Many of the AM assignments that are on the books today have been added since
the end of World War II. I'm sure your market has had most of it's AM
assignments added since the end of World War II. In St. Louis, these assignments have
been added since World War II:
590 (Wood River, IL): Added in 1959 as a 500-watt daytimer with the calls
WBBY, the most famous incarnation of the station was as WRTH; the station had the
calls from the 1960s until 1988. Later increased day power to 1,000 watts and
added 500-watt night service; later doubled night power to combat Cuban
interference. This station broadcast in AM Stereo with Easy Listening (as KEZK), a
Soft Rock simulcast (again, as KEZK), and only flipped the Stereo on
occasionally in it's current incarnation as all-sports KFNS.
690 (East St. Louis, IL): Originally licensed to St. Louis, MO. Added in
1948, the station ran a block-programmed format for the longest time. The station
switched to an Urban Gospel format after Crawford acquired the station in
1994, and flipped the AM Stereo pilot on in 1995. The station went full-time the
same year with 18 watts at night, and flipped it's city of license to East St.
Louis in 1996. They have had one call all this time: KSTL.
850 (Clayton, MO): This is where KFUO moved in 1948, after nearly a quarter
of a century of sharing time with KSD (now KTRS) on 550. This station has
always ran a Christian format, focusing on the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. In
2003, the station became the first in St. Louis to transmit IBOC.
880 (Highland, IL): Added in 1990, when WINU moved from 1510. The station has
been a Soft AC and syndicated Talk station. In 2000, the New Life
Evangelistic Center acquired this station, and switched formats to Contemporary
Christian. The station later traded calls with WCBW on 1510. The station suffers from
interference from KFUO's IBOC carrier.
920 (Granite City, IL): Added in 1961 as a 500-watt daytimer. The station has
always run a free-form talk format, augmented by Christian and ethnic
programming and vocal Easy Listening music. Went full-time in 1978 with 500 watts at
night. The station's calls, WGNU, stand for "What's New?" The station has
always been owned by top radio advertising salesman Chuck Norman.
1010 (Festus, MO): Added in 1951 as a 10,000-watt daytimer. The station
started life as local broadcaster KJCF. The station was sold in 1961 so that KJCF
could go full-time on 1400. 1010 became KXEN in 1961. From 1966 to 1968, KXEN
tried Easy Listening. The station has broadcast Christian teaching and music in
1968. The station jacked up daytime power to 50,000 watts during the 1960s.
Night service was added in 1998, 500 watts in AM Stereo. Originally
broadcasting nighttime programming in Spanish, they dropped the Spanish programming in
2000 for Contemporary Christian; teaching was added in the overnight time slot.
1080 (Edwardsville, IL): Added in 1987 as a 500-watt daytimer. The station
began as an Adult Standards format via satellite, then switched to Business News
in the early 1990s. The station then tried Adult Contemporary music before
being sold to Covenant Network in 1996. The owner of this station, Bob Howe,
also owned WFUN-FM 95.5, a station I worked at from 1997 to 1999.
1190 (De Soto, MO): Moved to the St. Louis market in 2002. From the
beginning, it served southern Jefferson County as KHAD. Then, a fire destroyed the
station (and sister station KDJR 100.1) in the late 1990s. After deals fell
through for the New Life Evangelistic Center and Covenant Network to buy the
station, the station was sold to Radio Free Texas. They reactivated the channel as
all-oldies KRFT; Missouri Sports Radio leased the station from 2002, where the
station is now known as "The Sports Explosion".
1260 (Belleville, IL): Arrived in the early 1960s. Starting life as WIBV, the
station broadcast a block-programmed format, then went to AC in the late
1970s, tried Country in the mid-1980s, before going back to local and satellite
AC. The station was a talk format after 1990, with a mix of local and satellite
talk. In 1997, Tim Dorsey, former program director at KMOX, acquired the
station, and lured three top personalities away from KMOX, and got John Carney away
from KSD. In 1998, the programming moved to 550 as KTRS, while satellite talk
returned to 1260. Later that year, the station became WSDZ (Radio Disney).
1320 (Clayton, MO): Added in 1946. The station started as KXLW, and was noted
for putting the first African-American DJ on the air west of the Mississippi,
Spider Burks. Richard Miller acquired the station in the 1960s, and later
added KADI-FM (now KIHT). The station has used the call letters KADI and KKOJ
during the 1970s, before the station was acquired by Bott Broadcasting Company in
1982, and changed to it's current Christian format as KSIV.
1460 (St. Charles, MO): Added in the 1960s. The station started as KADY, but
it's most famous incarnation was as Top 40 KIRL in the early and mid-1970s.
After a stint as a country station, the station was sold to Bronco Broadcasting
Company, headed by former Cardinals baseball player Bill White, as well as
then-Cardinals football players Mel Gray and Johnny Roland (who later was an
assistant coach with the St. Louis Rams). The station operated full-time from 1990
to 2002; they're back to their roots as a 5,000-watt Urban Gospel daytimer.
1510 (Highland, IL): Added in 1961. Started as local service station WINU,
the original occupant moved to 880 in 1990. The station played soft pop music
when it was on 1510. In 1999, New Life Evangelistic Center put this station back
on the air as WCBW with a Contemporary Christian format. In 2000, they
switched calls with 880, and switched to Southern Gospel. They would later flip
calls with WDID 1560 Shelbyville, IL (now on 870).
1570 (Alton, IL): Added in 1951. The station went on the air as WOKZ, and ran
local programming (augmented with middle-of-the-road music) for many years.
In 1983, the station adopted it's current calls, WBGZ, and flipped to Classic
Country. After trying an Adult Contemporary format (the station went full-time
in 1987), they phased in a News/Talk format during the early 1990s.
1600 (St. Louis, MO): Added in 1954. One of the first African-American-owned
stations in St. Louis, the station played R&B hits for many years before going
to a Classic Soul format in the mid-1980s. Noble Broadcasting later acquired
the station and KATZ-FM, then a contemporary jazz station, and joined it with
KMJM 107.7. When Jacor bought out Noble, they tried using the KMJM call on AM
as an Urban Gospel station. KMJM-FM later moved to 104.9, while KSLZ took the
107.7 position with a Contemporary Hit Radio format. Now owned by Clear
Channel.
73 and good DX from Eric
Amateur Radio Station N0UIH
Registered Monitor KDX0STL, KMO0CN
Hazelwood, MO Grid Square EM48
DXing The World since 1981
Turn Off Clear Channel Communications!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/turnoffclearchannel
PRAY FOR AN END TO COMMERCIAL RADIO DEREGULATION
"For the love of money is the root of all evil"-1 Timothy 6:10
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