KFYO (AM)

KFYO (790 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Lubbock, Texas. It airs a news/talk radio format and is owned by Townsquare Media. Its studios are on 82nd Street in southwest Lubbock.

KFYO transmits 5,000 watts daytime; to protect other stations on 790 kHz from interference, at night it reduces power to 1,000 watts. It uses a directional antenna with a three-tower array. The transmitter is off Slide Road at 146th Street in Lubbock. Programming is also heard on 250-watt FM translator K236CP on 95.1 MHz in Lubbock.

Programming
Weekdays begin on KFYO with a 20-minute block of Texas-based news and agricultural reports hosted by Tony St. James from Agriculture Today. That's followed by Sunrise LBK with Tom Collins and Matt Crow. There is also a Lubbock-based talk show on weekdays in afternoon drive time, hosted by Chad Hasty and shared with other Townsquare talk stations in Texas. The rest of the weekday schedule is nationally syndicated shows: The Michael Berry Show, The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, The Sean Hannity Show, The Mark Levin Show, Coast to Coast AM with George Noory and This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal.

Weekends feature specialty shows on money, health, home repair, guns, cars, the law, food and drink. Syndicated weekend programs include The Kim Komando Show, The Weekend with Michael Brown, Gun Talk with Tom Gresham, The Ben Ferguson Show and Sunday Night with Bill Cunningham. Most hours begin with an update from ABC News Radio.

Breckenridge and Abilene
T. E. Kirksey, owner of the Kirksey Bros. Battery and Electric Company, established a radio station in Breckenridge. Its first broadcast was on September 6, 1927. It operated with only 15 watts on 1420 kilocycles. In early 1928, it was allowed to increase power to 100 watts.

On September 22, 1928, KFYO moved to Abilene. It continued to broadcast on 1420, upgrading to 250 watts by day and 100 watts at night. The station maintained studios in the Grace Hotel. 16-year-old Grant Turner, later an announcer for the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, joined the station when it moved to Abilene.

At times, KFYO has claimed a longer history, stretching back to an experimental station allegedly started by Kirksey in 1923, in Bentonville, Arkansas. However, no records show a station was licensed to Kirksey there. Bentonville's first radio station was KFVX, run by Ralph H. Porter in 1925 but closed the same year. There was an earlier and unrelated KFYO, which operated at Texarkana, Texas. KFYO Texarkana shut down in February 1927. A new KFYO Breckenridge received a construction permit from the federal govenrment six months later.

Moving to Lubbock
In February 1932, Kirksey was approved to move KFYO to Lubbock on 1310 kHz. It used a site at 2312 5th Street, three blocks east of Texas Tech University. The station began broadcasting from Lubbock on April 23. Two years later, the station moved to new downtown studios and offices located at 914 Avenue J. Also in 1934, KFYO aired the first-ever radio broadcast of a Texas Tech football game. It then began broadcasting games regularly in 1935, holding the rights continuously through the 1993 season.

In 1935, the station began airing the Sunday morning services of the Downtown (Lubbock) Bible Class Sunday morning services. The weekly service aired on KFYO until 1946 and returned to KFYO from KSEL in December 1987. The precursor of the Chuck Wagon Gang—-then known as the Carter Quartet=—made its radio debut that same year over KFYO. They performed weekly and earned the group $15 a week. The group included David Parker Carter 'Dad', son Jim (born Ernest) and daughters Rose and Effie. In 1936, the Carters changed their group name to the Chuck Wagon Gang, moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and joined radio station WBAP.

Plains Radio ownership
Kirksey sold the station he had built to the Plains Radio Broadcasting Company. It was owned by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and Amarillo Globe-News newspapers. DeWitt "Judge" Landis became the general manager, and KFYO affiliated with the NBC Red Network. The new owners also rebuilt the transmitter, which was still using the original equipment put into service at Breckenridge ten years prior. The station changed affiliations several more times, to the Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS) in 1937 and to the NBC Blue Network (later ABC Radio) in 1944. The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) required KFYO to move to 1340 kHz. This took effect on March 29, 1941. The year before, KFYO increased its nighttime power to 250 watts, matching its daytime output.

On July 1, 1945, KFYO broadcast live from Lubbock's airfield, when the first commercial airline flight landed in Lubbock. It was a Braniff Airways flight from Dallas, that continued to Albuquerque.

