KDZR

KDZR (1640 AM) is a commercial radio station, licensed to Lake Oswego, Oregon, and serving the Portland metropolitan area. The station airs a conservative talk radio format and is owned by the Salem Media Group. KDZR's studios and offices are on SE Lake Road in Portland.
The transmitter is off SE Eastview Drive in Happy Valley, Oregon. KDZR is powered at 10,000 watts by day, but at night reduces power to 1,000 watts, to reduce interference to other stations on AM 1640. The station uses a non-directional antenna at all times.
Programming.
KDZR airs nationally syndicated shows, primarily from the Salem Radio Network, including Mike Gallagher, Hugh Hewitt, Larry Elder, Jay Sekulow and Joe Walsh. Late mornings, the station also carries Washington D.C.-based Chris Plante from the Westwood One Network. Weekends feature a mix of talk shows and paid brokered programming. Weekend hosts include Clark Howard, Rudy Maxa, Dennis Prager and Eric Metaxas. Most hours begin with world and national news from Townhall News.
In addition to KDZR, Salem also operates another conservative talk station in the Portland radio market, AM 860 KPAM Troutdale. Salem doesn't own KPAM but has a local marketing agreement (LMA) to operate and program the station. Some Salem Radio Network shows that are not carried weekdays on KDZR are heard on KPAM, including Dennis Prager, Sebastian Gorka and Michael Medved.
History.
On October 20, 1997, the station first signed on as KKJY. It aired a Christian radio format, and was owned by Crawford Broadcasting. On November 1, 1999, the station changed its call sign to KPBC while maintaining its religious format.
On February 14, 2003, the station switched to the current call letters KDZR. It was acquired by the Walt Disney Company for use as the Portland network affiliate for its Radio Disney children's radio service. On February 16, the station began stunting with "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast in preparation for the switch to the Radio Disney format, which occurred on February 18.
On August 13, 2014, The Walt Disney Company put KDZR and 22 other Radio Disney stations up for sale, in order to focus on digital distribution of the Radio Disney network.
On September 15, the Salem Media Group announced it would acquire the last five Radio Disney owned-and-operated stations still available for sale, including KDZR, for $2.225 million. KDZR was acquired through Salem Media of Oregon, Inc., for $275,000. The Radio Disney format ended on November 27.
The sale was completed on December 4, 2015. KDZR returned to the air that same day, carrying a conservative talk format, branded as "Talk 1640". On April 2, 2018, KDZR made some adjustments to its program schedule and rebranded as "AM 1640 The Patriot". The move coincided with Salem beginning a local marketing agreement (LMA) to operate and program another Portland-area conservative talk station, KPAM Troutdale, which began calling itself "AM 860 The Answer."