KXSP

For the London Underground station, see King's Cross St. Pancras tube station.

Coordinates: 41°19′0.00″N 95°59′52.00″W / 41.3166667°N 95.9977778°W / 41.3166667; -95.9977778

KXSP
City Omaha, Nebraska
Broadcast area Lincoln, Omaha-Council Bluffs
Branding AM 590 ESPN Radio
Frequency 590 kHz
Format Sports radio
Audience share 1.9 (Fa'08, R&R[1])
Power 5,000 watts unlimited
Class B
Facility ID 50313
Transmitter coordinates 41°18′55″N 95°59′52″W / 41.31528°N 95.99778°W / 41.31528; -95.99778
Former callsigns WOAW (1923-1926)
WOW (1926-1999)
KOMJ (1999-2005)
Affiliations ESPN Radio
Owner E.W. Scripps Company
(Scripps Broadcasting Holdings LLC)
Sister stations KEZO-FM, KKCD, KMTV-TV, KQCH, KSRZ
Webcast Listen Live
Website am590espnradio.com

KXSP 590 AM is a radio station located in Omaha, Nebraska. It currently broadcasts as AM 590, ESPN Radio, an all-sports talk station. The station is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company.

History

The station was established in 1923 by the Woodmen of the World life insurance society as WOAW, after failing to obtain the WOW call letters (for Woodmen Of the World) because they were used by the steamship Henry J. Bibble. A callsign beginning with "W" was possible in Nebraska because the original dividing line between "W" and "K" call signs included the state's western border; WOAW's call sign was issued on November 27, 1922, shortly before the divide was moved to the Mississippi River in January 1923.[2] Despite this, the station was able to adopt the WOW call sign on December 16, 1926,[2] upon retirement of the Bibble. The Woodmen society put the station up for sale in 1945 out of fear that it would jeopardize its tax-exempt status; it eventually leased the station to Radio Station WOW, a group of local investors. That group gradually added an FM station (later KFMX and now KEZO-FM) and a television station (now WOWT).

In 1951, Meredith Corporation bought the WOW stations. The AM station became a Top 40 station in the early 1970s and a country station in the early 1980s. Meredith sold the station in 1983, and Journal Broadcast Group bought it in 1999. In November 1999, the WOW call letters were dropped in favor of KOMJ with adoption of a new format of adult standards. When the station switched to a sports format in 2005, the call letters were changed again to KXSP.

On February 1, 2011, KXSP swapped affiliations with KOZN. KOZN took the Fox Sports affiliation and KXSP received ESPN. With the affiliation swap, KXSP also became known as "AM 590 ESPN Radio" instead of "Big Sports 590".


On August 23, 2012, KXSP aired The Front Stretch Radio Show on Sunday mornings. Originally hosted by Michael Grey, Buddy Ray Jones and Andrew Kosiski, the front stretch covered local dirt track racing and NASCAR.

KXSP is simulcast on sister station 92.3 KEZO's HD2 digital audio subchannel.

Journal Communications and The E.W. Scripps Company announced on July 30, 2014 that the two companies would merge to create a new broadcast company under the E.W. Scripps Company name that will own the two companies' broadcast properties, including KXSP. The transaction is slated to be completed in 2015, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals.[3]

On February 10, 2015 Journal Broadcast Group and the IMG group announced they had signed a contract for Journal Broadcast Group in Omaha to be the broadcast partner for Cornhusker Sports. Effective July 1, 2015 KXSP will serve as the primary station for Nebraska Cornhusker sports broadcasts with KEZO-FM and KKCD sharing broadcasts.[4]

Award

WOW received a 1946 Peabody Award for Outstanding Regional Public Service for its program series "Operation Big Muddy."[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Omaha-Council Bluffs Market Ratings". Radio & Records.
  2. 1 2 White, Thomas H. (January 1, 2014). "K/W Call Letters in the United States". United States Early Radio History. Retrieved August 4, 2014.
  3. ↑ "E.W. Scripps, Journal Merging Broadcast Ops". TVNewsCheck. July 30, 2014. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
  4. ↑ http://am590espnradio.com/common/page.php?id=451
  5. ↑ "Peabody Awards for '46 Announced" (PDF). Broadcasting. April 21, 1947. Retrieved 26 September 2014.

External links

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