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KSTE

Rancho Cordova, California
Broadcast area	Sacramento metropolitan area
Frequency	650 kHz
Branding	Talk 650 KSTE
Programming
Format	Talk
Network	CBS News Radio
Affiliations	Compass Media Networks Premiere Networks Radio America Westwood One
Ownership
Owner	iHeartMedia (iHM Licenses, LLC)
Sister stations	KBEB KFBK KFBK-FM KHYL KYRV KZIS
History
First air date	April 19, 1990; 34 years ago (1990-04-19)
Former call signs	KMCE (1987–1991) KRDX (1991–1992)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	22883
Class	B
Power	21,400 watts day 920 watts night
Transmitter coordinates	38°28′47.00″N 121°16′38.00″W / 38.4797222°N 121.2772222°W / 38.4797222; -121.2772222
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	kste.iheart.com

KSTE (650 AM) is a commercial radio station broadcasting a talk radio format. Licensed to Rancho Cordova, California, the station serves the Sacramento metropolitan area. The station is owned by iHeartMedia and features shows from Westwood One, Radio America, Compass Media Networks, and Premiere Networks, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia.^[2] The studios and offices are in North Sacramento near the Arden Fair Mall.

KSTE transmits with 21,400 watts by day, but because 650 AM is a clear channel frequency reserved for Class A WSM in Nashville, Tennessee, KSTE must reduce power at night to 920 watts to avoid interfering with WSM and other stations on its frequency. It uses a directional antenna at all times with a two-tower array in the daytime and a three-tower array at night. The transmitter is southeast of the city in Vineyard, California.^[3]

KSTE is programmed as a "second tier" talk station, secondary to its more dominant sister stations, 1530 KFBK and 93.1 KFBK-FM. While most of the KFBK schedule is hosted by local personalities, KSTE features nationally syndicated talk shows. Weekday mornings begin with Armstrong & Getty, a wake-up show based at KSTE and carried on stations around the West Coast and Hawaii. They are followed by Chad Benson, Sean Hannity, Erick Erickson, Glenn Beck, Jesse Kelly, Joe Pags and Michael DelGiorno.

Weekends feature shows on money, health and cars, as well as some paid brokered programming. KSTE carries some syndicated shows on weekends including Bill Handel on the Law, Rich DeMuro on Tech, America at Night with Rich Valdés, The Jesus Christ Show with Neil Saavedra and Sunday Nights with Bill Cunningham, as well as repeats of weekday shows.

Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty joined KSTE in 1998 and now have one of the highest rated morning radio shows in Northern California. They can also be heard on radio stations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu and other cities in the West. Armstrong & Getty is the only locally based weekday talk show on KSTE.

For a number of years, KSTE aired hourly CNN Radio newscasts from Westwood One, then known as Dial Global. On March 2, 2012, Dial Global announced it would discontinue distributing newscasts from CNN Radio and instead replace it with NBC News Radio. CNN Radio affiliates would be switched to NBC on April 1, 2012.^[4] However, KSTE became an affiliate of the CBS Radio Network prior to the switchover. The station carried CBS News at the beginning of most hours.

In 2017, KSTE became an affiliate of a new version of NBC News Radio owned by iHeartMedia (unrelated to the Westwood One/Dial Global version); the station has since rejoined CBS News Radio. KSTE also airs some programming and news from ABC News Radio.

KSTE was the former home of Sacramento River Cats Minor League Baseball team, before moving to 1320 KIFM, an ESPN Radio station.

The station that today is KSTE was first planned in 1987. The construction permit was given the call sign KMCE as it was being prepared for broadcasting. The station signed on the air on April 19, 1990; 34 years ago (April 19, 1990). It was a Spanish-language outlet, owned by Minority Communications of California, Inc.^[5] The following year, it changed call letters to KRDX.

The station was sold to Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting in December 1992 for $1 million.^[6] The new owners changed the call sign to KSTE and the format switched to talk, carrying ABC News Radio for hourly newscasts.

In October 1997, the station changed hands again, this time to Chancellor Broadcasting, a forerunner of iHeartMedia.^[7] iHeartMedia kept the talk format in place, making KSTE a rare radio station that, except for its first two years, has remained with the same format for its entire history.

• Facility details for Facility ID 22883 (KSTE) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• KSTE in Nielsen Audio's AM station database