FM station and AM upgrade
KFYO put a sister station on the air on April 18, 1948. KFYO-FM 99.5 was the first FM station on the South Plains. It largely simulcast the AM station. In that era, few people owned FM receivers and management saw little chance to make it profitable. KFYO-FM went dark in 1950 and the license was returned to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Today, 99.5 is the home of co-owned country music station KQBR.

KFYO engaged in a seven-year fight to improve its facilities in the late 1940s and early 1950s. In 1945, KFYO filed to move to 790 kHz and increase its power to 5,000 watts. The FCC initially denied the bid in favor of a competing application from Lubbock County Broadcasting Company, which owned KBWD in Brownwood. But KFYO appealed and was successful in having the case remanded for new hearings in 1949. Despite a hearing examiner finding in favor of Lubbock County in 1950, the FCC awarded the frequency to KFYO in October 1951. The frequency change took place on January 19, 1953, at which time the station activated its three-tower array near 82nd and Quaker streets. The new facility allowed KFYO to be heard in Amarillo, Abilene, Midland, Odessa, San Angelo, Ozona and eastern New Mexico. The 1340 frequency became the home to a new station, KDUB.

On June 1, 1954, KFYO switched affiliations from ABC to CBS Radio. That gave the CBS Network its first outlet in Lubbock and first reliable reception in much of the South Plains.

Lubbock Tornado
KFYO was the only station to broadcast continuously before, during, and after the Lubbock Tornado that struck the downtown area on May 11, 1970. KFYO also provided Lubbock's only link to the outside world during the tornado by broadcasting over phone lines to 1080 KRLD in Dallas. Because KFYO was the assigned civil defense radio station in Lubbock, the station was equipped with two diesel backup generators, which provided power for KFYO's studios and transmitter site at 82nd & Quaker.

Much of the city was damaged and without power for days. Two other Lubbock radio stations lost their towers in the storm. KFYO became a vital link for Lubbock and the region in the hours and days after the tornado, broadcasting multiple 24-hour commercial-free days. It received local, state and national awards for its coverage, including a citation from President Richard Nixon.

Changes in ownership
KFYO, Inc., controlled by S. B. Whittenburg, bought the station in 1973. It was sold six years later to the Seaton Publishing Company in a $1.3 million transaction. The new owners substituted the station's beautiful music programs with a country music format.

In 1985, KFYO, Inc. decided to have an FM counterpart again. The company bought the former KRUX at 102.5 MHz. The station became KZII-FM on March 27, 1986. That same year, the stations moved to a new studio and tower site on South Slide Road, housing both offices and a new three-tower array for KFYO. Part of the former KFYO transmitter site at 82nd and Quaker was redeveloped into the Kingsgate North Shopping Center.

In March 1997, KFYO and KZII-FM were sold to GulfStar Communications, which also owned KFMX-FM, KKAM and KRLB-FM 99.5 in Lubbock. The studios returned to 82nd and Quaker, in the Copy Craft building that housed the other GulfStar stations. The KFYO transmitter site remained on South Slide. San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications acquired the GulfStar Lubbock cluster in 2000. In August 2010, KFYO owner Gap Central Broadcasting, which had purchased the Lubbock cluster from Clear Channel in 2007, was folded into Townsquare Media.

Texas Tech Red Raiders
KFYO was the longtime home of Texas Tech Red Raiders football and men's basketball games starting with the first Texas Tech Football game broadcast in 1934 and continuing into the mid-1990s. Jack Dale was the "Voice of the Red Raiders" from 1953-2003 and also served as KFYO's Sales Manager in 1960s and 70s. On Christmas Eve 1993, KFYO broadcast a Red Raider football game for the final time as the team's flagship radio partner. That game was a 41-10 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners in the 1993 John Hancock Bowl, with Jack Dale as the play-by-play announcer and John Harris on color commentary. The games moved to 94.5 KFMX & KKAM the following year, as part of Loyd Senn's All Sports Radio Network (ASRN), with Dale & Harris retaining their roles.

In late February 2003, air personality Jim Stewart left KFYO. Stewart had served as KFYO's Ag Director for over 20 years and for most of the time hosted the weekday 6 am and 12 pm hours. In the 1990s through 2001, Stewart's daily ag features were syndicated across West Texas via the Loyd Senn-owned Ag Producers Radio Network (APRN). APRN was sold to Clear Channel Communications in 2001 and the Oklahoma City Agri-Hub absorbed operations in late 2001. Stewart's radio career continued in Lubbock with Ag Director duties at 580 KRFE from 2005-2023. Stewart's life, radio career, and love of Texas Tech sports, was chronicled by the television program Texas Country Reporter in late 2023.

