Translator(s) 99.7 K259AJ (Austin) Class B Frequency 590 kHz Owner Emmis Communications | First air date July 2, 1939 as KTBC Facility ID 65791 City of license Austin Branding News Radio KLBJ | |
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Broadcast area Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area Power 5,000 watts (day)
1,000 watts (night) Format Talk radio, All-news radio Area Austin-Round Rock, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area Slogan Austin's 24-Hour News Station | ||
KLBJ (590 kHz) is a commercial AM Radio station licensed to Austin, Texas. It carries a News/Talk Radio format. KLBJ is owned by Emmis Communications of Indianapolis, Indiana but once was owned by the family of President Lyndon Baines Johnson and still carries his initials as its call letters. On October 30, 2009, 590 AM began simulcasting its programming on FM translator K259AJ 99.7 MHz. The station has studios along Interstate 35 in North Austin, and the transmitter site is located east of Austin near the Colorado River in unincorporated Travis County. KLBJ 590 operates at 5,000 watts daytime/1,000 watts nighttime.
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Programming
KLBJ carries both local and nationally syndicated programs. National shows include The Rush Limbaugh Show, Dana Loesch, Clyde Lewis, Coast to Coast AM with George Noory, America in The Morning, The Kim Komando Show and Beyond the Beltway with Bruce DuMont. Some weekend hours are paid Brokered programming.
Controversy
KLBJ became the subject of controversy in July 2009 when Don Pryor, the co-host of The Todd and Don Show repeatedly used the term wetback to refer to illegal aliens in a satirical attempt to make a point about labels. Both hosts issued an on-air apology the next day, and were put on a 2-week unpaid suspension. It was announced on July 20 that the show was canceled, though both remained employed at the station. The Todd and Don Show returned to KLBJ on December 7, 2009, with a transformed perspective on community history and cultural sensitivity.
History
KLBJ first went on the air in 1939 as KTBC, the call letters standing for Texas Broadcasting Company. It was acquired by the family of future president Lyndon Johnson. The Johnson Family put Austin's first TV station on the air in 1952, KTBC-TV 7 and a co-owned FM station signed on the air in 1960, KTBC-FM (today KLBJ-FM). The Johnson Family eventually divested its broadcasting properties, with KLBJ-AM-FM today owned by Emmis Communications and KTBC-TV going first to The Times Mirror Company and today it is owned by Fox Television Stations.
Format
KLBJ delivers Austin's news at the top and bottom of every hour, with Austin's most frequent and accurate traffic and weather reports.