KKOW (AM)
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| City | Pittsburg, Kansas |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area |
Southeast Kansas Joplin, Missouri Miami, Oklahoma |
| Branding | 860 AM KKOW |
| Slogan | Classic Country! |
| Frequency | 860 kHz |
| First air date | October 11, 1937 |
| Format | Farm/Classic Country |
| Power | 10,000 watts daytime 5,000 watts nighttime |
| Class | B |
| Former callsigns | KOAM (1937-1981) |
| Owner | American Media Investments |
| Website | www.kkowradio.com |
KKOW is a radio station in Pittsburg, Kansas. It broadcasts classic country music. KKOW broadcasts on the frequency of 860 kHz. 860 AM is a Canadian clear-channel frequency, on which CJBC in Toronto is the dominant Class A station.
It began on October 11, 1937 as KOAM, owned by E. Victor Baxter and Lester L. Cox on 790 kc. It later moved to 810 kc.. It traded off 810 kHz with KCMO (AM) in Kansas City, Missouri (now on 710 kHz) for its current location on 860 kHz.
KOAM originally was an NBC affiliate, carrying programming from both the Red and Blue networks. Cox and Baxter also founded KOAM-TV in 1953, an NBC affiliate carrying secondary affiliations with CBS, ABC, and DuMont.
By the end of the 1970s, KOAM adopted a country music format.
It was sold to American Media Investments on May 11, 1981 . Due to the ownership split of KOAM AM-FM from KOAM-TV, its callsign changed from KOAM to KKOW on May 18, 1981.
Bridging KOAM with KKOW, Dan Willis hosted the morning slot 6 days a week from 1964-2004, administering the Community Calendar (reading obituaries and local events), the morning polka (7:30 daily with birthday dedications, sponsored by Grimaldi's Cash Grain feedstore in Pittsburg), farm commodity reports, and "Trading Post", a live call-in show for individual buyers and sellers at 9:00). Willis also oversaw many of the live remote broadcasts and emceed events, and he promoted an annual drive to buy Christmas gifts for developmentally-disabled children that were patients in a local care facility.
At its peak in the mid-1980s, KKOW was known in the Pittsburg, Kansas/Joplin, Missouri-area for gimmicks such as 30/30 news and 20/20 weather, the daily Grand Lake fishing report with elderly Oklahoma fisherman/storyteller Lee Jeffries, the giant fiberglass cow on a trailer for remote broadcasts (Burford the Hereford), and the K-Cowboy of the Day. KKOW also sponsored the "Four-State Farm Show" yearly at Pittsburg, and covering the annual Little Balkan Days Celebration.
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