Power 50,000 watts Facility ID 11271 City of license Portland Area Oregon, Washington Slogan The BIG One | Class A Frequency 1190 kHz Owner iHeartMedia Inc Branding NewsRadio 1190 KEX | |
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Broadcast area Northwestern Oregon and Southwestern Washington First air date December 23, 1926 (on 670 kHz) Former frequencies 670 kHz (1926–1927)
1240 kHz (5/1927-6/1927)
1250 kHz (1927–1928)
1080 kHz (3/1928-11/1928)
1180 kHz (1928–1941) Format Talk radio, All-news radio | ||
KEX (1190 kHz) is an AM, clear channel radio station licensed to Portland, Oregon. It is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and airs a news/talk format known as "NewsRadio 1190."
Contents
Because KEX is a 50,000 Watt Class A station, it reaches all of the Portland metropolitan area and beyond, providing grade B coverage as far south as Corvallis and as far east as The Dalles. At night, KEX can be heard around the Western United States and Western Canada. The transmitter is located in Sunnyside, Oregon with studios and offices in Tigard, Oregon. KEX is an active member of the Portland Area Radio Council.
Programming
KEX mostly airs nationally syndicated talk shows, largely from Premiere Networks, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, including Armstrong & Getty from co-owned KSTE in Sacramento, California; Rush Limbaugh; Michael Castner; Michael Berry; Glenn Beck; & Coast to Coast AM with George Noory.
Weekends feature shows on money, cars, computers and home repair, as well as repeats of some weekday shows and some paid Brokered programming. Syndicated shows heard on weekends include Joe Pags, Kim Komando, Bill Handel, Gary Sullivan and Bill Cunningham.
KATU Channel 2, the ABC television affiliate in Portland, supplies some local news and weather. ABC Radio News supplies national newscasts at the beginning of most hours. Bloomberg Radio provides business news updates.
History
KEX first signed on the air on December 23, 1926. Some sources show that the station may have originally started broadcasting on 670 kHz. On November 11, 1928, KEX started broadcasting on 1180 kHz under the terms of FCC General Order 40. On March 29, 1941, the station moved from 1180 kHz to 1190 kHz under the terms of North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA). KEX was the first station to give the voice of Bugs Bunny Mel Blanc a show. His Cobwebs & Nuts program debuted June 15, 1933, and ran Monday through Saturday from 11 p.m. to midnight.
The Oregonian Publishing Company acquired KEX in 1933, and from 1934 until 1943 the station's studios were located in The Oregonian Building, in space shared with 620 KGW, now KPOJ, when both stations were affiliated with NBC. Westinghouse Broadcasting expanded to the West Coast in 1944 with its purchase of KEX, then 5,000 watts, which also shared a frequency with WOWO, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Westinghouse increased KEX's power to 50,000 watts, day and night, in 1948. Having reached the FCC's then-limit of seven AM stations, Westinghouse sold KEX to actor and singer Gene Autry and Golden West Broadcasters.
From the 1960s through the 1990s, KEX aired a mix of Middle of the road music, talk and news shows. As music listening switched to FM radio stations, KEX cut back on the songs it played till it became a true talk station by the late '90s.
On March 30, 2011 KEX began simulcasting on FM translator K272EL at 102.3 FM. The addition of K272EL was in response to rival news/talker KXL's move from AM 750 to the FM band at 101.1. On September 9, 2013 KEX's simulcast on KKRZ-HD2 and K272EL ended with KKRZ-HD2 and K272EL switching to an alternative rock format, branded as "Radio 102.3".
Sports
KEX became the flagship station of the Oregon State Beavers for the 2012-2013 season. Until 2013, KEX was the flagship station of the NBA Portland Trail Blazers; in the event of a conflict with the Beavers, Blazers broadcasts were moved to sister station KPOJ. The Blazers were moved to KPOJ entirely in 2013.