KVON (1440 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station broadcasting a Spanish AC radio format. Licensed to Napa, California, it serves the Napa County/Sonoma County region of Northern California. The station is owned by Wilfred Alexander Marcencia and Julissa Marcencia, through licensee Wine Down Media LLC.
 | |
| Broadcast area | Napa County/Sonoma County |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1440 kHz |
| Branding | Mega Mix 1440/96.9 |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | Spanish |
| Format | Spanish AC |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KVYN | |
| History | |
First air date | November 17, 1947 |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 74430 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 5,000 watts day 1,000 watts night |
Transmitter coordinates | 38°15′45.00″N 122°16′56.00″W / 38.2625000°N 122.2822222°W |
| Translator(s) | 96.9 K245DK (Napa) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | kvon.com |
By day, KVON's transmitter broadcasts a 5,000-watt signal. At night, to avoid interfering with other stations on 1440 AM, the station reduces transmitter power to 1,000 watts. The station uses a directional antenna pattern at all times utilizing a 4-tower array during daytime and 3-tower array during nighttime operations.[2] The station's transmitter and antenna array are located at a site south of the Napa, California, adjacent to the Napa River. The station also simulcasts on the FM band on 96.9 MHz with 12 watts from an antenna that is co-located on a site it shares with KVYN near Yountville, California.
History
editOn November 17, 1947, KVON first signed on.[3] Originally it broadcast with 500 watts of power around the clock, before getting a power increase.[4] The station was owned by Thomas L. Young from 1971 to 1996. During Young's ownership, he founded sister station KVYN which went on the air in 1975.[5][6]
In May 2017 an announcement was made that the station along with KVYN had been sold by Wine Country Broadcasting to Wine Down Media for $425,000. The transaction was consummated on August 1, 2017.[7]
On December 14, 2021, KVON announced that it would flip to Spanish language programming on January 3, 2022, and some previous programming elements would move to sister station KVYN.[8] The station is currently the only station in Napa County broadcasting in Spanish 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The format is Spanish AC, branded as "Mega Mix 1440/96.9.[8] The switchover to the new format is a culmination of a 5 year transition, bourne out of several events starting with the October 2017 Northern California wildfires, followed by the 2019 California power shutoffs and the COVID-19 pandemic. Over one third of Napa County's population is Latino and during these events, Spanish speaking residents had a difficult time retrieving and understanding coverage and implications of these events at the local level.[9] The station's ownership was granted a license to broadcast by the FCC on December 8, 2021.[10]
Previous logo
edit
References
edit- ^ "Facility Technical Data for KVON". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ Radio-Locator.com/KVON
- ^ "Directory of Radio Stations in the United States and Canada" (PDF). Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 page C-23. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
- ^ "Mayor to Pull Switch as KVON Napa Starts" (PDF). Broadcasting. December 15, 1947. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
- ^ Sestito, Maria (December 1, 2015). "Former radio station owner dies at age 94". Napa Valley Register. Napa, CA: Lee Enterprises, Inc. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
- ^ "Thomas L. Young". Napa Valley Register. Napa, CA: Lee Enterprises, Inc. December 4, 2015. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
- ^ Huffman, Jennifer (May 14, 2017). "New owners for Napa radio stations KVYN/KVON". Napa Valley Register. Napa, CA: Lee Enterprises, Inc. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
- ^ a b "KVON Relaunches As MegaMix". RadioInsight. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
- ^ Yune, Howard (January 15, 2022). "New format, new mission: KVON radio lifts Spanish language to the Napa Valley airwaves". Napa Valley Register. Napa, CA: Lee Enterprises, Inc. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
- ^ "K245DK-FX". radio-locator. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
External links
edit- FCC History Cards for KVON
- Facility details for Facility ID 74430 (KVON) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
- KVON in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
- Facility details for Facility ID 202889 (K245DK) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
- K245DK at FCCdata.org
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