KTRH
 | |
| City | Houston, Texas |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Greater Houston |
| Branding | Newsradio 740 KTRH |
| Slogan | Houston's News, Traffic and Weather Station |
| Frequency | 740 kHz |
| Repeater(s) | 93.7 HD-3 |
| First air date | April 22, 1922 |
| Format | News/Talk |
| Language(s) | English |
| Power | 50,000 watts |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 35674 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 29°57′57″N 94°56′32″W / 29.96583°N 94.94222°W |
| Callsign meaning |
The Rice Hotel Keep Tuned Right Here |
| Former frequencies |
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| Affiliations |
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| Owner |
iHeartMedia, Inc. (AMFM Texas Licenses LLC) |
| Sister stations | KBME, KQBT, KODA, KPRC (AM), KTBZ-FM, K283CH |
| Webcast | iHeartRadio Station #2285 |
| Website | KTRH.com |
KTRH (740 kHz) is an AM News/Talk radio station owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.. Its city of license is Houston, Texas and it serves the Houston metropolitan area and surrounding counties. KTRH uses the iHeartRadio platform to stream its webcast. The station's studios are located along the West Loop Freeway in the city's Uptown district, and the transmitter site is in unincorporated Liberty County southwest of Dayton, Texas.
KTRH broadcasts with 50,000 watts around the clock, the highest power for AM stations permitted by the Federal Communications Commission. But because KTRH is on 740 kHz, a Canadian clear channel frequency, the station uses a directional antenna to protect CFZM Toronto, the Class A station on 740. Programming is also heard on sister station KQBT's HD 3 channel at 93.7 MHz. KTRH is the South Texas Primary entry point station for the Emergency Alert System.
Programming
Shows include Matt Patrick and Shara Fryer, Michael Berry, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, "Ground Zero" with Clyde Lewis, Coast to Coast AM with George Noory and This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal. Weekend programming features shows on money, oil and gas, health, home repair, pets, real estate and gardening.
Sports
Until the 2013 season, KTRH was the flagship station for the Houston Astros baseball team. Astros broadcasts are now heard on sister station KBME Sportstalk 790. For an interim period, games were simulcasted on both stations.
History
KTRH started as an Austin, Texas radio station on 1100 kHz with the call sign WCM, issued April 22, 1922.[1] It moved to the Houston area and changed its call letters to KTRG and later to KTRH, going through several frequency changes, finally settling on 740 kHz in April 1943.[2]
In March 1930, the station began broadcasting from the Rice Hotel (now the Post Rice Lofts). The call letters stand for The Rice Hotel. Jesse H. Jones, operator of the Rice and owner of the Houston Chronicle, established KTRH to meet its competition. The Houston Post was the first of the local papers with an radio affiliation (KPRC). KTRH aired shows from the Columbia Broadcasting System as part of its initial programming.[3]
Noted newsman Dan Rather worked for KTRH in the late 1950s. He was a reporter and newscaster. In 1959, KTRH carried broadcasts of the Houston Buffs minor league baseball team. Rather was the main play by play announcer. The Gallup Poll's editor in chief Frank Newport was also a noted talk show host and news director at KTRH in the early 1980s. CBS Sports announcer Jim Nantz worked at KTRH while attending the University of Houston.
KTRH was the Houston CBS Radio News affiliate, before switching to ABC in 1997 and then to Fox News Radio in 2003. In early 2016, KTRH switched back to ABC[4] while the Fox News affiliation moved to sister station KPRC (AM).
References
- ↑ https://earlyradiohistory.us/pion622.htm
- ↑ http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/HistoryCards/35674.pdf
- ↑ Fenberg, Steven (2011). Unprecedented Power: Jesse Jones, Capitalism, and the Common Good. College Station: Texas A & M University Press. p. 181. ISBN 9781603444347.
- ↑ http://mikemcguff.blogspot.com/2016/01/740-ktrh-makes-changes-for-2016.html