98.9 FM, Kearney

Through the Years

• 1959

  June, 1959-  KHOL 98.9 FM signs on, licensed to Kearney, NE but with an address in Holdrege, NE at 414 East Avenue.

• 1962

  April, 1962-KHOL FM call letters are changed to KRNY FM.  Studio location is co-located with KHOL TV, Highway 44, 2.5 miles east of Axtell, NE.

• 1964

  Bi-States Company (Wayne Brewster, majority holder)  sells KRNY AM to Radio Kearney (Robert Whitehall, John Payne, J.R. Clodfelter and A.E. Payne) for $60,000.  This sale does not include KRNY FM, the station returning to its former calls of KHOL FM.

• 1965

  October, 1965-Radio Kearney, Inc. buys KHOL FM from Bi-States Company for $25,600.

• 1966

  April, 1966-KHOL FM call letters are changed back to KRNY FM.  The FM is upgraded to 40,000 watts at 1010 feet.  New tower location- about 20 miles east-northeast of Kearney.  KRNY FM programs separately from KRNY AM.

• 1967

  November, 1967- Transfer of control within the company, from J.R. Clodfelter and Alan Oldfather to A.E. Payne and John Payne for $40,000.

• 1969

  September, 1969-KRNY FM and AM are sold by Radio Kearney Inc (John Payne, President) to Semeco Broadcasting (W.O. Corrick and Charles Barber) for $185,000.
  Buyer also owns KICX, McCook where Corrick is the General Manager.  KRNY FM duplicates the AM programming  50%.  Studios/offices move to 403 East 25th Street sometime during the Semeco ownership.

• 1975

  KRNY FM duplicates the AM programming 80%, and goes to  100% in 1976.

• 1986

  July, 1986-Semeco Broadcasting sells KRNY AM & FM to Radio Ingstad Nebraska (Robert E. Ingstad) for $475,000

  KRNY 98.9 FM call letters are changed to KKPR, upgraded to 100,000 watts at 627 feet.  Programming duplicates the AM, oldies format.

  (Note:  to avoid future confusion the KRNY FM calls almost immediately go to a new station signing on at 102.3, 3,000 watts at 300 feet.  Address- 1220 East 26th Street, in Kearney.  Owner- Polly Hayes, General Manager Ruby Hayes.  Transmitter located at W35th and Lakeview Drive in northwest Kearney.  Format- Contemporary Country.)

• 1988

  KKPR separates programming from KKOA, and goes with a CHR format.

• 1992

  November, 1992-Radio Ingstad Nebraska (Robert E. Ingstad) sells to Koehn Radio, Inc (Gene A. Koehn) for $600,000, including KKPR AM (formerly KKOA 1460).  Studios/offices move to 403 East 25th Street around this time.  Koehn also owns KNEN FM in Norfolk, NE.  Craig Eckert, who joined Radio Ingstad Nebraska in March of 1991, stays with Koehn Radio after the sale of the stations.

• 1993

  November, 1993-Koehn Radio, Inc. (Gene A. Koehn) sells KKPR A/F to Platte River Radio, Inc. (David H. Oldfather) for $750,000. Studios/offices move to 403 East 25th Street in Kearney around this time.   Eckert remains General Manager of Platte River Radio.

  Format of KKPR FM remains Oldies.

• 2005

  Platte River Radio acquires KHAS and KICS from Wayne Specht for $650,000.  At the same time, KLIQ FM was purchased from John Mitchell for $750,000.

• 2021

  Platte River Broadcasting sells KXPN/KKPR to Flood Communications (Mike Flood) in a package that includes KICS and KHAS Hastings, and KLIQ Grand Island for $1.6 million, which is a merger involving cash and assets.  The net result is the new entity “Flood Communications Tri-Cities” which now owns KKPR, KHAS KICS, their associated translators as well as KMLF-LD.   Platte River Radio receives $1.08 million for its five stations and three translators.  The ownership percentages are 30% Flood West, 25% Flood Beatrice, and 45% by Platter River Radio, whose investors remain the same.  KLIQ was sold to Flood Omaha for just under $540,000 in a separate transaction.