KNX (1070 kHz) is an all-news radio station in Los Angeles, California, USA. The station operates on a clear channel and is owned by CBS Radio. KNX is one of the original clear channel stations allocated under the U.S.'s 1928 Band Plan. KNX broadcasts from facilities shared with sister stations KFWB, KCBS-FM, KTWV, and KAMP on Los Angeles' Miracle Mile. It maintains its transmitter and antenna array site at Columbia Park in Torrance northeast of the intersection of Hawthorne Boulevard and 190th Street. The station also broadcasts a HD Radio signal, streams online, and simulcasts on the FM band on the HD2 channel of KTWV (94.7 MHz).

The station's antenna array includes a tall main antenna (195 electrical degrees; optimum and much better than average for a Class A station's main antenna), and a shorter emergency antenna (135 electrical degrees; much better than average for a Class A's emergency antenna but inadequate for a Class A station's main antenna), with only one antenna being active at a time. An experiment in the 1960s which utilized these antennae in a directional setup during the daytime, only, was abandoned and the emergency antenna was later relocated when much of the site was dedicated as a park. The residential area currently to the immediate south of the main antenna was formerly the site of the emergency antenna. The ca. 1936 main antenna was replaced after it was destroyed by a terrorist in the 1960s (KNX did not, then, have an emergency antenna, and with the subsequent replacement of the destroyed main antenna, an emergency antenna was installed as well). Non-directional Class A stations are expected, and are, with few exceptions, required to have emergency antennae.

With the demise of Canadian station CBA (AM), KNX remains the only Class A station on 1070 kHz in North America and the only 50,000 watt full-time station in all of the Americas^[2]. Formerly, KNX had shared 1070 kHz (1050 kHz before 1941) with CBA. There are now new Class As on 1070 kHz in South America, but these broadcast with 25,000 watts or less days, and in some cases 5,000 watts or less nights. This may seem strange as international treaties require that Class A stations must broadcast with a minimum of 10,000 watts at all times (and 50,000 watts at all times in the U.S. and Canada, unless "grandfathered" at 10,000 watts by the treaty signatories^[3]).

As of this date, there are significantly more Class As on cross-town rival KFI's frequency than there are on KNX's frequency. And, there are super-power Class As on KFI's frequency in South America, whereas there are none on KNX's frequency. In essence, KNX, as a "clear channel station" is, indeed, clearer than KFI.

History[link]

KNX began broadcasting under the callsign 6ADZ on September 20, 1920.^[4] By 1922, the station was in competition with many other stations in the area, all sharing a single wavelength of 360 meters (at roughly 833 kHz). At the time, the AM broadcast band had not yet been defined, and stations were required to share frequencies.^[5] The station officially became KNX on May 4, 1922.^[6]

During the 1920s KNX, like most stations across the country, changed frequencies several times, landing on 1050 kHz as a result of the Federal Radio Commission's reconfigurations of the AM radio band in 1927 and 1928. In 1929, the station's transmitter was upgraded from 500 to 5,000 watts, and in 1932, was raised to 10,000 watts of power. During this time, the station changed owners and was then operated by the Western Broadcast Company. In 1933, the station moved its studios to another part of Hollywood, and was granted permission by the FCC to raise its output to 25,000 watts. The following year, KNX's transmitting power was raised to the nationwide maximum of 50,000 watts, which the station continues presently.^[7] It changed to its current 1070 kHz channel in 1941.

CBS radio purchased and began operating KNX as its West Coast flagship station in 1936, ending an eight year affiliation with KHJ. In 1938, the CBS Columbia Square studios^[8] were dedicated for KNX as well as West Coast operations for the entire CBS radio network; that October, the station carried Orson Welles' infamous version of The War of the Worlds (which KNX has aired every October 30 since). Several legendary performers from the Golden Age of American network radio broadcast from there, including Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, George Burns, Edgar Bergen,^[9] and situation comedy star Bob Crane, who was KNX morning man between 1957 and 1965 at the same time he was appearing as a featured supporting player on ABC-TV's The Donna Reed Show.^[10]

KNX was a strong competitor in the Los Angeles market while Crane was morning personality, but began declining in popularity after he left to star in the CBS-TV show Hogan's Heroes. Following the example of corporate sister station WCBS in New York, which had enjoyed renewed success with an all news format, KNX then became an all-news station in the spring of 1968;^[11] its first major breaking news coverage was of the assassination of Democratic Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, in June of that year.^[12]

In August 2005, KNX moved out of Columbia Square after 67 years of operations there, and began broadcasting from new studios on Wilshire Boulevard in an area known as the Miracle Mile.^[9]

In 2009 KNX adopted the slogan "All News, All the Time" for its promotions and advertising. It was previously used for 40 years by KFWB, KNX's historic rival in the news radio wars before both became sister stations in the 1995 merger of Westinghouse Electric (KFWB's owner) and CBS. KFWB's format change to news-talk in September 2009 now leaves KNX the only all-news outlet in the Los Angeles area, which is now emphasized in its alternate slogan, "L.A.'s only all-news radio station". A slight variation, "Southern California's only all-news radio station", is played at :30 past each hour before the news headlines.

Broadcast Schedule[link]

Average KNX HD information display

KNX features CBS News at the top of each hour. Traffic and weather reports are presented together every ten minutes on the "fives", (:05, :15, :25, :35, :45, :55). Business news from the station is at :10 and :40 past the hour and sports is featured at :20 and :50 past the hour; this format clock differs slightly from most other CBS all-news stations (for example, on WCBS and the other stations, traffic and weather are together on the "eights" (:08, :18, :28, etc.); KNX, WINS, who does traffic every ten minutes "on the ones" (:01, :11, etc.) and weather every twenty minutes beginning at :12 past the hour, and KYW, who does "Traffic and transit on the twos" (:02, :12, etc.) every ten minutes and AccuWeather regional forecasts at :07, :14, :37, and :44 after every hour, are several exceptions to CBS's standard format. In addition to stories from their own correspondents, the audio portion of selected reports and weather forecasts from sister television stations KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV are heard on KNX.

The KNX Business Hour airs at 1 p.m. weekdays summarizing the latest in business news after the close of the stock market. On weekends, Food News with Melinda Lee airs at 10 a.m., which despite its name is actually a cooking talk show.^[13] The CBS News Weekend Roundup and 60 Minutes also interrupt the all news schedule.

See also[link]

• KCBS-TV
• KCBS-FM
• CBS Columbia Square

References[link]

External links[link]

• KNX 1070
• Query the FCC's AM station database for KNX
• Radio-Locator Information on KNX
• Query Arbitron's AM station database for KNX
• KNX Station History, Historical Dates^{[dead link]}
• Farewell broadcast from Columbia Square^{[dead link]}
• KCBS-TV video, KNX Columbia Square sign-off
• KNX tour, on the site of Chief Engineer Paul Sakrison

KNX may refer to:

• KNX (AM), a radio station (1070 AM) licensed to Los Angeles, California, United States
• KCBS-FM, a radio station (93.1 FM) licensed to Los Angeles, California, United States, which used the call sign KNX-FM from May 1986 to March 1989
• KNX (standard), a home and building automation standard
• The IATA airport code for Kununurra Airport

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