KYAL (1550 AM) is a

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

-formatted

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 ...

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

and licensed to serve

Sapulpa, Oklahoma Sapulpa is a city in Creek County, Oklahoma, Creek and Tulsa County, Oklahoma, Tulsa counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 20,544 at the 2010 United States census, compared to 19,166 at the 2000 United States Census, 2000 cens ...

. The station is owned by Michael Perry Stephens. Its studios are located at the

CityPlex Towers CityPlex Towers is a complex of three high-rise office towers located at 81st Street and Lewis Avenue in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The complex was originally constructed by Oral Roberts University as City of Faith Medical and Research Center and meant to b ...

in South Tulsa.

History

KYAL's format history includes

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 ...

as KXOJ in the 1980s targeting Tulsa, later changing its call letters to KBLK as "Power 1550". It was a simulcast of the Urban format from a cable radio station called "Radiovision" that aired on Tulsa Cable's Wanted Ads channel at the time and also bought time on 1550 to broadcast its station. The 1550 signal did not cover Tulsa very well, being that the transmitter was in

and was only 500 watts at the time and was also a daytimer. By the late 1980s–early 1990s, the station upgraded its power to 2,500 watts in the day and 47 watts at night (still not enough to cover all of Tulsa at night), giving the station the permission to broadcast 24 hours with its Urban format. By the early 1990s, the lease was not renewed for Radiovision to broadcast on 1550, and the Urban format was dropped along with Radiovision, shutting down its operation. KBLK flipped to a

religious radio Religious broadcasting, sometimes referred to as faith-based broadcasts, is the dissemination of television and/or radio content that intentionally has religious ideas, religious experience, or religious practice as its core focus. In some coun ...

format and the call letters back to KXOJ, it briefly simulcasted

Contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it i ...

with FM sister station

KXOJ-FM KXOJ-FM is a contemporary Christian radio station licensed to Glenpool, Oklahoma, serving the Tulsa area at 94.1 FM. The station is owned by Stephens Media, through licensee SMG-Tulsa, LLC. Its studios are located at the CityPlex Towers and its ...

and later aired a

Southern Gospel Southern gospel music is a genre of Christian music. Its name comes from its origins in the southeastern United States. Its lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, a ...

format. In 2002, Southern Gospel was dropped for a

format as "ESPN Radio" simulcasting with KWPN in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, an ...

Translators

External links

KYAL official websiteRadiovision Article In Billboard Magazine From March 26,1983
* * YAL Sports radio stations in the United States {{Oklahoma-radio-station-stub