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KSTE (650 AM broadcasting) is a commercial radio radio station broadcasting a Talk radio radio format. Licensed to Rancho Cordova, California, the station serves the Sacramento metropolitan area. The station is owned by iHeartMedia. Its lineup features shows from Westwood One, Radio America, Compass Media Networks, and Premiere Networks, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia. KSTE is also the flagship station for the Athletics baseball team during the team's stint in West Sacramento. 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 station 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. Radio-Locator.com/KSTE
The station went on the air in 1991. Initially a Spanish-language station simulcasting KLIB under the call signs KMCE and KRDX, the talk format and KSTE call sign launched in 1992 after Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting, which had already programmed the station, bought full control. A series of ownership changes in 1996 and 1997 put KSTE under the ownership of first American Radio Systems and then Chancellor Media; additional mergers in the late 1990s led to Clear Channel Communications, the predecessor to iHeartMedia, taking over the station in 2000.
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, 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.
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.
On February 14, 2025, the Athletics (A's) baseball team announced that KSTE would be the team's flagship station, following their temporary move from Oakland to West Sacramento as part of their long-term relocation to Las Vegas. In addition to KSTE, games are aired on the "A's Cast" stream on iHeartRadio and on the A's Radio Network. KSTE replaced KHTK as the A's Sacramento radio outlet; the move also resulted in KAHI in Auburn and KESP in Modesto being dropped as network affiliates.
The station was sold to Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting in December 1992 for $1 million; Broadcasting Yearbook 1995, page A-50 the deal was originally reached in 1991. The acquisition required a waiver of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ownership rules because of the overlap of the signals of KMCE, KRCX, and KSRO in Santa Rosa, as well as plans to sell KRCX. Ahead of the sale's completion, in November 1992, the call sign was changed to KSTE and the format switched to news/talk, carrying ABC News Radio for hourly newscasts.
In April 1996, Fuller-Jeffrey agreed to sell KSTE to American Radio Systems (ARS) for $7.25 million; ARS was also in the process of acquiring KIFM and KYMX at the time. That June, ARS turned around and swapped KSTE, along with $33 million, to Chancellor Broadcasting—owner of KFBK, KBEB, and KHYL—in exchange for WFTL, WEAT-FM, and WRLX in West Palm Beach, Florida. The sale was completed in October 1997, Broadcasting Yearbook 2009 page D-97 by which time Chancellor Broadcasting had itself merged with Evergreen Media to form Chancellor Media.
Chancellor Media and Capstar Broadcasting announced in August 1998 that they would merge (Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst was a major shareholder in both companies); upon the merger's completion in July 1999, the combined company was named AMFM Inc. AMFM was in turn acquired by Clear Channel Communications (forerunner to iHeartMedia) in a deal announced on October 4, 1999, and completed in August 2000. Through these ownership changes, KSTE's talk format remained in place, making it a rare radio station that, except for its first two years, has remained with the same format for its entire history.
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