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KESP (970 AM broadcasting) is a sports radio station in Modesto, California, United States. The station serves Modesto, Stockton, Lodi, and surrounding communities of the northern San Joaquin Valley. It is owned by Cumulus Media. Its studios are in Stockton, and its transmitter is located in Modesto.
KESP is the flagship station of the Modesto Nuts of the Low-A West baseball league, and the flagship station of Pacific Tigers college basketball team. It is also a member of the San Francisco Giants, San Francisco 49ers, San Jose Sharks, Golden State Warriors, and California Golden Bears radio networks. Most of its daily programming, as the call letters imply, came from ESPN Radio, until January 2, 2013, when KESP switched to CBS Sports Radio.
KESP gained its current call sign, and format, in the early 2000s. Other call signs used since it came on the air in 1951 were: KBOX (1951–1956), KBEE (1956–1983), KHYV (1983–1988), KOOK (1988–1992(?)/1996(?)), Modesto Radio Museum (retrieved 2009-05-13). Note, however, that the FCC Call Sign History Database (retrieved 2009-05-13) indicates that the station was KBEE in 1992–1996. KBUL (1996–1998), and KANM (1998–2000).
The station was owned by the McClatchy family, which also owned McClatchy Newspapers, publisher of the Modesto Bee. The McClatchy Company later sold the station to Citadel Broadcasting, which merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.
In a sports-related note, Kevin McClatchy, a member of the publishing family, owned the Pittsburgh Pirates until the team was sold to Robert Nutting in 2007.
KESP carried Oakland Athletics baseball as an affiliate of the Oakland Athletics Radio Network through the 2024 season. Following the temporary move of the Athletics (A's) to West Sacramento as part of their relocation to Las Vegas, and the move of the team's Sacramento radio broadcasts from KHTK to KSTE, the A's released an affiliate list that did not include KESP. On March 4, 2025, the station announced that it had joined the San Francisco Giants Radio Network.
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