KTMS (990 AM, "Fox Sports 990/97.9") 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 ...

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

. It is owned by Rincon Broadcasting and airs a

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...

format. The

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

s are on East Cota Street in Santa Barbara. By day, KTMS is powered at 5,000

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. But to protect other stations on

990 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 990 kHz: 990 AM is a Canadian clear-channel frequency. CBW Winnipeg and CBY Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, share Class A status on 990 kHz. Because 990 kHz is a multip ...

, a clear channel frequency, KTMS reduces power at night to 500 watts. The AM

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 overlooks Santa Barbara from near Rattlesnake Canyon Park, along Gibraltar Road, and above Gibraltar Peak, home of most Santa Barbara FM stations. The site is unusual, since AM stations are usually sited in low-lying areas, ideally with the highest possible high ground conductivity. This site is sufficiently close to the population center for even the low night power to serve the whole city. KTMS is

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) ...

on 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 ...

K250BS at 97.9

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 ...

, licensed to Solimar Beach, and K247CN at 97.3 MHz in Mojave.

Previous Talk Programming

KTMS previously carried nationally syndicated

conservative talk Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enough ...

shows. Weekdays begin with '' Brian Kilmeade and Friends''. That's followed by '' The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,

The Sean Hannity Show ''The Sean Hannity Show'' is a conservative talk radio show hosted by Sean Hannity. The program is broadcast live every weekday, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET. The show is produced in the New York City studios of radio station WOR and is transmitt ...

, The Chad Benson Show, The Charlie Kirk Show, Our American Stories with Lee Habeeb,

Coast to Coast AM ''Coast to Coast AM'' is an American late-night radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics. Most frequently the topics relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was hosted by creator Art Bell from its inception in 198 ...

with

George Noory George Ralph Noory (born June 4, 1950) is an American talk radio, radio talk show host. Since January 2003, Noory has been the weekday host of the late-night radio talk show ''Coast to Coast AM''. The program is radio syndication, syndicated to ...

'' and ''

America in the Morning ''America in The Morning'' is a news program airing on numerous talk radio stations, syndicated by Westwood One, a subsidiary of Cumulus Media. The one-hour live program airs weekdays at 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time and is hosted by John Tro ...

with John Trout''. Weekends featured shows on health, money, home repair, pets, technology, food and beer, including some paid programming. Syndicated weekend programs include '' Rich DeMuro on Tech, The Kim Komando Show, At Home with Gary Sullivan'' and '' Sunday Nights with Bill Cunningham''. Most hours begin with an update from

Fox News Radio Fox News Radio is an American radio network owned by Fox News. It is syndicated to over 500 AM and FM radio stations across the United States. It also supplies programming for three channels on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. History In 2003, ...

History of KTMS

On October 31, 1937, KTMS 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 ...

the air on 1220 AM, with 500

s. It was founded by ''

Santa Barbara News-Press The ''Santa Barbara News-Press'' was a broadsheet newspaper based in Santa Barbara, California. It was founded in 1868 as the ''Post'' and merged with the rival ''News'' to form the ''News-Press'' in 1932. On July 21, 2023, it filed for bankrupt ...

'' publisher Thomas More Storke (hence the station

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 ...

). KTMS was an

NBC Blue Network The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the National Broadcasting Co ...

affiliate 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 platfo ...

, carrying its schedule of dramas,

comedies Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Gr ...

, news, sports,

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

s, and

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

broadcasts during 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 ...

". Among the programs produced at the station was ''1-2-5 Club'', which debuted in 1937 and was hosted by

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

Bob Ruth for many years. In 1941, KTMS moved to the 1250 AM frequency, where it would stay for 57 years. The move was coupled with a power increase to 1,000 watts. When the Blue Network became ABC in 1945, KTMS maintained its affiliation, while also carrying shows from the

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Golden Age of Radio, ...

and the

Don Lee Network The Don Lee Network, sometimes called the Don Lee Broadcasting System, was an American regional network of radio stations in the old-time radio era. Origin Don Lee made a fortune as the exclusive West Coast distributor of Cadillac automobiles. ...

. In 1965, KTMS acquired an FM radio station, KRCW (97.5), and renamed it KTMS-FM. At first, it mostly

programs heard on 1250 AM but later became separately programmed with a beautiful music format. In 1985, it switched its call letters to KHTY and flipped to

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 ...

. In January 1996, Engles Enterprises, Inc. purchased KTMS and KHTY for $2 million. Nearly three years later, in September 1998, the 1250 AM frequency on which KTMS aired was sold for $1.6 million to Smith Broadcasting Group, Inc., owner of the local ABC television affiliate

KEYT-TV KEYT-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Santa Barbara, California, United States, serving the Central Coast of California as an affiliate of ABC, CBS, and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) alo ...

(channel 3). Smith immediately launched a competing news-only format on 1250 with new call letters KEYT to match its TV sister station. Meanwhile, the KTMS call sign and news/talk format moved to 990 AM. In 1997, KTMS was purchased by

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

. In January 2007, Clear Channel sold its six Santa Barbara stations, including KTMS, to Rincon Broadcasting LLC for $17.3 million. Rincon, a subsidiary of Ventura-based

Point Broadcasting Point Broadcasting LLC is an American radio broadcasting company based in Ventura, California. The company is the owner of several radio groups in Southern California, doing business as Gold Coast Broadcasting LLC in the Oxnard—Ventura radio ma ...

, officially took control of the cluster on January 16. On April 10, 2025, KTMS changed their format from news/talk to sports, branded as "Fox Sports 990/97.9".

History of the 990 AM frequency in Santa Barbara

The original station on 990 AM signed on August 6, 1963 as KGUD (K-Good Radio) and sported 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 ...

format. In 1967, radio and television personality

Dick Clark Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929April 18, 2012) was an American television and radio personality and television producer who hosted ''American Bandstand'' from 1956 to 1989. He also hosted five incarnations of the Pyramid (game show), ...

purchased the station and its FM counterpart (now KTYD). In September 1971, Clark sold KGUD-AM-FM to a group led by Harold S. Greenberg for $310,000. KGUD adopted the KTYD call letters in 1973. It began simulcasting the

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. US rad ...

format of its FM counterpart, then known as KTYD-FM. But it briefly returned to country the following decade. Before becoming KTMS in 1998, KGUD attempted a number of formats, including religious programming, Broadway

show tunes A show tune is a song originally written as part of the score of a work of musical theatre or musical film, especially if the piece in question has become a standard, more or less detached in most people's minds from the original context. Th ...

, and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, but none was successful.

Previous logo

References

General references

*Sies, Luther F. ''Encyclopedia of American Radio 1920-1960.'' Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2000.

External links

* *
FCC History Cards for KTMS
* * {{coord, 34, 28, 15, N, 119, 40, 33, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title TMS News and talk radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1937 1937 establishments in California Culture of Santa Barbara, California