Branding 1020 Radio AM First air date 1925 Language(s) Spanish | Frequency 1020 kHz Format News/Talk | |
Broadcast area Los Angeles, California | ||
KTNQ (Univision America 1020) is a radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, with a Spanish News/Talk format. It is owned by Univision. From its original licensing on March 13, 1925 until 1955 it was called KFVD . The station has studios located on Center Drive (near I-405) in West Los Angeles, and the transmitter is located in the City of Industry.
From August 1, 1955 until 1960 it was called KPOP. From June 29, 1960 until 1976, it was called KGBS. On September 27, 1976 the station's call sign was changed to the current KTNQ, originally billed as "The New Ten Q."
During the late 1970s along with competitor stations such as KHJ (AM) and San Diego-based XETRA-AM ("The Mighty 690"), the station specialized in Top 40 music, and was broadcast in English. The radio station figures prominently in the Ron Howard film Grand Theft Auto. where disc jockey "The Real" Don Steele is doing a live broadcast from a helicopter with the station's call sign following two star-crossed lovers.
In its early years, between January 3, 1929 and December 31, 1931, KFVD broadcast from offices and towers on the Hal Roach Studios' lot.. From 1937 to 1939, Woody Guthrie broadcast regular shows from the station, then run by Frank Burke Sr. and his son Frank Burke Jr. First he accompanied his Cousin Leon "Oklahoma Jack" Guthrie, later with Maxine "Lefty Lou" Chrissman. The Woody and Lefty Lou-Show soon became the most popular on the station. When Chrissman resigned due to health reasons, Guthrie continued for another year as The Lone Wolf until he was sacked for his unrelenting support for the Soviet Union even after they invaded Poland.
KTNQ was a part of the Univision America Talk Radio network as of July 4, 2012. While the network itself ceased operations in 2015, KTNQ aired the remnants of Univision America's programming as well as local news, weather, and sports.
On December 20th, 2016, Univision announced that KTNQ would be one of the charter affiliates of their new Spanish-language sports network, Univision Deportes Radio; the launch is currently set for early 2017.