KCMO (AM)

KCMO
City Kansas City, Missouri
Broadcast area Kansas City Metropolitan Area, and parts of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska
Branding 710 KCMO
Slogan KCMO Talk Radio
Frequency 710 kHz AM
Translator(s) 103.7 MHz FM
First air date 1925 (as KWKC at 1370)
Format Talk
Power 10,000 watts (day)
5,000 watts (night)
Class B
Facility ID 33391
Transmitter coordinates 39°19′08″N 94°29′48″W / 39.31889°N 94.49667°W / 39.31889; -94.49667
Callsign meaning Kansas City, Missouri
Former callsigns KWKC (1925-1936)
Former frequencies 1370 kHz (1925-1939)
1450 kHz (1939-?)
1480 (?-1947)
810 kHz (1947-1998)
Affiliations Westwood One News
Owner Cumulus Media
(CMP Houston-KC, LLC)
Sister stations KCHZ, KCFX, K279BI, KCJK, KCMO-FM, KMJK
Webcast Listen Live or
Listen Live iHeart
Website 710kcmo.com

KCMO (710 kHz) is a AM radio station licensed to Kansas City, Missouri. Owned by Cumulus Media, the station's studios are located in Mission, Kansas, and the transmitter is in the Kansas City's Northeast side. The station airs a Conservative Talk format. The station broadcasts at 10,000 watts by day and 5000 watts at night, covering the Kansas City metropolitan area. With a good radio, the station can be heard not just in sections of Missouri and Kansas but also parts of Iowa and Nebraska.

On April 30, 2012 KCMO-AM began simulcasting on FM translator 103.7 K279BI via KCFX-HD2.

Programming

KCMO airs both local and nationally syndicated talk shows, most of which come from the Westwood One Network, a subsidiary of parent company Cumulus Media. Mornings are hosted by radio veteran Rob Carson (6 to 10 a.m.), with hosts Steve Sutton doing late mornings (10 a.m. to Noon) and Greg Knapp doing late afternoons (4 to 6 p.m.). The rest of the weekday schedule comes from syndicated shows: Dave Ramsey, Michael Savage, Mark Levin, John Batchelor, Red Eye Radio and America in The Morning. Weekends feature shows on money, health, religion, gardening and horses, some of which are Brokered programming. Syndicated shows heard on weekends include Larry Kudlow and Bob Brinker.

At various times in its recent history, KCMO has carried hourly newscasts from either CBS Radio News or Fox News Radio. At the beginning of 2015, KCMO and most Cumulus talk stations switched to Westwood One News, a Cumulus network.

History

The station started in 1925 by Wilson Duncan Broadcasting on 1370 AM as KWKC. In 1936 it changed its call letters to KCMO (Kansas City Missouri). In 1939 it moved to 1450 AM and then 1480 AM. In September 1947 it moved to 810 AM.[1]

Walter Cronkite was a sports announcer at the station in 1936 with the on air name of "Walter Wilcox".[2] He met his wife, Mary Elizabeth Maxwell, there and left to become a reporter for United Press International.

In 1953 the television station KCMO-TV (now KCTV) was launched. Meredith Corporation acquired both the radio and television stations in October 1953, less than a month after the television station went on the air. Meredith later acquired what became KCMO-FM, 94.9 FM. In 1978 Meredith build a new facility for its broadcasting stations in Fairway, Kansas. The radio stations were spun off from the television station in 1983. Later, the TV station changed its call letters to KCTV. (Meredith continues to own KCTV to this day.) That year, Richard Fairbanks (a one-time owner of what is today WXIA-TV in Atlanta, Georgia) bought both of the KCMO radio stations. The stations were then sold to the Summit Communications Group in 1985, then to the Gannett Company in 1986. Bonneville International, the then-owner of KMBZ and KLTH (now KZPT), acquired both KCMO stations in 1993. Four years later, Bonneville sold its entire Kansas City cluster plus three radio stations in Seattle, Washington to Entercom Communications. On October 3, 1998, shortly after Entercom assumed control of the KCMO stations, KCMO-AM swapped frequencies with WHB, with KCMO assuming its present-day 710 AM position. Due to the way the switch was structured, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) considers KCMO to be legally the same station as the old WHB. In 2000, Entercom was forced to sell both KCMO stations to Susquehanna Radio after its purchase of Sinclair Broadcasting's Kansas City properties (KQRC-FM, KXTR-FM and WDAF-FM) left it two stations over the FCC's single-market ownership limit. Cumulus Media acquired the stations in 2006 with its acquisition of Susquehanna.

When Cumulus assumed control of the station in mid-2006, local morning host Van Patrick quit on air, apparently upset over the firing of his producer as well as many others in the building and during a national purge of Cumulus employees. On September 12, the station began a new morning show, hosted by Chris Stigall. Stigall has since left the station and Rob Carson is now the morning host.

Former hosts

Controversy

In light of Michael Savage's controversial remarks concerning Islam, a group of 70 representatives from various religious groups such Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism and Islam gathered in a May 2008 interfaith meeting against alleged bigotry and urged KCMO to drop Savage's program.[3]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.fybush.com/sites/2005/site-051202.html Kansas City's KCMO, WHB and KCXL
  2. ↑ The Duh Awards: In This Stupid World, We Take the Prize By Bob Fenster p. 176 Andrews McMeel Publishing (April 1, 2005) ISBN 0-7407-5021-6
  3. ↑ Religious group wants KCMO 710-AM to drop Michael Savage’s program

External links

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