KMPC (1540 AM, "Radio Korea", 라디오코리아) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California. It is owned by P&Y Broadcasting Corporation. Radio Korea is a division of the Radio Korea Media Group. The station airs Korean–language programming, a blend of talk, news, information, and music for the largest Korean–American community in the United States, and the largest Korean community outside Korea. KMPC is one of four radio stations in the greater Los Angeles area that broadcast entirely in Korean. The others are 1190 KGBN Anaheim, 1230 KYPA Los Angeles and 1650 KFOX Torrance.
KMPC broadcasts at 50,000 watts by day, the highest power permitted for commercial AM stations. At night, to reduce interference to other stations on AM 1540, KMPC drops its power to 37,000 watts. It uses a directional antenna at all times. The transmitter is off Carter Drive in the El Sereno district of Los Angeles.
History
KPOL
On September 22, 1952, the station signed on with the call sign KPOL. It ran 5,000 watts and was originally a daytimer, required to be off the air at sunset. It was owned by Coast Radio Broadcasting Corporation. In 1958, it added an FM station at 93.9 MHz, KPOL-FM (now KLLI). Then in 1965, it put a television station on the air, Channel 22 KPOL-TV (now KWHY-TV).
KPOL 1540 went on the air 10 minutes after receiving Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval. The following year, its power was increased to 10,000 watts. Full time operations were added in 1958, with a power of 10,000 watts at night using a directional antenna array. Daytime power was increased to 50,000 watts in 1961.
In its early years, KPOL aired several polka music programs. That gave the station its call letters. Tom Kennedy, later a popular TV game show host, was a polka DJ on the station during this era.
In 1959, KPOL advertised on a billboard at Los Angeles's Wrigley Field, which can be seen in the television series Home Run Derby.
In 1966, KPOL-AM-FM were sold to Capital Cities Broadcasting for $7.8 million.
For many years, KPOL aired an easy listening/beautiful music format on both AM and FM. In the late 1970s, the station switched to a soft adult contemporary format. In August 1978, it began carrying the syndicated Larry King Show overnight.
KZLA
In 1979, the station's call sign was changed to KZLA while airing a more upbeat adult contemporary format, simulcast with 93.9 KZLA-FM. But with several other AC stations in Los Angeles, KZLA-AM-FM had trouble achieving significant ratings.
In 1980, with no country music station on FM in Los Angeles, KZLA-AM-FM flipped to a country format.
Spanish language era
In 1984, the station was sold to Spanish Broadcasting System for $5 million. In December 1984, the station's call sign was changed to KSKQ, and it adopted a Spanish language format as "La Super KQ".
On August 4, 1992, its call sign was changed to KXED, and it aired a Mexican pop/contemporary format branded "La Grande" or The Big One. On March 29, 1996, the station's call sign was changed to KXMG. In late 1996, its format was changed from Regional Mexican to Spanish oldies.
Sports era
In 1997, One on One Sports Inc. of Northbrook, Illinois, purchased the station and changed its format to sports, as an owned-and-operated network affiliate of One-on-One Sports, later known as Sporting News Radio, a nationally syndicated 24/7 sports network. On December 19, 1997, its call sign was changed to KCTD. One on One Sports also bought AM stations in the New York City and Chicago areas, so it would have its programming available in the largest, second largest and third largest radio markets.
On March 28, 2000, the call sign was changed to KMPC. In 2000, One-on-One Sports was acquired by Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures, and ownership of KMPC was transferred to Paul Allen's Rose City Radio Corporation. The KMPC call letters had long been used in Los Angeles on AM 710 (now KSPN). On February 10, 2003, the station began to be branded "1540 The Ticket", concurrent with the launch of a new local morning show, hosted by Roger Lodge.
The station covered Southern California sports teams, including the San Diego Chargers. It also aired select Westwood One sports programming not carried by CBS Radio's KFWB and KLSX. Among the many Westwood One games KMPC carried include NCAA basketball, PGA Tour golf tournament updates (mostly those covered by CBS Sports television), the Masters Tournament and NFL football (including Monday Night Football on occasion).