KWKY
| City | Des Moines, Iowa |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | |
| Branding | Connecting Listeners with Christ |
| Slogan | Teach, Defend, Evangelize |
| Frequency | 1150 kHz |
| Translator(s) | 94.5 K233BT (Des Moines) |
| First air date | 1948 |
| Format | Catholic |
| Power | 2,500 watts day 1,000 watts night |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 49099 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°27′09″N 93°40′52″W / 41.45250°N 93.68111°W |
| Affiliations | EWTN, Ave Maria Radio, Westwood One |
| Owner | Saint Gabriel Communications. |
| Webcast | listen live |
| Website | kwky.com |
KWKY (1150 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Talk/Personality format to the Des Moines, Iowa, United States, area. The station is owned by Saint Gabriel Communications and features programming from EWTN, Ave Maria Radio and Westwood One. The station is also broadcasting on translator K233BT 94.5 FM in Des Moines.
KWDM signed on the airwaves at 1150 in 1948. The station was part of a trio of new stations that signed on that year in Des Moines which included KIOA and KCBC. The owner of KWDM, George Webber had an extensive musical library and KWDM was known for its eclectic mix of international music not heard elsewhere in Des Moines and talk shows. The station was never a huge ratings success, but had a devoted and loyal following of people who enjoyed their programming. In 1959 Mr. Webber sold the station to 3M. He would later bring KWDM back on the air at 93.3 in 1964. The call letters stood for "Keep Watching Des Moines".
Once 3M completed their purchase of KWDM the switched the call letters to KWKY. They then engaged in 48 hours of stunting by playing Earl Brown's record Pachalafaka for the entirety of the stunt with a countdown to "Quickie" and the legal ID of "KWDM Des Moines" inserted in between the song. They also when as far as attempting to purchase air time on KSO and KIOA to announce that "Quickie is coming". Once the stunting was done, KWKY was introduced as Quickie 1150 and was sporting a Top 40 format. Going up against two well established Top 40 stations with much stronger signals and a larger coverage area was not a successful decision, and by 1960 the station adopted a Middle of the Road format similar to KCBC. By 1961 they tried the Top 40 format again with similar results to the first attempt.
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