KFYO changed its network affiliation in 2003. On June 1, KFYO ended a 49-year affiliation with CBS and began an affiliation with ABC News Radio. In addition to hourly newscasts, KFYO carried several ABC features including Paul Harvey news and commentary, Sean Hannity's weekday afternoon talk show, and Mark Davis' nationally syndicated Sunday afternoon talk show (based at WBAP (AM)). In December 2010, the Lubbock Bible Class aired its final service. The religious program aired on KFYO for a total of 37 years.

In 1970, KFYO donated a 1927 Model T once owned by the station and painted with news headlines of that year to the Texas Tech Museum. In 2015, State Representative John Frullo donated $1,000 for the restoration of the Model T.

In October 2016, KFYO added an FM simulcast on 95.1 MHz. K236CP, an FM translator, is licensed to Lubbock. Branding for the station changed to "News/Talk 95.1 & 790, KFYO".

Air Personalities
West Texas Walk of Fame (City of Lubbock) inductee Jane Prince-Jones hosted the KFYO Morning Show from October 2001-October 2005. She also anchored news updates during weekday mornings & middays.

Former Taylor County Justice of the Peace Rex Andrew hosted the KFYO Morning Show from June 2006-September 2012; solo in 2006 & 2007, and then with Chad Hasty starting in January 2008. Rex also anchored KFYO News updates, reported on the Lubbock County Commissioner's court beat and hosted the weekly public service program "This Week in Lubbock". Chad Hasty moved to the 8:30am-11am timeslot on October 1, 2012 and Tom Collins & Laura Mac took over hosting duties for the KFYO Morning Show.

In February 2017, Tom Collins and Laura Mac left KFYO, and Dave King and Matt Martin took over hosting KFYO's morning show.

In November 2020, Paul R. Beane was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. Beane hosted the commentary "The Way I See It" from 2010-2014. He also served as a fill-in host for KFYO's talk shows from 2010-2020.

Following the departure of Robert Pratt on January 18, 2021, KFYO announced that Chad Hasty would take over the weekday 5-7p.m. timeslot. He is also syndicated across the state via the Texas Townsquare Media Network. Hasty's initial affiliates were: KYYW in Abilene and News/Talk KWFS in Wichita Falls. Later, in September 2023, Hasty added News/Talk 940 KIXZ in Amarillo as an affiliate.

In May 2022, Robert Snyder left KFYO, after a 21-year career as the News Director and Program Director. Snyder rebuilt the KFYO News department from scratch, starting with Jane Prince-Jones in October 2001, and developed numerous talk shows, including those hosted by Chad Hasty, Robert Pratt, Matt Martin, Tom Collins and Michael McDermott. Over the years, Snyder also anchored severe weather coverage with Ron Roberts from KAMC-TV and provided Lubbock-based reporting for ESPN Radio, CBS Sports Radio, Texas State Network and ABC News Radio. In April 2023, Matt Martin left the KFYO Midday Show when his family moved out of state. Michael McDermott took over the weekday 8:30-11a.m. timeslot, hosting the program "McDermott at Large" which aired until October 2023. KFYO currently airs The Michael Berry Show from 8:30-11a.m.

In late May 2023, Dave King announced he was retiring from the KFYO morning show "Sunrise LBK" for health reasons. King passed away the following month. Following King's passing, Ken Corbin and Matt Crow joined Tom Collins as rotating co-hosts for "Sunrise LBK" with Matt Crow permanently joining Tom Collins on "Sunrise LBK" in late March 2024.

First United Methodist Church of Lubbock, at the end of 2023, ended an over 50-year relationship with KFYO when it ceased airing its Sunday 11a.m. church service. First United Methodist Church had aired a Sunday morning church service on KFYO since 1952.

In April 2024, Nicholas Tauschek was named KFYO's Brand Manager. Tauschek holds two degrees from Texas Tech University and previously worked at 101.1 KONE-FM and Texas Tech's 88.1 KTXT-FM before he joined KFYO in 2021.

FM translator
On October 12, 2016, KFYO added an FM simulcast on 95.1 MHz.