KRLD

City	Dallas, Texas
Broadcast area	Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex
Branding	NewsRadio 1080 KRLD
Slogan	When news breaks, we break in first.
Frequency	1080 kHz (also on HD Radio) 105.3-2 KRLD-FM
First air date	1926
Format	All-News Radio
Power	50,000 watts
Class	A (Clear channel)
Facility ID	59820
Transmitter coordinates	32°53′25.01″N 96°38′44.02″W / 32.8902806°N 96.6455611°W / 32.8902806; -96.6455611
Callsign meaning	Edwin Kiest Radio Laboratories of Dallas (the station's founder, then original ownership group)
Affiliations	CBS News Texas State Network
Owner	CBS Radio (CBS Radio Texas Inc.)
Sister stations	Radio: KJKK, KLUV, KMVK, KRLD-FM, KVIL TV: KTVT, KTXA
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	cbsdfw.com

KRLD "NewsRadio 1080" is an all-news radio station owned and operated by CBS Radio. Licensed to Dallas, Texas, KRLD serves the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and Northern Texas. The station's studios are located along North Central Expressway in Uptown Dallas, and the transmitter site is in Garland, Texas. KRLD (AM) broadcasts in the HD Radio format and can also be heard in HD on KRLD-FM 105.3 HD2.^[1]

Station history[edit]

KRLD, whose call sign came from founding owners Dallas Radio Laboratories, launched in 1926, broadcasting six hours each day, except on Wednesdays when the station closed down to make repairs and recharge the batteries. Since 1938, KRLD has broadcast at a power of 50,000 watts, the highest allowed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Its nighttime signal covers a number of states, while its daytime signal provides secondary coverage as far north as Oklahoma City and as far south as the outer suburbs of Austin. In the summer of 1941, KRLD moved to 1080 on the dial. It is directional to the southwest from the Garland tower site to protect co-channel WTIC in Connecticut.

In April 1978, KRLD switched from a music-based format to become the third news and information station in Dallas/Fort Worth. WRR 1310 AM (now a sports radio station with the call letters KTCK) carried an all-news format starting in 1975, until its 1978 sale to Bonneville International. Over in Fort Worth, KRXV (1540 AM) carried the NBC News and Information Service (and was all news) from 1976 to 1978.

KRLD originally broadcast from the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas and for a time had main studios located at Ameriquest Field, now known as Globe Life Park in Arlington, in Arlington. In the summer of 2005, the station moved operations to a 5th floor office at the southwest corner of Fitzhugh and Central Expressway in Dallas.

KRLD has achieved many firsts in the field of radio broadcasting:

• first station to present live broadcasts of high school and college football games.
• first to offer continuous election returns.
• first to broadcast live music and entertainment programs. The Big D Jamboree, which originated from the since-demolished Dallas Sportatorium, was a regular Saturday fixture on KRLD in the 1950s and 1960s. KRLD also aired wrestling matches from the Sportatorium, with longtime sportscaster Bill Mercer calling the action.
• commercial announcements on radio.

Branch Davidian leader David Koresh used KRLD to broadcast his messages in 1993 during his standoff with the government and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

During the 1970s and 1980s, KRLD was the flagship station for the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, with Brad Sham providing color analysis and later play-by-play (Sham continues as the Cowboys' lead voice, though the team's games now air on sister station KRLD-FM). Beginning in 1995, KRLD served as the radio flagship of baseball's Texas Rangers; in 2009, weekday games moved from KRLD to KRLD-FM. KRLD would relinquish the Rangers' English language radio rights in 2011 to competitor KESN.^[2] Rangers broadcasts would return to KRLD-FM in 2015 with broadcasts moving over to KRLD (AM) when conflicting with other programming (ex. Cowboy games) on the FM channel.^[3]

The Dallas, Texas CBS Radio building as viewed from the campus of Dallas Christian Academy on U.S. Route 75

As of September 27, 2010, KRLD broadcasts a news radio format, eliminating talk radio programming from 5am-8pm, with talk programming remaining on nights and weekends.^[4] However, it continues to broadcast paid programming. The Radio Television Digital News Association announced on June 12, 2013, that the KRLD Afternoon News had been chosen as the recipient of the prestigious 2013 National Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast in the Large Market Radio category.^[5]

Programming[edit]

KRLD serves as the flagship station for the Texas State Network. The station continues to use a news radio format during weekday daytime hours. During these hours, the station regularly broadcasts weather and traffic reports. It also broadcasts national news updates from CBS Radio. Evening and most weekend hours are filled with a mix of syndicated talk radio programs and paid programming. Local weather and traffic reports are made less often during these hours.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• FCC History Cards for KRLD
• Official website
• Query the FCC's AM station database for KRLD
• Radio-Locator Information on KRLD
• Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for KRLD
• Google Maps Satellite and Street view of the KRLD AM broadcast tower
• DFW Radio Archives
• DFW Radio/TV History