
KSL (radio network)

KSL Newsradio is a pair of radio stations located in Salt Lake City, Utah, which includes the original AM station KSL (1160 kHz, licensed to Salt Lake City) and the FM station KSL-FM (102.7 MHz, licensed to Midvale). Both stations simulcast a format of all-news during key hours on weekdays and talk programming the rest of the time. Owned by Bonneville International (a broadcasting subsidiary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), the stations share studios with sister television station KSL-TV in the Broadcast House building at the Triad Center in downtown Salt Lake City.
The AM station broadcasts with 50,000 watts non-directional, day and night, the maximum power permitted by the Federal Communications Commission. A clear channel Class A station, it covers most of north-central Utah in the daytime and can be heard in much of western North America at night with a good radio. The KSL transmitter is located west of Salt Lake City International Airport, while the KSL-FM transmitter is located on Farnsworth Peak in the Oquirrh Mountains, southwest of Salt Lake City. The AM station is Utah's primary entry point for the Emergency Alert System.
Both KSL's AM and FM transmissions broadcast in HD Radio. KSL-FM carries the Latter-day Saints Channel over its HD2 subchannel.
History.
KSL is Utah's oldest radio station, first going on the air with the call letters KZN (likely standing for the Zion concept and common motif in the Latter Day Saint movement). KSL/KZN began life as the radio arm of the "Deseret News", a Salt Lake City newspaper also owned by the LDS Church. The station's first broadcast aired on May 6, 1922 in the form of a talk by then-LDS Church president Heber J. Grant. The broadcast happened at 8pm that night on the roof of the Deseret News Building. In 1924 the station was sold to John Cope and his father, F.W. Cope, who formed the Radio Service Corporation of Utah. Earl J. Glade (later a four-term mayor of Salt Lake City) joined the station in 1925 and guided KSL's operations for the next fourteen years. John F. Fitzpatrick, publisher of "The Salt Lake Tribune" (owned by the Kearns Corporation) acquired a quarter interest of KSL for a modest price, as did the LDS Church. This was the Tribune's first business partnership with the LDS Church, though the Church later reacquired full interest in the station.
In 1924, it changed its call letters to KFPT for one year and then adopted its current call letters in 1925 after they became available, with the "S" and "L" standing for "Salt Lake." (Until that time the KSL call sign had been used by a radio station in Alaska.) A series of power boosts over the next decade brought the station to its current 50,000 watts (daytime broadcast power) in 1932, with a 50,000-watt transmitter being dedicated October 22 of that year. It spent time at several frequencies over the years before settling at 1160 kHz in 1941.
Soon after becoming a clear-channel station, in 1932, KSL joined the CBS Radio Network. It remained with CBS, until 2005, when it switched to ABC News Radio. The station would also gain a television counterpart in 1949, the CBS affiliate KSL-TV. (KSL-TV switched to NBC in 1995 after KUTV Channel 2 came under the ownership of CBS, following its acquisition by Westinghouse). They remained subsidiaries of the "Deseret News" until 1964, when Bonneville International Corporation was formed as the parent company for the LDS Church's broadcasting interests.
The station's owners made their initial foray into FM broadcasting in 1947 when they started the original KSL-FM on the then sparsely-populated FM band at 100.3. After simulcasting KSL for a number of years, the FM station switched to a beautiful music format, a contrast to the then-current KSL format of news and talk interspersed with middle of the road music. The FM station was sold to a private owner in the mid-1970s due to FCC regulations on multiple station ownership, since greatly relaxed. The station, now the adult contemporary KSFI, was reunited with KSL when Bonneville repurchased the station in 2003 in a deal that included classic rock station KRSP-FM (103.5) and then-hot AC KQMB-FM (102.7). In the mid-1980s KSL adopted an all-talk format, completely dropping music programming, aside from its Sunday broadcasts of the Tabernacle Choir.
On September 3, 2005, KQMB was converted to a simulcast of KSL, with the call sign changed to KSL-FM. Since then, the stations have branded as "KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM & 1160 AM," though the AM signal is the main station. FM 102.7's former branding, radio station, call sign, and hot adult contemporary format were later picked up an unrelated station, and an unrelated company licensed to Levan on a lower powered version of the station on 96.7 FM.
Programming.
Weekdays.
Once a month during non-election cycles (usually on the last Thursday of the month), the Governor of Utah has airtime on the station for a "Let Me Speak to the Governor" segment, where calls are taken from constituents, with the governor answering questions and concerns.
A notable program from KSL's history was Herb Jepko's "Nitecaps", a call-in show airing overnight on 1160 KSL from 1964 to 1990. Nightcaps was one of the first U.S. radio talk shows to be syndicated nationally, airing on numerous Mutual Broadcasting System Network stations.
Weekends.
Programming airing on weekends includes "KSL Outdoors", "The KSL Greenhouse Show", "Cougar Sports Saturday", "The Movie Show Matinee", Best of "The Doug Wright Show", "Meet The Press", "Ric Edelman" as well as numerous LDS religious shows and paid programming.
KSL was the flagship station of Brigham Young University's football and men's basketball teams until BYU Radio took over the duties in 2017. KSL remains an affiliate for those teams though. Commentary for football games is provided by Greg Wrubell, the "Voice of the Cougars."
Due to its affiliation with the LDS Church, KSL, along with its television counterparts and other LDS-affiliated outlets in Utah, airs simulcasts of the General Conferences, held twice a year during April and October.
On Sunday mornings, KSL airs its longest-running show, "Music and the Spoken Word", a weekly broadcast of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square which is also syndicated nationwide via CBS Radio and television. Continuously airing since 1929, it is one of the longest-running radio programs in the world, and one of only two radio shows to be inaugurated into the National Association of Broadcasters' Hall of Fame, along with the "Grand Ole Opry"
On Sunday mornings and evenings for 22 years, KSL has broadcast "Religion Today" with host Martin Tanner, which focuses on Christian and Jewish history and doctrine.