KXEL

KXEL (1540 AM), branded as News/Talk 1540, is a commercial radio station serving the Waterloo and Cedar Rapids metropolitan areas with a talk format. It is owned by NRG Media with studios and offices on Jefferson Street in Waterloo near U.S. Route 218 (Leo P. Rooff Expressway). Programming is also heard on FM translator K263BZ at 100.5 MHz.

KXEL is one of two Class A stations in Iowa, along with WHO in Des Moines, broadcasting at the maximum power, 50,000 watts. By day, KXEL has a non-directional signal. But at night, to protect other stations on 1540 AM from interference, it uses a two-tower array. The transmitter is near Dysart on the Benton/Tama County line. KXEL provides secondary coverage to most of eastern Iowa during the day (as far west as Des Moines, as far south as Ottumwa and as far east as Dubuque and as far north as Mason City). ZNS-1 1540 in Nassau, Bahamas, shares Class A status with KXEL, so KXEL's nighttime pattern is a cardioid-shaped pattern aimed north. With a good radio, KXEL's skywave signal can be heard after dark throughout much of the Northern Plains States and the Canadian Prairies.