KPDQ (AM)

KPDQ (800 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Portland, Oregon. It is owned by Salem Communications and serves the Portland metropolitan area, with a Christian talk and teaching radio format known as "True Talk 800." The studios and offices are on SE Lake Road in Portland. KPDQ is co-owned with 93.9 KPDQ-FM, also a Christian talk and teaching station. Each station runs its own schedule.
KPDQ is powered at 1,000 watts, using a non-directional antenna. But because AM 800 is a Mexican clear channel frequency reserved for XEROK in Ciudad Juarez, KPDQ must reduce power at night to 500 watts. The transmitter is off SW Vermont Street in Beaverton, Oregon. In Portland and adjacent communities, KPDQ programming can also be heard at 106.3 MHz, on 99 watt FM translator K292HH.
History.
KPDQ first signed on the air on July 30, 1947. It was owned by George W. Davis, who also served as president. For its first four decades on the air, KPDQ was a daytimer, powered at 1,000 watts but required to go off the air at sunset. The station specialized in religious programming.
In 1961, KPDQ added an FM station, KPDQ-FM, originally at 93.7 MHz. At first it simulcast KPDQ 800, but began separate religious programming by the end of the 1960s. In the 1980s, Davis' son, George Davis II, became the president of the Inspirational Broadcasting Corporation, the new name for the company that owned both stations.
In August 1986, Inspirational Broadcasting sold KPDQ-AM-FM to Salem Media. Shortly after the purchase, Salem Media got permission from the Federal Communications Commission to broadcast around the clock on 800 KPDQ, with reduced nighttime power at 500 watts. Salem also added an FM translator in the mid-2010s, for listeners who prefer FM radio.