KAAY

Infobox Radio station
name = KAAY


city = Little Rock, Arkansas
area = Little Rock metropolitan area
branding = "1090 AM KAAY"
slogan = "Hear The World"
airdate = 1924
frequency = 1090 kHz
format = Brokered/Christian
power =
erp = 50,000 watts
class = Class A
facility_id = 33253
coordinates = coord|34|36|0.00|N|92|13|30.00|W|region:GB_type:city
callsign_meaning =
sister_stations = KARN-AM/FM, KIPR/KPZK-AM, KLAL, KURB
former_callsigns =
owner = Citadel Broadcasting Company
webcast =
website = [http://www.1090kaay.com www.1090kaay.com]
affiliations =

KAAY is a 50,000-watt, class-A AM radio station in Little Rock, Arkansas licensed on 1090 kHz.

History

KAAY was founded as KTHS in 1924 in Hot Springs; it moved to Little Rock in 1953. After the TV station KTHV was created from it in 1955, KTHS was sold to LIN Broadcasting, who turned it into a Top 40 station in 1962 under its present call sign. It has been a stalwart of Christian radio since 1985, and has been owned by Citadel Broadcasting since 1998.

KAAY's cult status was forged in the late 1960s, when, after 11:00 each evening, the station abandoned the standard Top 40 format for three hours of underground music with the program "Beaker Street" hosted by Clyde Clifford. [http://www.todaysthv.com/news/search/results.aspx?storyid=14818]

During the station's heyday, KAAY featured a full-service Top-40 format, and was the dominant station for most of the state of Arkansas. During the 1960s and 1970s, on-air personalities included Sonny Martin, newsman George Jennings, Wayne Moss, Phil North, and Ray Lincoln of the "Ray and Ram Program." Its nighttime signal extended well beyond Little Rock and Arkansas, covering much of the Great Plains, North Central, and mid-south regions of the United States, leading to its sobriquet "The Mighty Ten Ninety." KAAY could be heard clearly at night in Key West, Florida, and as far to the northwest as Jamestown, North Dakota. This radio station was a big inspiration to Cuban rock musicians and rock fans who listened Beaker Street every night to keep informed about American music and underground music in the 70's. They listened undercover with Soviet made transistor radios. In the late 1960s the jingle started out with roaring thunder followed by a deep voice...FIFTY THOUSAND WATTS OF MUSIC POWER K>>DOUBLE-A Y Little Rock.

The station abandoned the music format, and underwent several changes in ownership during the mid-1980s. Religious broadcasters have utilized KAAY's signal to spread messages nationwide. It was mainly a Southern gospel station when it entered Christian radio in 1985, but it switched to contemporary Christian music in 2000.

KAAY is the most powerful AM Christian station in the United States, with 50,000 watts of day and night power. After dark, its nighttime signal reaches over 12 states.

KAAY currently is a Christian Talk and Teaching Radio station.

Radio Yesterday

On Labor Day weekend of 2003, the station returned to its roots with a historical segment called "KAAY Rewound". KAAY's Barry Mac and sister station KARN's Grant Merrill played the hits and took calls from all over the country. Clyde Clifford returned to talk about "Beaker Street". This eventually led to a weekly segment called "Radio Yesterday" which features the memories of the station's heyday.

External links

* [http://www.1090kaay.com/ Official web site]
* [http://www.1090kaay.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19&Itemid= KAAY station history]
* [http://www.todaysthv.com/company/about/history.asp KTHV station history (including KTHS)]
* [http://www.todaysthv.com/news/search/results.aspx?storyid=14818 Whatever Happened to the Mighty 1090 KAAY?]
* [http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/20/icon_article.asp?articleID=19 KAAY: The Mighty 1090 Gave Arkansas to North America]
* [http://www.1090kaay.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=35 Radio Yesterday program page]
* [http://kaay1090.blogspot.com/ KAAY 1090 Blog]
*AMQ|KAAY
*AML|KAAY
*AMARB|KAAY
*Geolinks-US-buildingscale|34.60000|-92.22500