KNIT (AM)

KNIT (1320 kHz) is an AM radio station in Salt Lake City. It serves the Wasatch Front area of Utah. The station is one of the oldest in Salt Lake City, established in 1922 as KDYL. KNIT's transmitter is on Pitchfork Lane in Murray, Utah, near Interstate 215. It broadcasts at 730 watts, using a single tower non-directional antenna. The station shares its tower with KJJC.
KNIT carries the Christian talk and teaching programming of "Your Network of Praise." The non-profit organization also has stations in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and North Dakota. The network holds periodic fundraisers on the air to support its ministry. National religious leaders heard on KNIT include David Jeremiah, Joni Eareckson Tada, Chuck Swindoll and Jim Daly.
History.
KDYL.
The station first went on the air in 1922, and originally held the call sign KDYL. Its license was granted on May 8, 1922, two days after KSL, making KDYL the second station to be licensed in Utah. The station was constructed by Ira J. Kaar for A.L. Fish and the defunct newspaper, "The Salt Lake Telegram". When it went on the air in 1922, it shared a frequency with two other commercial stations in Salt Lake City.
In 1926, the station was purchased by Sidney S. Fox. In the 1930s, KDYL affiliated with CBS Radio Network. It broadcast at 1,000 watts on 1290 kilocycles. Following the enactment of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) in 1941, KDYL moved to AM 1320 and got a boost to 5,000 watts.
On September 1, 1932, KDYL became an NBC Red Network affiliate, after KSL affiliated with CBS. During the Golden Age of Radio, KDYL aired the NBC line up of dramas, comedies, news, sports, game shows, soap operas and big band broadcasts. Sydney Fox later invested in the construction of its sister stations, in 1947 KDYL-FM (now 98.7 KBEE) and in 1949 KDYL-TV (now Channel 4 KTVX). In 1953, Fox sold KDYL-AM-FM-TV to the Time-Life Corporation for $2.1 million.
Top 40 KCPX.
The station was purchased by Columbia Pictures in 1959. The station's call sign was changed to KCPX. KDYL-FM also switched to KCPX-FM. Through the 1960s and 70s, KCPX carried a Top 40 format that was very popular in the Salt Lake City area. During this time, the station competed heavily for listeners with crosstown rival 1280 KNAK (now KZNS). As Top 40 listening switched to FM, the station's ratings fell.
Columbia Pictures, which had just been acquired by The Coca-Cola Company, sold KCPX and KCPX-FM to Price Broadcasting in 1982. (The TV station had been sold to separate owners in 1975.)
KBUG and KEMX.
In 1983, the station's call sign was changed to KBUG. Initially the station aired an adult contemporary format. By 1986 the format had been changed to oldies. In 1987, the station's call sign was changed back to KCPX, and the station continued airing an oldies format.
On August 1, 1988, the station's call sign was changed to KEMX, and the station began airing an "Easy Mix" format consisting of softer songs from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, as well as some country crossover hits. The Easy Mix format lasted only a year.
KUTR and KCNR.
On August 7, 1989, the station began airing the "LDS Contemporary" format, aimed at Mormon listeners, that had previously aired on 860 KUTR (now KKAT). On September 14, 1989, the station's call sign was changed to KUTR.
Citing insufficient support from advertisers, KUTR dropped the LDS music format on January 31, 1992 and began simulcasting the adult contemporary format of KCPX-FM. Along with its FM sister station, KCPX used the slogan "continuous favorites, from yesterday to today." On February 18, 1992, the station changed its call sign back to KCPX.
In April 1992, Citadel Associates (a forerunner of Citadel Broadcasting), owner of KLZX (93.3 FM) and KCNR (860 AM), began programming KCPX and KCPX-FM under a local marketing agreement (LMA). Later that year, Citadel moved KCNR's all-news format from AM 860 to AM 1320. On August 11, 1992, the station's call sign switched to KCNR to represent CNN Radio, its main supplier of national news. In 1993, the station adopted a talk radio format.
Sports Radio.
In late August 1996, the station flipped to a sports talk format. On August 30, 1996, the station's call sign was changed to KFNZ to go along with its new identification as "KFAN." Citadel Broadcasting bought KFNZ and KBEE-FM outright from Price Broadcasting in 1997. In 2007, Larry H. Miller, who owned the Utah Jazz and KJZZ-TV, began operating KFNZ. The station's owner, Citadel Broadcasting, merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011. The Larry H. Miller Group bought rival KZNS-FM (97.5) and KZNS in May 2012, after the end of its local marketing agreement (LMA) with KFNZ. Most of the station's programming, including Utah Jazz broadcasts, were moved to KZNS. while KFNZ retained the "KFAN" branding with a new Cumulus-programmed schedule.
KFNZ featured programming from the CBS Sports Radio Network. It was the flagship station for the Utah Grizzlies. KFNZ was also responsible for providing analysis and coverage for the BYU Cougars, University of Utah Utes, Salt Lake Bees, Utah State Aggies, and Weber State Wildcats.
Switch to Religion.
On February 27, 2017, KFNZ ceased broadcasting and went dark. Cumulus elected to sell the station's transmitter site due to its increasing value in the expanding Salt Lake City real estate market.
Cumulus originally planned on surrendering the license, but subsequently received an offer to purchase the station. Vic Michael of Kona Coast Radio, which owns radio stations in Hawaii, Arizona, Colorado and Wyoming, agreed to buy the station's license for $100,000.
The sale was completed on August 22, 2017. On October 18, 2017, Kona Coast Radio changed the station's call letters to KNIT. Kona Coast Radio was required to relocate the transmitter. The station remained dark for two years during the process.
In 2019, KNIT came back on the air as Christian radio station, becoming an affiliate of "Your Network of Praise."