KHAR

For the television station formerly sharing call letters and ownership with this radio station, see KYUR. For the FM station formerly sharing call letters with this station, see KBRJ.

KHAR

Anchorage, Alaska
Broadcast area	Anchorage, Alaska
Frequency	590 kHz
Branding	Gold Rush Radio
Programming
Format	adult standards
Ownership
Owner	Alpha Media LLC (Alpha Media Licensee LLC)
Sister stations	KBRJ, KEAG, KFQD, KMXS, KWHL
History
First air date	January 7, 1961 (1961-01-07)
Call sign meaning	Station founder Willis Harpel
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	60914
Class	B
Power	5,000 watts unlimited
Translator(s)	96.7 K244EG (Anchorage)
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen live
Website	www.alaskagoldrushradio.com

KHAR (590 AM) is a commercial radio station in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. Owned by Alpha Media, its studios are located in Anchorage (two blocks west of Dimond Center), and its transmitter is in the Bayshore neighborhood in South Anchorage.

History

KHAR went on the air in 1961. The station was founded by Willis "Bill" Harpel, who previously worked at KFQD and owned stations in Washington state. He founded Sourdough Broadcasters, and would launch KHAR-FM (now KBRJ) and KHAR-TV (now KYUR) prior to his accidental death in January 1968. His family, particularly widow Patricia and son Craig, would continue to run Sourdough Broadcasters for many more decades.

During its earlier decades, KHAR, like many AM stations, aired a general format, including music and news. Notable aspects of early programming included broadcasting messages to Bush residents, a practice once fairly common among urban broadcasters in Alaska, but found on very few stations today. The station was also noted for carrying the commentaries of Ruben Gaines, a onetime poet laureate of Alaska known for creating the character "Chilkoot Charlie".

KHAR's former Heart Radio logo

KHAR programmed an adult standards format, or minor variations thereof, from at least the 1970s until 2013. The station's branding, Heart Radio 59, was also featured for decades. KHAR was one of very few commercial stations in Alaska whose format more or less remained intact during the era of broadcasting company consolidation which began in the 1990s.

Resultant from that consolidation, KHAR was one of a number of Anchorage stations acquired by Morris Communications. It shared studios with its sister stations in the Morris Alaska building near the Dimond Center. On May 1, 2013, KHAR changed its format from adult standards to sports, with programming from CBS Sports Radio.

Logo under sports format, 2013-2024

Morris Communications sold KHAR and 32 other stations to Alpha Media LLC effective September 1, 2015, at a purchase price of $38.25 million.

On April 1, 2024, the station flipped back to adult standards as "Gold Rush Radio". The format will carry a broader mix of standards than the usual approach, and will run "rich and diverse" imagery in place of traditional announcers.

Translator

KHAR is also broadcast on the following FM translator:

Broadcast translator for KHAR

Call sign	Frequency	City of license	ERP (W)	Class	FCC info
K244EG	96.7 FM	Anchorage, Alaska	250	D	FMQ

See also

• List of radio stations in Alaska

External links

• FCC History Cards for KHAR
• Official website
• KHAR in the FCC AM station database
• KHAR in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
• K244EG in the FCC FM station database
• K244EG at FCCdata.org