1950-51. "Catering to smaller radio stations," the company had hoped to affiliate with around 1,000 radio stations in the United States which did not already ...

in the early 1950s.
Broadcasting - Telecasting Yearbook 1951
',

Broadcasting - Telecasting ''Broadcasting & Cable'' (''B&C'', or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') was a telecommunications industry monthly trade magazine and, later, news website published by Future US. Founded in 1931 as ''Broadcasting'', subsequent mergers, acquisitions and in ...

, 1951. p. 96. Retrieved December 1, 2018. In 1953, the station's power was increased to 1,000 watts.

KOFY

In 1958, the station's call sign was changed to KOFY. From the 1960s through the 1980s, KOFY aired 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 ...

format.
1964 Broadcasting Yearbook
',

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

, 1964. p. B-22. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
1974 Broadcasting Yearbook
',

, 1974. p. B-29. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1986
', Broadcasting/Cablecasting, 1986. p. B-39. Retrieved December 1, 2018. In early 1986, the station was sold to

James Gabbert James Gabbert (born 1936 in Chico, California) is a radio and television engineer and entrepreneur, California Broadcasters Association 1994 Broadcaster of the Year, and past president of the National Radio Broadcasters Association. He has owned ...

for $2,000,000.Everything old is new again in radio
, ''

''. July 28, 1986. p. 58. Retrieved December 1, 2018. In March 1986, the station began airing an

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

format. In late 1986, the station added nighttime operations, running 500 watts. In 1989, the station's daytime power was increased to 50,000 watts, and its nighttime power was increased to 1,000 watts. In 1991, the station returned to airing a Spanish language format.Format Changes
, ''The M Street Journal''. Vol. 8, No. 43. October 28, 1991. p. 1. Retrieved December 1, 2018. In 1992, the station's nighttime power was increased to 10,000 watts.

KTCT

In May 1997, the station adopted a sports format as "The Ticket", and its call sign was changed to KTCT. That same month, KTCT became the new flagship radio station for the Oakland Raiders Radio Network, replacing FM station KYCY. In 2003, the station was rebranded "KNBR 1050". After the 2003 season, KTCT dropped the Raiders, whose games moved to

KSFO KSFO (810 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, featuring a conservative talk radio format. Owned by Cumulus Media, KSFO's studios are on Battery Street in the SoMa portion of San Francisco's Financial Di ...

beginning in 2004. Since 1999, the station has operated at 35,000 watts at night, but using its daytime antenna system, under a

special temporary authority Special Temporary Authority (STA) in U.S. broadcast law is a type of broadcast license which temporarily allows a broadcast station to operate outside of its normal technical or legal parameters. In the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) st ...

, due to the unauthorized nighttime operations of XED-AM 1050 in

Mexicali, Baja California Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California. The city, which is the seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali metropolitan area is ...

, Mexico.

Ownership

KNBR and KTCT are owned by Cumulus Media Partners, LLC, a private partnership of

, Bain Capital, The Blackstone Group, and Thomas H. Lee Partners. It was purchased from Susquehanna-Pfaltzgraff Media in 2005 along with other

Susquehanna Radio Corporation The Susquehanna Radio Corporation was a media corporation headquartered in York, Pennsylvania, that operated from 1941 to 2006. The company was a unit of Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff, a conglomerate more widely known for the Pfaltzgraff kitchenware ...

stations.

Programming

On KTCT, weekday programming consists of the following blocks when not preempted by sports events. The morning shows have ''CBS Sports Radio with Barber, Tierney, Jacobsen''; ''The

John Feinstein John Feinstein ( ; July 28, 1955 – March 13, 2025) was an American sportswriter, author, and sports commentator. Background Feinstein was born to a Jewish family in New York City on July 28, 1955. His father was heavily involved in the arts, ...

Show'', and ''The

Jim Rome James Phillip Rome (born October 14, 1964) is an American sports radio host. His talk show, '' The Jim Rome Show'', is syndicated by Westwood One. Broadcasting from a studio near Los Angeles, California, Rome hosts ''The Jim Rome Show'' on r ...

Show''. The afternoon show is hosted by Ted Ramey and then ''The Tom Tolbert Show'' is simulcast with KNBR 680. The evening shows have

Scott Ferrall Scott Ferrall (born July 29, 1965) is an American sports talk radio personality who hosts two shows on the SportsGrid video streaming service, Scott Ferrall: Coast to Coast and In-Game Live. Scott's father Thomas C. Ferrall was a former radio ...

's show ''Ferrall on the Bench'', followed by late-night programming from CBS Sports Radio and then NBC Sports Radio. Weekend programs include ''Mortgage Makeover'' and various CBS Sports and NBC Sports Radio programming. On Sunday mornings to fulfill required

public affairs programming In broadcasting, public affairs Radio broadcasting, radio or television programs focus on matters of politics and public policy. In the United States, among commercial broadcasters, such programs are often only to satisfy Federal Communications C ...

guidelines, speeches and presentations from the

Commonwealth Club of California The Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States. Membership is open to ...

are carried. KNBR and KTCT are charter affiliates of

CBS Sports Radio Infinity Sports Network is an American sports radio network. It debuted as CBS Sports Radio with hourly sports news updates on September 4, 2012, and with 24/7 programming on January 2, 2013. Infinity Sports Network is programmed by Audacy, Inc ...

, a joint venture between CBS Radio and Cumulus, which started on January 2, 2013. NBC Sports Radio has also been covered on KTCT. Through these affiliates, other games and events from MLB, NBA, NFL,

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

, and NCAA have been broadcast.

Live sports broadcasts

Sports content has included

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

MLB baseball,

San Jose SaberCats The San Jose SaberCats were a professional arena football team based in San Jose, California. The SaberCats had been members of the Arena Football League (AFL) since 1995 (the year in which the team was founded); and until 2015, they belonged to ...

arena football,

soccer, and Stanford Football. Some AM broadcasts on KNBR may be moved to KTCT due to conflicts with Giants games.

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

basketball had also been covered until August 25, 2016, the Warriors announced they have ended their partnership with KNBR and signed with

KGMZ-FM KGMZ-FM (95.7 MHz, "95.7 The Game") is a sports radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc., and broadcasts from studios on Battery Street (shared with CBS ow ...

; the partnership with KNBR lasted 40 years, including 32 consecutive years. In 2019, KTCT signed a contract to broadcast

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1855, it has nearly 9,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees ...

men's basketball.

References

External links

* {{Stanford Cardinal football navbox Cumulus Media radio stations ESPN Radio stations Infinity Sports Network stations TCT Radio stations established in 1946 1946 establishments in California San Jose Earthquakes Stanford Cardinal football San Francisco Dons men's basketball