WKAT (1450 AM, "Radio Vida") is a radio station broadcasting 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, known as ''"Radio Vida."'' Licensed to

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, the station is owned by Nelson Volatire, through licensee Radio Piment Book, Inc. WKAT broadcasts at 1,000

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 using a

non-directional antenna In radio communication, an omnidirectional antenna is a class of antenna which radiates equal radio power in all directions perpendicular to an axis (azimuthal directions), with power varying with angle to the axis (elevation angle), declining t ...

. 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 NE 71st Street in Miami. Programming is also heard on

FM translator 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 tr ...

W270CV at 101.9

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 ...

, with its

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

on SE 2nd Street at

Biscayne Boulevard U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) in Florida runs along the state's east coast from Key West to its crossing of the St. Marys River into Georgia north of Boulogne and south of Folkston. US 1 was designated through Florida when the U.S. ...

History

In 1947, 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 ...

the air. Its original

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 ...

was WWPB and it was powered at only 250 watts. The call letters were chosen to represent its owner and general manager, Paul Brake. The following year, Brake put an FM station on the air, 101.5 WWPB-FM (today

WLYF WLYF (101.5 FM, "101.5 Lite FM") is a commercial radio station in Miami, Florida. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an adult contemporary radio format. WLYF's studios and offices are co-located with its Audacy sister stations on NE 2nd Av ...

). Around 2000, the station, known as WOCN, switched to

programming. It was branded as "WOCN Radio 1450," broadcasting a

talk radio 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, Interview (jo ...

format. It was a

brokered programming Brokered programming (also known as time-buy and blocktime) is a form of broadcast content in which the show's producer pays a radio or television station for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot com ...

station which sold its time to hosts who then sold their own advertisements to support their shows. The station was known in the

Cuban-American Cuban Americans ( or ) are Americans who immigrated from or are descended from immigrants from Cuba. As of 2023, Cuban Americans were the fourth largest Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hispanic and Latino American group in the United States aft ...

community for its leftist commentators. It later switched to 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, using programming from the

ESPN Deportes ESPN Deportes (, ) is an American multinational Spanish-language pay television sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the ...

network. Its call sign was changed to WKAT on September 16, 2019.Call Sign History
fcc.gov. Retrieved November 23, 2019. The WKAT call letters were popular in Miami for many years on

1360 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1360 kHz: 1360 AM is a regional broadcast frequency. Class B and D stations broadcast on 1360 AM. Argentina * AM 1360 in Maria Grande, Entre Rios (still have no callsign assigned) Mex ...

, which was a long-time English-language talk station that had been an early stopping point for broadcaster

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American TV and radio host presenter, author, and former spokesman. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in ...

and others. That station is now

WQVN WQVN (1360 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station, licensed to North Miami and serving South Florida. It is owned by Nelson Voltaire, with the license held by Radio Piment Bouk. Programming is in the French Creole language, and is targeted a ...

, broadcasting to the

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

an community. WOCN radiomiami1450 logo

References

External links

FCC History Cards for WKAT
Cuban-American culture in Miami KAT (AM) KAT (AM) 1948 establishments in Florida Radio stations established in 1948 {{Miami-stub