The KXLY-AM (Spokane) tower was built in 1937 and has helped spread the radio signal for the station ever since.
The 469-foot tower near the south complex soccer fields and across from Target has become costly to maintain.
The station built a smaller tower nearby and stopped using the old tower last month. (KXLY)
New tower for KXLY AM
Steve • March 23, 2026
How has the new tower affected the station’s reception?
Different tower - same coverage
Jason Remington • March 23, 2026
The change for KXLY (920 AM) in Spokane involved switching from their historic 469-foot tower (built in 1937 on the South Hill, near South Regal Street and the South Complex soccer fields/Target area) to a smaller, existing nearby tower.
The primary reasons cited were high maintenance costs and structural concerns with the aging 80+-year-old structure. According to information we can find, this was not a major relocation to a distant new site in the city but a shift to an adjacent shorter tower and according to FCC-related engineering details from late 2025, the station increased daytime power from 20 kW to 25 kW and made a minor nighttime adjustment (from 5 kW to 5.4 kW) specifically to compensate for the shorter, less efficient tower and maintain equivalent coverage.
The engineering assessment explicitly stated that “signal differences should be basically zero,” meaning reception was engineered to remain essentially unchanged overall—no significant improvement or degradation was expected or intended across the listening area. No listener feedback in available sources indicates improvement (or worsening) since the tower change.
Voice of The Inland Empire: KXLY RADIO 92 (920 KHz)
John Ross/JR - Seattle • March 22, 2026
I was at KXLY in 1971/1972 when Johnny Holiday was the PD, Wayne McNulty, GM, before hitching up with KUUU 1590-AM in Seattle. Did mid-days, 10AM to 2PM on Radio 92, and then over to the TV side afterward and hosted the ‘Dialing For Dollars’ movie matinee, interviews and news, as well as weekend anchor news/weather when it was CBS and Ron Bair was the TV News Director. This was before teleprompters, so it was UPI teletype rip and read, prepping lead-ins for CBS News clip inserts on those old 3″ video-tape machines (or were they 4″?). Pay wasn’t that great on the radio side, and the TV side was Unionized, so I tried to organize the radio side, with total support from the other jocks, but it wasn’t well received by Holiday or McNulty. Soon, it was “bye-bye” KXLY and into the all-night oldies show at KUUU, replacing R.C. Bannon, and eventually 7 to Midnight. Fired on a Friday, hired on a Monday. That’s radio!
First CBS, now KXLY's legacy tower...
Steve Sibulsky • March 21, 2026
I once visited that transmitter building with the legendary Chief Engineer T. O. Jorgenson. Had to be 1975 or 76…