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KLAT
KLAT (1010 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Houston, Texas, United States, and serving much of Greater Houston. Owned by Latino Media Network, it airs a Spanish-language adult contemporary and Regional Mexican format.
KLAT's transmitter site is on West Little York Road in northwest Houston.
On July 31, 1961, the station signed on as KODA. It was put on the air by Paul Taft of the Taft Broadcasting Company (no relation to Taft Broadcasting of Cincinnati, Ohio). Taft already owned an FM station, KODA-FM, airing a beautiful music format. But few people had FM radios in those days, so an AM station was added to make the format available to more Houston residents. KODA was a daytimer during its early years, so it was required to go off the air between sunset and sunrise, while KODA-FM broadcast around the clock.
At first, KODA and KODA-FM simulcast the same beautiful music, competing with ABC-owned KXYZ, which also played easy listening music. But beginning in 1967, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned AM-FM combos in most cities from simulcasting around the clock, so most of the day, KODA began airing a slightly different format, adding middle of the road vocals to the mostly instrumental playlist.
Even though KXYZ was owned by ABC, that station stopped carrying ABC newscasts; they could only be heard on KWBA (now KWWJ), based in nearby Baytown, Texas. So the AM version of KODA began airing ABC News each hour.
In 1978, Group W Westinghouse Broadcasting purchased KODA-AM-FM from Taft and, the following year, re-sold the AM station. The call sign changed to KLAT in 1979, as the format flipped to popular Spanish-language Regional Mexican music, branded as "La Tremenda." The name La Tremenda 1010 (which translates to "The Tremendous 1010") was a slogan created by the station's new owners, Marcos Rodriguez, Sr. and his son, Marcos A. Rodriguez, operating as the Spanish Broadcasting Corporation.
In 1984, KLAT obtained FCC authorization for round-the-clock operation, giving KLAT Class B status. Unfortunately in late 1979, a fire caused the Harris MW-5 transmitter to melt down. The MW-5 used a step up transformer to raise the three phase input power (at 240 volts) to 17,000 volts. The primary wiring had been bundled closely to the secondary wiring and tightly lashed together. When an insulation breakdown allowed the input wiring to arc, the high temperatures allowed the secondary wires to short to the inputs. This caused extremely high circulating currents and a meltdown of the transformer frame, made of metal castings and laminations.
To add nighttime broadcasts, a seventh tower was added to the array. This was used with five of the existing day towers to make a new parallelogram shaped system. KLAT began night operation at 1,000 watts. This properly protected other stations on AM 1010 as required by FCC rules, but the nighttime signal did not cover all of Houston. This particular authorization was allowed under a waiver for minority-owned stations. Later on, the station received special authority from the FCC to mitigate interference at night from foreign stations (as many south Florida stations get a break from Cuban interference such as WAXY in South Miami). This special temporary authority (STA) allowed the station to operate at 5,000 watts at night using all seven towers. This improved coverage but did not give KLAT 100% nighttime coverage of Houston.
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KLAT
KLAT (1010 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Houston, Texas, United States, and serving much of Greater Houston. Owned by Latino Media Network, it airs a Spanish-language adult contemporary and Regional Mexican format.
KLAT's transmitter site is on West Little York Road in northwest Houston.
On July 31, 1961, the station signed on as KODA. It was put on the air by Paul Taft of the Taft Broadcasting Company (no relation to Taft Broadcasting of Cincinnati, Ohio). Taft already owned an FM station, KODA-FM, airing a beautiful music format. But few people had FM radios in those days, so an AM station was added to make the format available to more Houston residents. KODA was a daytimer during its early years, so it was required to go off the air between sunset and sunrise, while KODA-FM broadcast around the clock.
At first, KODA and KODA-FM simulcast the same beautiful music, competing with ABC-owned KXYZ, which also played easy listening music. But beginning in 1967, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned AM-FM combos in most cities from simulcasting around the clock, so most of the day, KODA began airing a slightly different format, adding middle of the road vocals to the mostly instrumental playlist.
Even though KXYZ was owned by ABC, that station stopped carrying ABC newscasts; they could only be heard on KWBA (now KWWJ), based in nearby Baytown, Texas. So the AM version of KODA began airing ABC News each hour.
In 1978, Group W Westinghouse Broadcasting purchased KODA-AM-FM from Taft and, the following year, re-sold the AM station. The call sign changed to KLAT in 1979, as the format flipped to popular Spanish-language Regional Mexican music, branded as "La Tremenda." The name La Tremenda 1010 (which translates to "The Tremendous 1010") was a slogan created by the station's new owners, Marcos Rodriguez, Sr. and his son, Marcos A. Rodriguez, operating as the Spanish Broadcasting Corporation.
In 1984, KLAT obtained FCC authorization for round-the-clock operation, giving KLAT Class B status. Unfortunately in late 1979, a fire caused the Harris MW-5 transmitter to melt down. The MW-5 used a step up transformer to raise the three phase input power (at 240 volts) to 17,000 volts. The primary wiring had been bundled closely to the secondary wiring and tightly lashed together. When an insulation breakdown allowed the input wiring to arc, the high temperatures allowed the secondary wires to short to the inputs. This caused extremely high circulating currents and a meltdown of the transformer frame, made of metal castings and laminations.
To add nighttime broadcasts, a seventh tower was added to the array. This was used with five of the existing day towers to make a new parallelogram shaped system. KLAT began night operation at 1,000 watts. This properly protected other stations on AM 1010 as required by FCC rules, but the nighttime signal did not cover all of Houston. This particular authorization was allowed under a waiver for minority-owned stations. Later on, the station received special authority from the FCC to mitigate interference at night from foreign stations (as many south Florida stations get a break from Cuban interference such as WAXY in South Miami). This special temporary authority (STA) allowed the station to operate at 5,000 watts at night using all seven towers. This improved coverage but did not give KLAT 100% nighttime coverage of Houston.