ESNE Radio is a Spanish-language Catholic radio network based in the United States, owned by El Sembrador Ministries. Headquartered in Chatsworth, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, ESNE broadcasts on 14 stations in the United States, Mexico and Spain. ESNE also broadcasts a Spanish-language television channel, ESNE TV, launched in 2002.[1]
History
On March 1, 2003, El Sembrador, led by founder Noel Díaz, began programming KHPY (1670 AM) in Moreno Valley, California, under a time brokerage agreement; it purchased that station in 2008.[2] Díaz had previously started a weekly Catholic radio program, Dimensión de Fe (Dimension of Faith), in 1990.[1]
In 2013, the network acquired KRXA, serving Monterey, California;[3] the next year, it began brokering time on KURS in San Diego, later buying that station in 2016.[4] A second southern California signal was acquired in 2015 when it picked up KTYM after Immaculate Heart Radio instead bought another Los Angeles outlet.[5]
El Sembrador expanded into Utah by buying Ogden's 1430 AM—then KLO—for $260,000 in 2020.[6] A third station in the Central Coast region of California will be added when the ministry closes on its purchase of KKMC (880 AM) in Gonzales, California, from Monterey County Broadcasters.[7] Additionally, in September 2020, El Sembrador filed to buy KDCO (1340 AM) in Denver—though not its associated FM translator—for $420,000.[8]