KHQN

40°04′29.8″N 111°39′44.7″W / 40.074944°N 111.662417°W / 40.074944; -111.662417LinksWebsiteUtahKirishnas.org

KHQN (1480 kHz) is a non-commercial AM radio station licensed to Spanish Fork, Utah, and serving the Utah Valley and the southern suburbs of Salt Lake City. The station's broadcast license is held by SACE Broadcasting Corporation. KHQN has a radio format of Hindu music, chants and discussion, as a service of the Spanish Fork Krishna Temple and the Salt Lake City Krishna Temple.

By day, KHQN is powered at 1,000 watts, using a non-directional antenna. But to protect other stations on 1480 AM from interference, at night it reduces power to 133 watts. The transmitter is on Utah State Route 198 in Salem, near the Spanish Fork Krishna Temple.^[1]

History

The station signed on the air on July 24, 1960; 63 years ago (1960-07-24).^[2] Its original call sign was KONI. The station was a daytimer, required to go off the air at night. The owner was the Pioneer Broadcasting Company.

In 1967, it added a sister station, KONI-FM at 106.3 MHz.^[3] The two stations mostly simulcast a format of country music with local news and high school sports. KONI-FM was sold in 1980. Today, it is 106.5 KAAZ, a classic rock station owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.

In 1983, the station changed its call letters to KHQN. It carried a Mainstream Rock format. In 1984, it became the only station in the United States broadcasting Hare Krishna programming full-time. The Krishna Temple of Spanish Fork took over the station from the Schofield family, the previous owners. KHQN began airing English-language devotional Hindu music, religious instruction programs and a call-in show for college students. A few hours a week were for Spanish-speaking residents in Utah County.

To help support the Spanish Fork Krishna Temple, Sace Broadcasting decided to lease the station to a Spanish-language broadcaster. The station changed to a Spanish news, talk and music format in 2006. In December 2016, the lease ended. KHQN was re-acquired by the Krishna Temple's Sace Broadcasting. The station returned to airing Hare Krishna programming full-time.

References

• KHQN in the FCC AM station database
• KHQN in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
• FCC History Cards for KHQN