Radio station in Kansas City, Missouri
KCMO
(710
kHz
) is a
commercial
AM
radio station
licensed to
Kansas City, Missouri
. Owned by
Cumulus Media
, the station airs a
talk
radio format
. The studios and offices are on Indian Creek Parkway in
Overland Park, Kansas
.
[2]
KCMO is also heard on
KCHZ
(95.7 FM) in
Ottawa, Kansas
,
FM translator
K279BI
(103.7) in Kansas City, Missouri, and on the second
HD Radio
channel of co-owned
KCFX
(101.1) in
Harrisonville, Missouri
.
The AM
transmitter
is off North Eastern Road, near
Interstate 435
, on Kansas City's Northeast side.
[3]
KCMO broadcasts with 10,000
watts
by day and 5,000 watts at night, using a
directional antenna
at all times. The station is heard around the
Kansas City metropolitan area
, in sections of
Missouri
and
Kansas
. With a good radio, the signal can also be heard in parts of
Iowa
,
Oklahoma
,
Illinois
,
Arkansas
and
Nebraska
. Due to KCMO's low transmitting frequency, plus Kansas's flat terrain and excellent ground conductivity,
[4]
the station has an unusually large daytime coverage area, reaching a population area of nearly 12 million people.
[5]
Programming
[
edit
]
Weekdays begin with a local news and information show hosted by Pete Mundo, followed by a local talk show with Ray Stevens. Nationally
syndicated
conservative talk
shows make up the rest of the weekday schedule. Hosts include
Dan Bongino
,
Ben Shapiro
,
Mark Levin
,
Matt Walsh
,
Red Eye Radio
and
America in The Morning
. KCMO also carries
The Ramsey Show
with
Dave Ramsey
. Weekends feature shows on money, health, religion, cooking, travel and the outdoors, some of which are
brokered programming
.
At various times in its 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. When that service ended in 2020, KCMO returned to hourly updates from Fox.
History
[
edit
]
Early years
[
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]
The station started in 1925 by Wilson Duncan Broadcasting as KWKC on
AM 1370
. In 1936, it changed its
call letters
to KCMO (Kansas City, Missouri). In 1939, it moved to 1450 AM and then 1480 AM in 1941. In November 1947, KCMO moved to
810 AM
, where it stayed for more than half a century.
[6]
During much of that time, KCMO was
affiliated
with the
CBS Radio Network
, carrying its line up of dramas, comedies, news, sports,
soap operas
,
game shows
and
big band
broadcasts during the "
Golden Age of Radio
".
Walter Cronkite
was a sports announcer at the station in 1936 with the on air name of "Walter Wilcox".
[7]
While at KCMO, Cronkite met his wife, Mary Elizabeth Maxwell, and later left to become a reporter for
United Press International
, before becoming a long-time TV anchor for
CBS News
.
Acquisition by Meredith Corp.
[
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]
In 1953, television station KCMO-TV (now
KCTV
) was launched. The
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). In 1955, it switched network affiliations to CBS Radio, swapping network affiliations with
KMBC
, as part of a group deal that Meredith saw a radio and TV affiliation deal with
CBS
in three cities for five stations
[8]
In 1978 Meredith built a new facility for its broadcasting stations in
Fairway, Kansas
. The radio stations were spun off from the television station in 1983, and the TV station changed its call letters to KCTV. (Meredith continued to own KCTV until 2021, when its television stations were acquired by
Gray Television
.) That year, Richard Fairbanks bought both KCMO and KCMO-FM.
The stations were then sold to the Summit Communications Group in 1985, then to the
Gannett Company
in 1986.
Bonneville International
, which already owned rival stations KMBZ (the former KMBC) and KLTH (now
KZPT
), acquired both KCMO stations in 1993.
Sale to Entercom and switch to AM 710
[
edit
]
In 1997, Bonneville sold its entire Kansas City cluster plus three radio stations in
Seattle
to
Entercom Communications
. On October 3, 1997, shortly after Entercom assumed control of the KCMO stations, KCMO swapped frequencies with
WHB
, with KCMO moving to its present-day dial position of
710 AM
and WHB relocating to 810 AM. 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.
[9]
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
KCIY-FM
. The acquisition left Entercom two stations over the FCC's single-market ownership limit.
Cumulus Media
became the owner of both KCMO and its FM
sister station
in 2006 with its acquisition of Susquehanna.
Changes under Cumulus ownership
[
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]
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 others in the building, during a national layoff of Cumulus employees. On September 12, the station began a new morning show, hosted by Chris Stigall. Stigall has since left the station, being replaced by Rob Carson. Carson was later replaced by Gregg Knapp as morning host. Pete Mundo is the latest morning
drive time
personality.
Previous logo
On April 30, 2012, KCMO began simulcasting on FM
translator
103.7
K279BI
via
KCFX-HD2
.
Controversy
[
edit
]
In light of
Michael Savage's controversial remarks concerning Islam
, a group of 70 representatives from various local religious groups including
Christianity
,
Buddhism
,
Judaism
and
Islam
, gathered in a May 2008
interfaith
meeting against alleged
bigotry
and urged KCMO to drop Savage's program.
[10]
Savage's show, "The Savage Nation," was syndicated by
Westwood One
, co-owned with KCMO, and heard afternoons on AM 710.
Notable former hosts
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Facility Technical Data for KCMO"
.
Licensing and Management System
.
Federal Communications Commission
.
- ^
"Contact - KCMO Talk Radio"
.
kcmotalkradio.com
. Retrieved
28 August
2019
.
- ^
"KCMO-AM 710 kHz - Kansas City, Missouri"
.
radio-locator.com
. Retrieved
28 August
2019
.
- ^
"M3 Map of Effective Ground Conductivity in the United States for AM Broadcast Stations"
. 11 December 2015.
- ^
"NASA SEDAC Population Estimator"
.
- ^
"Kansas City's KCMO, WHB and KCXL"
.
fybush.com
. December 2, 2005
. Retrieved
February 13,
2024
.
- ^
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
- ^
"Five Meredith stations become CBS affiliates"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting ? Telecasting
. January 24, 1955. p. 62.
- ^
"KCMO, WHB bring new meaning to the phrase 'changing stations'",
The Kansas City Star
, October 3, 1997.
- ^
Religious group wants KCMO 710-AM to drop Michael Savage’s program
External links
[
edit
]