during the early 1980s and became one of the market's leading talk radio stations before other competitors soon emerged. KRLD, its primary competitor during the mid and late 1980s, was mostly all news but with talk shows nights and weekends. KLIF had a "classic" lineup of hosts. Kevin McCarthy, with a more centrist point of view, held the midday spot with interviews and conversational radio. David Gold had the late afternoon shift with his brand of conservatism. The station's morning show featured Norm Hitzges on sports. Up until then, sports talk had primarily aired in afternoons and evenings in most U.S. cities. That lineup made the station one of the most respected Dallas-Fort Worth talk radio stations. Community leaders and politicians listened regularly, according to a Dallas magazine report. It was during this time when KLIF achieved its highest ratings ever as a news-talk station, the only time it ever cracked the Top 10 after its Top 40 heyday. During the 1995 OJ Simpson trials, KLIF simulcasted the audio of KDFI’s trial wrap ups. Competition in the form of all-sports radio began to hurt KLIF's ratings. Other stations offered more opinionated talk show hosts. As a result, the station's ratings plummeted, barely garnering a 1.0 share. Flip to all-news blocks, return to mostly talk Cumulus Media acquired Citadel Broadcasting in late 2011, bringing KLIF and its larger rival WBAP-AM-FM under common ownership. To reflect the common ownership between the two channels, KLIF began swapping programming with WBAP and retooled its AM/PM drive to an all-news radio format, designed to compete against CBS Radio-owned KRLD. KLIF replaced Fox News Radio's top-of-the-hour newscast with ABC News Radio's and later switched to the parent company's Westwood One News service. Afternoon host Chris Krok was transferred to WBAP for a local talk show in the evening hours, while morning host Jeff Bolton was dismissed. Two talk shows, The Mike Huckabee Show and The Dave Ramsey Show, remained on KLIF's lineup. (Ramsey eventually moved over to KRLD.) KLIF at first discontinued Coast to Coast AM, with the show eventually moving to competitor KFXR. , it has returned to KLIF. Call sign history The call letters KLIF achieved recognition in radio broadcasting through the efforts of noted radio programmer and owner Gordon McLendon. KLIF, which was formerly on 1190 AM, had been Dallas' biggest Top 40 radio stations, and widely respected across the U.S. Playing Top