94.1 FM, Omaha

Through the Years

• 1959

  April 19, 1959-  Station sign on as KQAL, 94.3 FM.  Power is 1,000 watts at 230 feet.  located at 405 South 16th Street, City National Bank Building, with the tower atop the building.

  August, 1959-  Frequency moves to 94.1 FM with a permit to increase power to 69,000 watts.

• 1961

  November, 1961- Station is the first Omaha FM to go stereo.

• 1962

  Station is sold to William H Buckley, owner of The National Review. 

  Studios and offices move to Buckley’s KMEO AM 660 transmitter site at 60th & Hartman in Omaha.  The FM tower, however, remains downtown on the City National Bank Building.

• 1964

  Full day programming schedule is adopted starting at 7 a.m.

• 1965

  Call letters are changed to KOWH FM.  The format is adjusted to full orchestra and strings, simulcast on the AM.  Peter Starr is general manager.

• 1966

  Transmitter is moved to the 60th & Hartman site with a power increase to 100,000 watts at 510 feet.

  William Buckley sells one-third ownership to Peter Starr to form Starr Broadcasting.

• 1967

  June, 1967-  A lightning strike reduces power for much of the summer then silences the station for weeks during repairs.

  Studios/offices are moved to Prom Town House motel and restaurant complex at 70th & Dodge, Omaha.

  October, 1967- Seeking listener funded support, station falls far short of the $12,000 goal.  The format flips to Country simulcast from its co-owned KOZN 660 AM to 2 p.m. then airs Progressive Rock as  Radio Free Omaha for the remainder of the day and evening.  Rick Stewart is the program director.

• 1970

  Station format flips to Soul. Program Director is Buddy King.

• 1971

  Station is sold to Reconciliation Broadcasting for $375,000 including co-owned 660 AM KOWH.  Reconciliation owners included Omaha natives and sports figures Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals and Bob Boozer of the Seattle Sonics.  Reconciliation President Rodney Wead is the General Manager.

  Studios/offices are moved to 3910 Harney St, Omaha.

• 1977

  April, 1977-  station upgrades power to 100,000 watts.

• 1979

  94.1 is sold to Great Empire Broadcasting, Wichita, KS for $1.05 million.

  April, 1979-  Call letters are changed to KYNN FM for Country Kin.

  Studios move to co-owned 1490 AM KYNN at 3615 Dodge Street.  Ken Fearnow is the General Manager.

• 1980

  Studios/offices move to 615 North 90th, near Dodge St., Omaha.

• 1983

  Co-owned KYNN 1490 is spun off upon Great Empire’s purchase of WOW 590 AM.  Call letters are changed to WOW-FM.  Transmitter remains at 60th & Hartman with a monthly rental paid to the new AM 660 owners, S&M Broadcasting, Indianapolis, IN.

• 1989

  Transmitter site is moved to the station’s newly-built 1191-foot tower at Nroth 72nd and Crown Point adjacent to the television tower farm.

• 1991

  Country music’s popularity wave puts station to #1 12+ in the Spring Arbitron ratings.

• 1994

  Studios/offices are moved to a brand new building at the tower site at 5002 N. 72nd Street.

• 1999

  Station is sold to Journal Broadcasting as part of Great Empire’s multi-station group for $98.5 million.

  General Manager Jim McKernan adjusts Country format to “modern music-intensive.”

• 2000

  October, 2000-Call letters are changed to KSSO for Kiss Country Omaha.  WOW call letters are lost to history.

• 2001

  Call letters are changed to KMXM for Maximum Country after Clear Channel (iHeart) claims trademark infringement on its “Kiss” identity.

• 2002

  May 3, 2002-  Country music format is ended, and flips to a rhythmic-leaning Top 40 format, moving over from 97.7 FM and was launched as “Channel 94.1”.  Call letters are changed to KQCH.

• 2014

  July 30, 2014- Journal Communications and the E.W. Scripps Company announced that the two companies would merge to create a new broadcast company under the E.W. Scripps Company name that owned the two companies’ properties, including KQCH.

• 2015

  The transaction of E.W. Scripps and Journal was completed in 2015.

• 2018

  November 1, 2018-  Scripps exited radio and KQCH and its sister stations went to Summit Media in a four-market $47 million deal.