WKAT (AM)

WKAT (1450 AM, "Radio Vida") is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish-language Christian radio format, known as "Radio Vida." Licensed to Miami, Florida, the station is owned by Nelson Volatire, through licensee Radio Piment Book, Inc.[2]

WKAT
Broadcast areaMiami area
Frequency1450 kHz
BrandingVida 101.9 FM / 1450 AM
Programming
FormatSpanish Christian radio
Ownership
Owner
  • Nelson Voltaire
  • (Radio Piment Bouk, Inc.)
WQVN
History
First air date
1947
Former call signs
WWPB (1947-1956)[1]
WSKP (1956-1966)[1]
WOCN (1966-2019)[1]
Technical information
Facility ID43034
ClassC
Power1,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates
25°50′22″N 80°11′23″W
Translator(s)W270CV (101.9 MHz, Miami)
Links
WebsiteRadioVidaMiami.com

WKAT broadcasts at 1,000 watts using a non-directional antenna. The transmitter is off NE 71st Street in Miami.[3] Programming is also heard on FM translator W270CV at 101.9 MHz, with its tower on SE 2nd Street at Biscayne Boulevard.[4]

History

In 1947, the station first signed on the air.[5] Its original call sign was WWPB and it was powered at only 250 watts. The call letters were chosen to represent its owner and general manager, Paul Brake. The following year, Brake put an FM station on the air, 101.5 WWPB-FM (today WLYF).

WOCN logo through June 2008

Around 2000, the station, known as WOCN, switched to Spanish-language programming. It was branded as "WOCN Radio 1450," broadcasting a talk radio format. It was a brokered programming station which sold its time to hosts who then sold their own advertisements to support their shows. The station was known in the Cuban-American community for its leftist commentators.[6] It later switched to a sports radio format, using programming from the ESPN Deportes network.

Its call sign was changed to WKAT on September 16, 2019.[7] The WKAT call letters were popular in Miami for many years on 1360 AM, which was a long-time English-language talk station that had been an early stopping point for broadcaster Larry King and others. That station is now WQVN, broadcasting to the Haitian community.

WOCN logo until 2019

References
  1. History Cards for WKAT, fcc.gov. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  2. "WKAT Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  3. Radio-Locator.com/WKAT
  4. Radio-Locator.com/W270CV
  5. Information from Broadcasting Yearbook 1950 page 113
  6. "WOCN-AM SOLD FOR $6 MILLION". Miami Herald. July 29, 2006.
  7. Call Sign History, fcc.gov. Retrieved November 23, 2019.


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