KGYM (1600 AM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

broadcasting in

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...

. The station is owned by KZIA, Inc., which also owns

KZIA KZIA, known as "Z 102.9", is a radio station based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It has a Top 40 (CHR) format entirely staffed with local personalities, including morning DJs Eric Hanson, Clare, and Destiny, known as “The Morning Scramble.” The st ...

(102.9 FM). It is Cedar Rapids' second-oldest radio station, after WMT. KGYM does not broadcast a digital HD signal on its AM frequency of 1600 kHz, but it can be heard in HD on

-HD3.

History

KGYM signed on as KCRG on December 20, 1947, under the ownership of the

Cedar Rapids Gazette ''The Gazette'' is a daily print newspaper and online news source published in the American city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The first paper was published as an evening journal, branded the ''Evening Gazette'', on Wednesday, January 10, 1883. The new ...

Company (later known as Gazette Communications). The Gazette Company had launched Cedar Rapids' first FM station, KCRK-FM 96.1, a month earlier and had applied for a construction permit for a television station on channel 9 that year. (KCRK-FM signed off in 1954 as FM radio was still in its infancy and the station proved to be unprofitable.) In 1953, the Gazette Company consolidated its interests with the Cedar Rapids Television Company, another group interested in the channel 9 license, and in October 1953 the call letters of the radio and television stations were changed to KCRI. After the Gazette Company bought out the Cedar Rapids Television Company's stock on August 27, 1954, the KCRG call letters were restored to both the AM and TV stations. KCRG was formerly an

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

station until 1984 when it switched its format into a big band/ adult standards format. The station returned back to adult contemporary in January 1987, but flipped to

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

two years later in 1989. During the early 1990s, KCRG was a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

station, and it later adopted a

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

format. By 2000 the station had moved to its current sports talk format but continued to simulcast

KCRG-TV KCRG-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States, serving Eastern Iowa as an affiliate of ABC, MyNetworkTV, and The CW. Owned by Gray Television, the station has studios on Second Avenue Southeast in do ...

's newscasts and ABC's '' World News Tonight'' for radio listeners. KCRG radio adopted the nickname "The Zone" in 2003. On July 10, 2006, Gazette Communications announced that KCRG was being sold to owners of another local broadcaster,

FM 102.9, subject to FCC approval. The sale was finalized on October 31, 2006, and the call letters were changed to KGYM as a result of the sale. After the acquisition, KGYM ended its

simulcasting Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

of KCRG-TV's newscasts, and KGYM's studios moved from downtown Cedar Rapids to KZIA's studios on the city's southwest side.

Programming

KGYM currently broadcasts

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...

programming along with

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

sports, college basketball and the NFL from

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and ...

, the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

baseball on 107.5 FM and area high school football and basketball games. It also carried

Cedar Rapids Kernels The Cedar Rapids Kernels are Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and play their home games at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The Kernels are owned ...

games before sharing rights with

KMRY KMRY (1450 AM, "Classic KMRY") is a radio station licensed to serve Cedar Rapids, Iowa, owned by Sellers Broadcasting, Inc. The station was assigned the KMRY call letters by the Federal Communications Commission on November 21, 1988. Awards I ...

, another Cedar Rapids radio station, during the 2006 season. Kernels games moved exclusively to KMRY starting in 2007. Local talk shows include ''The Gym Class'' hosted by KGYM sports director Scott Unash and former

sports editor Mark Dukes, and ''The Todd Brommelkamp Show with Alex Kuhn'' hosted by Voice of the Hawkeyes magazine editor Todd Brommelkamp and St. Louis native Alex Kuhn. "Spencer on Sports" was added in early 2022, hosted by Spencer Wagen.

Translators

References

External links

FCC History Cards for KGYMKGYM website
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kgym Sports radio stations in the United States GYM (AM) Mass media in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in Iowa