KFRU

KFRU
City of license Columbia, Missouri
Broadcast area Columbia and Vicinity
Branding News/Talk 1400
Frequency 1400 kHz
First air date January 1925
Format News/Talk
Power 1,000 watts
Class C
Affiliations ABC Radio Network
Owner Cumulus Media
(Cumulus Licensing LLC)
Sister stations KBBM, KBXR, KJMO, KLIK, KOQL, KPLA
Website www.kfru.com

KFRU (1400 AM) is a radio station located in Columbia, Missouri, broadcasting with 1 kW of power. Its programming format consists primarily of news, talk and sports. The station is licensed to Cumulus Media.

History

KFRU was founded in Bristow, Oklahoma by E.H. Rollestone, in January 1925. That fall, the station was purchased by Stephens College and moved to Columbia (with Rollestone going on to found KVOO-AM, now KFAQ).[1]

On September 24, 1935, the Federal Communications Commission approved transfer of the station from Nelson R. Darragh, of St. Louis, to Luther L. Hill, of Des Moines.[2] Several owners later, the station was purchased by the St. Louis Star-Times newspaper, mostly for its regional broadcast frequency of 630 kHz, later moved to its St. Louis radio station, KXOK. In 1940, KFRU became an affiliate of the Blue Network.[3] The station was assigned its current 1400 kHz frequency in 1941.

Mahlon Aldridge, Jr. was appointed manager in 1945, purchasing the station in 1948 in partnership with the publisher of the Columbia Daily Tribune.[3] In 1957, the station's format consisted of a mixture of country music, news and sports.

Aldridge sold his interest to his partner's son in the 1980s, and competition caused the station's audience share to fall. After another change in ownership, KFRU was purchased by a local ownership group headed by Al Germond, who moved the studios into the broadcast complex with their KARO-FM (now KPLA) station. The group formed and purchased additional stations in the Columbia and Jefferson City markets under the name of Premier Marketing Group.

In 2004, KFRU and the other Premier Marketing Group stations were sold to Cumulus Broadcasting.

Network affiliations

ABC Radio Network

When KFRU was purchased by the Star-Times, it became affiliated with the NBC Blue Network, now the ABC Radio Network, to which it is affiliated.

Missouri Tiger Network

KFRU was the longtime flagship station of play-by-play broadcasts of Missouri Tiger football and basketball teams. On December 22, 2009, Mizzou Sports Properties (owned by Learfield Sports) announced it would move Tiger broadcasts to Zimmer Radio's mid-Missouri cluster, fronted by 99,000-watt KCMQ, starting in 2010.[4]

With KMOX-AM in St. Louis as a network affiliate, the network has had many regional and national broadcasters providing play-by-play and color commentary for MU sports broadcasts, including:

Former color commentators include Jim Kennedy and Rod Kelly.

The current broadcast teams through the 2011-12 season are:

St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Network

As of the 2012 Major League Baseball season, the station is no longer a St. Louis Cardinals radio network affiliate; Zimmer Radio's KSSZ replaced KFRU as the Columbia market affiliate. According to previous years' KFRU promotional advertisements, they had been affiliated with the Cardinals for at least 60 years.

Awards

Affiliation with the University of Missouri School of Journalism

Prior to the founding of University-owned station KBIA-FM in 1971, KFRU was a primary training ground for broadcast journalism students at the University. Even after this time, the station still employs students and recent graduates; many graduates list the station on their current employment biography pages.

Former KFRU employees in TV/radio

Other former employees and program hosts

Richard M. Cottam (deceased) - news anchor/reporter 1957-1963; Instructor Dept. of Journalism Univ. of Missouri- Columbia 1956-1963; Co-host "Conversations with Dick and Doris" 1961-1963; NBC News associate Producer Huntley-Brinkley Report 1963-1967; NBC News Election unit 1968-1971

References

  1. ↑ Tulsa Radio: KVOO-AM
  2. ↑ "KFRU Changes Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. October 1, 1935. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  3. 1 2 "KFRU Sale" (PDF). Broadcasting. December 13, 1948. p. 63. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  4. ↑ "Mizzou Sports Properties Announces New Mid-Missouri Radio Home For the Tigers: Zimmer Radio Group's KCMQ-FM, KTGR-AM, KWOS-AM, KFAL-AM, KKCA-FM to Carry Games, Coaches' Shows, Other Mizzou Programming for Five Years". CSTV.com. 2009-12-22. Retrieved 2009-12-26.
  5. ↑ DJ charged with murder

External links

Coordinates: 38°57′52″N 92°18′26″W / 38.96444°N 92.30722°W / 38.96444; -92.30722

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