First air date February, 1949 Frequency 990 kHz Format Regional Mexican Slogan La Gran D AM 990 | Class D City of license Storm Lake Branding JUAN Power 6 watts | |
Owner Sorenson Broadcasting Corporation | ||
KAYL (990 AM, JUAN) is a radio station licensed to serve the community of Storm Lake, Iowa. The station broadcasts a Regional Mexican format in Spanish. KAYL is owned by Sorenson Broadcasting Corporation and operated by NRG Media.
KAYL signed on in February, 1949 and was owned by Cornbelt Broadcasting Company with the original shareholders of Oscar Grau, Joe Kevane, Paul Dlugosh, Dr. R.E. Malliard and Z.Z. White.
990 kHz was also the frequency of a Winnipeg, Canada station which resulted in KAYL being licensed as a daytime-only broadcaster to avoid interference. KAYL received its continuous power broadcast license in September 1992, enabling the station to remain on the air 24 hours a day with reduced power between sunset and sunrise.
The broadcast tower, located east of Storm Lake, collapsed on August 8, 1969 during a severe storm. The station was back on the air with a temporary antenna within about 6½ hours.
In November 1997, KBVU (Buena Vista University) started broadcasting from the KAYL tower. KAYL became the property of NRG Media in 2005, along with its sister FM stations, KAYL-FM and KKIA (FM).