KDSP (AM)
| City of license | Thornton, Colorado |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Denver-Boulder-Longmont and Northern Colorado |
| Branding | Denver Sports 760 |
| Slogan | The Voice of Broncos Country |
| Frequency | 760 kHz (also on HD Radio) |
| First air date | June 15, 1987 (as KJIM) |
| Format | Sports Talk |
| Power | 50,000 watts day 1,000 watts night |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 29740 |
| Transmitter coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Callsign meaning | Denver's SPorts Radio |
| Former callsigns | KJIM (1987-1990) KRZN (1990-1993) KTLK (1993-2002) KKZN (2002-2015) |
| Affiliations | Fox Sports Radio CBS Sports Radio |
| Owner | iHeartMedia, Inc. (Citicasters Licenses, Inc.) |
| Sister stations | KBCO, KHOW, KBPI, KPTT, KOA, KRFX, KTCL |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | DenverSports760.com |
KDSP (760 AM) is a sports talk radio station licensed to Thornton, Colorado that serves the Denver-Boulder, Colorado market. Known as "The Voice of Broncos Country", the station carries a number of shows from Fox Sports Radio and CBS Sports Radio, as well as local programming. Owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., the station has studios in Southeast Denver, while the transmitter site is north of Thornton. KDSP reduces nighttime power to protect the signals of the dominant stations on 760 AM. WJR in Detroit, Michigan is the only Class A clear-channel station broadcasting on 760 AM. Class A stations are protected within a 750-mile radius of the transmitter site.
The station is also the primary radio play-by-play outlet for basketball games of the men's and women's teams of the University of Colorado. These games are sometimes switched to other iHeartMedia stations in the Denver area owing to schedule conflicts.
Contents
History
Early history
The station went on the air as KJIM on June 15, 1987. On January 2, 1990, the station changed its call sign to KRZN, and on December 13, 1993 to KTLK. On January 7, 2002, the station's call sign was changed to KKZN.[1]
The station initially started with an all-Christian all-talk format. It was owned by Woody Sudbrink from Florida. The station hosted satellite radio and Christian news/talk. The station also played Contemporary Christian Music with a CHR-Top 40/Album Oriented Rock hybrid style. Though the studio was new and built out for talk, very little took place there. In November 1987, Jann Scott of Boulder started broadcasting Addiction Free Radio on weekends. In the Spring of 1988, Scott became English talk programming director from noon til 7:00 pm. Scott launched Jann Scott Live, Race Day Radio Magazine and gave people such as Claudia Lamb and Bill Hammel their start in radio. The station programmed Mexican music in the Mornings and evenings up until 1990. Jann Scott is one of the few hosts on the station to win 2 Westword's Best Talk show Host awards: 1988 for Addiction Free Radio and 1989 for Race Day Radio Magazine. He also won Rocky Mountain News Top 10 Ten Colorado Broadcaster award.
In the 1990s, the station moved to Music and then, in 2002, to all-sports as "760 The Zone," from which the KKZN call sign is derived. After that, the station switched to progressive talk as the Denver affiliate of the Air America radio network in August 2004.
AM 760: Colorado's Progressive Talk
During its previous progressive talk format, the most popular local talk host on KKZN was David Sirota, also a newspaper columnist. In March 2009, Sirota took over the morning time slot of The Jay Marvin Show, hosted by local talk show host Jay Marvin, when Marvin was forced off the air due to ill health. Sirota moved to Clear Channel Communications sister station KHOW in 2012, co-hosting an afternoon show with Michael Brown until Sirota's departure in January 2013.[2]
Besides broadcasting progressive talk shows, KKZN also ran what it called a Blue List. This list included companies that supported progressive causes and interests. The station also sponsored progressive events throughout the Colorado Front Range, such as events for the ACLU and other progressive organizations.
On January 21, 2010, Air America filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, and ceased live programming the same night. Reruns of Air America's programming continued to air until Monday January 25, 2010 at 7 pm Mountain Time.
Real Talk 760
On May 7, 2014, Denver Post television critic Joan Ostrow reported that Gloria Neal, who anchors the 6 pm newscast on KCNC-TV along with hosting KKZN's morning show, had been released from her contract, and mentioned on Facebook that the entire staff had been let go, suggesting an oncoming format change.[3][4]
On May 19, 2014, KKZN shifted their format to lifestyle/advice talk, branded as "Real Talk 760" with all syndicated personalities, including Dave Ramsey, Jim Bohannon, Clark Howard, Dr. Joy Browne, and Tom Martino, along with a late night radio replay of TMZ Live. Weekends, besides Leo Laporte's The Tech Guy, are made up of brokered programming.
Denver Sports 760
On December 10, 2015, KKZN changed their call letters to KDSP, and flipped to sports as "Denver Sports 760" on January 4, 2016, affiliating with Fox Sports Radio, which is being dropped from KEPN and KKFN, both of whom will become ESPN Radio affiliates on the same day.[5][6][7] The station will also air local programming with shows hosted by Dave Logan and Susie Wagrin from 10 AM to Noon, and Andy Lindhal from 3 PM to 6 PM. In addition, the station will also air Scott Ferrall's "Ferrall on the Bench" from CBS Sports Radio tape-delayed from 9 PM to Midnight.
References
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/88602/kkzn-denver-to-drop-liberal-talk/ KKZN Denver to Drop Liberal Talk
- ↑ "Denver Gets A New Sports Station On January 4 On KDSP" from All Access (December 21, 2015)
- ↑ "ESPN to affiliate with 104.3 The Fan on 1600 AM; KUNC buys 105.5 FM" from The Denver Post (December 7, 2015)
- ↑ https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/95604/denver-sports-760-to-launch-january-4/
