KWKW

This article is about the Los Angeles radio station which has identified as KWKW since 1989. For the radio station that identified as KWKW from 1941 to 1950, see KMRB. For the radio station that identified as KWKW from 1950 to 1989, see KAZN.
"KFAC (radio station)" redirects here. For other uses, see KFAC.

KWKW
Broadcast areaGreater Los Angeles
Frequency1330 kHz
BrandingTu Liga Radio 1330 AM
Programming
Language(s)Spanish
FormatSports radio
AffiliationsTUDN Radio
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
March 22, 1922
(102 years ago) (1922-03-22)
Former call signs
  • KJS (1922–1925)
  • KTBI (1925–1931)
  • KFAC (1931–1989)
Former frequencies
  • 830 kHz (1922–1925)
  • 1020 kHz (1925–1927)
  • 1040 kHz (1927–1928)
  • 1090 kHz (1928–1929)
  • 1300 kHz (1929–1941)
Call sign meaning
Carried over from the former KWKW (1300 AM) in Pasadena; now KAZN
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID38454
ClassB
Power5,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates
34°01′10″N 118°20′44″W / 34.01944°N 118.34556°W / 34.01944; -118.34556
Translator(s)100.7 K264CQ (Los Angeles)
Repeater(s)1220 KTMZ (Pomona)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live
Websitewww.tuligaradio.com

KWKW (1330 AM) is a commercial Spanish-language radio station licensed to serve Los Angeles, California, United States, featuring a sports format known as "Tu Liga Radio 1330".[2] Owned by Lotus Communications, the station services Greater Los Angeles and much of surrounding Southern California and, since September 2019, has been the Los Angeles affiliate for Univision's TUDN Radio.[3] Having adopted the current sports format on October 1, 2005,[4] KWKW is the Spanish language flagship station for multiple Los Angeles professional sports franchises including the Rams, Lakers, Clippers, Kings, Angels and the LA Galaxy. KWKW itself is Southern California's oldest Spanish language radio station, having begun operations in 1941 at 1430 AM and licensed to Pasadena and transferring to 1300 AM—also based in Pasadena—in 1950. KWKW's programming and call sign moved to 1330 AM from 1300 AM in 1989 following Lotus' acquisition of the former and sale of the latter.

Historically, this station is perhaps best known as KFAC, one of the most visible commercial fine arts/classical music stations in the United States, and one of the first to have adopted the format on a full-time basis. For all but the final two years of their tenure with the format, KFAC boasted an airstaff with unprecedented stability and continuity including announcers Carl Princi and Fred Crane, and possessed the largest classical music library of its kind west of the Mississippi. By the time of their sales and format changes in 1989, KFAC and FM adjunct KFAC-FM (92.3) were two of only 41 stations—out of 9,000 commercial U.S. radio stations in operation—that played classical music,[5] with The New York Times eulogizing KFAC as "a staple of Los Angeles's cultural life for 58 years".[6] Launched by the antecedent of Biola University in 1922, the current KWKW license also holds a distinction of being the oldest surviving radio station in the United States to have been built and signed on by a religious institution.

Since 2003, the studios for KWKW have been located in the Los Angeles Hollywood Hills neighborhood, while the station transmitter is located in the nearby Crenshaw District, shared with KABC (790 AM) and KFOX (1650 AM).[7] In addition to a standard analog transmission, KWKW's programming is streamed online and relayed over both low-power FM translator K264CQ (100.7 FM) and full-power Pomona station KTMZ (1220 AM).

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KWKW". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "Station Search Details". Federal Communications Commission. Archived from the original on October 10, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference KWKW TUDN 2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference KWKWESPNDeportes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Gerard, Jeremy (October 16, 1989). "The Media Business; Classical Stations Do Their Best To Survive". The New York Times. New York, New York.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference beethoven was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cox, Bobby (December 23, 2016). "Kintronic Triplexes KABC(AM)". Radio World. Archived from the original on January 11, 2020. Retrieved January 11, 2020.