KWPC
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| City | Muscatine, Iowa |
|---|---|
| Branding | AM 860 KWPC |
| Slogan | The Voice of Muscatine |
| Frequency | 860 kHz |
| Translator(s) | 95.1 K236CF (Muscatine) |
| First air date | January 6, 1947 |
| Format | Farm, Classic Country |
| Power | 250 watts (daytime) 8 watts (nighttime) |
| Class | D |
| Facility ID | 47085 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°26′34″N 91°04′33″W / 41.44278°N 91.07583°W |
| Callsign meaning | Keep Watching Port City |
| Affiliations | WestwoodOne News, Radio Iowa, Learfield Sports, AgriTalk, Brownfield Network |
| Owner | Prairie Radio Communications (WPW Broadcasting) |
| Sister stations | KMCS, KCLN, KMCN, WMOI, WRAM, WAIK, WCDD, WBYS, WSLD |
| Webcast | Listen LIVE |
| Website | KWPC AM website |
KWPC (860 AM) is a commercial radio station serving the Muscatine, Iowa area. The station broadcasts a Farm format by day, with classic country music at night. The station airs regular news, weather and sports coverage. KWPC is owned by Prairie Radio Communications, which also owns stations in Illinois and Wisconsin.
The studio, transmitter, and broadcast tower are located at 3218 Mulberry Avenue in northwest Muscatine, behind Muscatine High School. The tower is 108 m (354 ft) tall. KWPC shares its tower with sister FM station KMCS.
Charles Henderson was the original owner of the land that was to become Muscatine’s KWPC Radio. During the 1940s this portion of Mulberry Avenue was a gravel road extension and considered to be located just outside the city. The property was a working farm with grazing livestock. “Charlie” Henderson, who also owned an automobile dealership in Muscatine. In 1946 Henderson gave his daughter Thelma and her new husband George J. Volger the land and financial backing to start the radio station. Cattle continued to roam the land around the station’s tower well into the 1970s and KWPC still occupies the original farmhouse today.
Both George and Thelma were Muscatine natives. George, born in 1914, was the son of a local jeweler. Following graduation from the University of Iowa, he traveled with Roy Rogers and the “Son’s of the Pioneers” as a Public Relations agent. He began his career in “broadcast” with what was known early on as the “Red and Blue” Television Network. Eventually, the “Red” Network became the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and the “Blue” Network became the “American Broadcasting Company (ABC). Over the years Roy Rogers frequently visited Volger at the radio station.
The planning for a new AM radio station in Muscatine began during the mid-1940s. Radio signals broadcast in the AM Band (Amplitude Modulation) can travel hundreds, or even thousands, of miles. Part of the duties of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) includes protecting the “signal coverage” of each station to ensure that no other broadcast station interferes in the station's licensed coverage area. By the mid-1940s many AM licenses had already been issued and it was difficult to find a frequency for Muscatine that would not cause interference. The solution was found by sharing a common frequency with a station licensed in Ontario, Canada which was licensed to operate using high-power (50,000 watts) from sunset to sunrise. The terminology used is "clear-channel station". In 1946, through a special treaty coordinated between the licensing authorities of the United States and Canada, the frequency 860 AM was assigned to Muscatine with the restrictions of a maximum power of 250 watts and operation only between the hours of sunrise to sunset. Although KWPC did eventually receive permission to broadcast 24 hours a day (a provision added for national security reasons), the transmitter power is not permitted to exceed 7 watts after sunset, and that is why the signal strength changes so noticeably at night.
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