KRLD (AM)

KRLD (1080 kHz NewsRadio 1080 KRLD) is a commercial AM radio station in Dallas, Texas. Owned and operated by Audacy, Inc., the station runs news blocks during morning and afternoon drive time, with talk shows the rest of the day. Syndicated shows include The Chad Benson Show, The Dave Ramsey Show, Our American Stories with Lee Habeeb and America in the Morning with John Trout. Audio simulcasts of the CBS Evening News were also presented on weekday evenings. Some weekend hours carry paid brokered programming. Some-to-most hours begin with CBS News Radio. The studios and offices are in Uptown Dallas.

KRLD is a Class A, 50,000 watts, clear channel station. The transmitter is in Garland, off Saturn Road. The daytime signal is non-directional from a single tower, with at least secondary coverage to most of North Texas and part of Oklahoma, as far north as Oklahoma City. KRLD shares AM 1080 with Class A WTIC Hartford, so at night, KRLD feeds power to both towers in a directional signal array. Even with this restriction, it still reaches most of the Central and Western United States with a good radio.

KRLD also broadcasts in HD Radio. It is simulcast over co-owned 105.3 KRLD-FM's secondary HD subchannel. KRLD is also available online via Audacy.

KRLD first signed on the air in October 1926. It was originally owned by Radio Laboratories of Dallas, hence the call sign. At first it was on the air for six hours each day, except on Wednesdays when the station closed down to make repairs and recharge the batteries. The Dallas Times Herald, then published by Edwin J. Kiest, purchased KRLD within a year of its debut, in 1927. Since 1939, KRLD has broadcast at a power of 50,000 watts, the highest allowed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In the summer of 1941, KRLD moved to 1080 on the AM dial as a result of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA). During the Golden Age of Radio, KRLD carried CBS network programming, including dramas, comedies, news, sports, game shows, soap operas and big band broadcasts.

KRLD expanded into FM radio in 1948 with the original KRLD-FM 92.5 (now KZPS). The following year, it added a TV station, KRLD-TV Channel 4 (now KDFW).

For most of the 1960s and 1970s, KRLD ran blocks of different local programming, including middle of the road and country music, with some news and talk. In April 1978, KRLD switched from a music-based format to become, at the time, the third news and information station in Dallas/Fort Worth.

KRLD originally broadcast from the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas and for a time had its main studios in Arlington within the centerfield office complex at what is now Choctaw Stadium, when it served as the home of the Texas Rangers. In the summer of 2005, the station moved operations to a 5th floor office at the southwest corner of North Fitzhugh Avenue and Central Expressway in Dallas.

KRLD achieved several firsts in the field of radio broadcasting: