KKMS (AM)
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| City | Richfield, Minnesota |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Minneapolis-St. Paul |
| Branding | AM 980 The Mission |
| Slogan | Twin Cities Christian Voice |
| Frequency | 980 kHz |
| First air date | October 18, 1949 (as WPBC) |
| Format | Commercial; Christian talk |
| Power | 5,000 watts |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 18518 |
| Callsign meaning | Minneapolis-St. Paul |
| Former callsigns | WPBC (1949-1972) WYOO (1972-1976) WAYL (1976-1982) KKSS (1982-1984) KMFY (1984-1988) WAYL (1988-1990) KMZZ (1990-1993) KRXX (1993-1994) KEGE (1994-12/6/1996) |
| Affiliations | SRN |
| Owner |
Salem Media Group (Common Ground Broadcasting, Inc.) |
| Sister stations | KDIZ, KYCR, WWTC |
| Webcast | Listen Live! |
| Website | am980themission.com |
KKMS (980 AM) is a Salem Communications-owned radio station licensed to Richfield, Minnesota, United States and serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. KKMS' studios and transmitter are located in Eagan.
The station programs a Christian-based religious format primarily featuring ministry personnel and preachers such as John MacArthur, Alistair Begg, James Dobson, J. Vernon McGee and Tom Shrader. Other individuals may also lease air time on the station. Other hosts such as Hank Hanegraaff and Janet Parshall provide more interactive programming. The station produces its own afternoon show, The Word of Truth which is hosted by Pastor Brad Brandon. This show has replaced "KKMS Live! with Jeff and Lee". Several other shows are locally produced, such as Understanding the Times with Jan Markell and The Christian World View with David Wheaton.
After two years of wrangling and obtaining start-up funds, WPBC officially signed on the air on October 18, 1949. The station was owned by the People's Broadcasting Company, founded by former WCCO announcer Bill Stewart and his wife Becky Ann. In contrast to WCCO and KSTP, WPBC carried no network programming, and were live and local all day. The station in the early years played a variety of middle of the road pop music and standards, and was even considered an innovator in the concept of singing jingles.
As they were limited by their then-daytime only license at 980 AM, they started up WPBC-FM at 101.3 MHz in August 1959, simulcasting the AM station.
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