KWEN (95.5 FM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

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 radi ...

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

. The station is owned by

Cox Media Group CMG Media Corporation ( doing business as Cox Media Group) is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company pri ...

and airs 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, ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...

. The studios and offices are on Memorial Drive in Tulsa. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...

is on Route 97 in Sand Springs.

History

In 1961, the station first

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...

as KRMG-FM, the FM counterpart of

KRMG KRMG may refer to: *KRMG (AM), a radio station (740 AM) licensed to Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States *KRMG-FM, a radio station (102.3 FM) licensed to Sand Springs, Oklahoma, United States *Richard B. Russell Airport, an airport in Rome, Georgia, Unit ...

, owned by Swanco Broadcasting, and simulcasting the AM station's programming. At first, it broadcast at only 2,950

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

s. A few years later, KRMG-FM began airing a

beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator mu ...

format, and in the mid-1970s, changed its

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assign ...

to KWEN. Swanco also owned the similarly-formatted

KKNG KKNG-FM (97.3 FM) is a radio station licensed to Blanchard, Oklahoma, serving the Oklahoma City Metroplex. It is owned by Stanton Nelson, through licensee WPA Radio LLC. KKNG-FM carries a religious talk and information radio format focusing on C ...

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

. The two FM sister stations were branded as the "King and Queen of Oklahoma," as the KWEN call letters were meant to suggest "Queen", while KKNG was "King." In the mid-1970s, KWEN's

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would h ...

was boosted to 100,000

s, though the tower was still only 300 feet in

height above average terrain Height above average terrain (HAAT), or (less popularly) effective height above average terrain (EHAAT), is the vertical position of an antenna site is above the surrounding landscape. HAAT is used extensively in FM radio and television, as it i ...

. In 1977, the station was sold to Curtis Communications. In August 1978, the station changed formats to Top 40, and quickly came to dominate the market. In 1981, KWEN changed hands again, this time going to Katz Broadcasting. Katz flipped the station to

. That put it in competition with KTFX (now co-owned

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prima ...

KJSR KJSR (103.3 FM, "103.3 The Eagle") is an American classic rock formatted radio station licensed to serve the community in the surveyed area of Greater Tulsa. The facility is owned by Cox Media Group and the broadcast license is held by Cox Ra ...

) and AM country leader 1170 KVOO. As country music listening shifted from AM to FM, KWEN became Tulsa's top country outlet, forcing KVOO to switch to the FM dial at

98.5 FM The following radio stations broadcast on FM frequency 98.5 MHz: Argentina * 985 radio in Punta Alta, Buenos Aires * Cielo in San Bernardo, Buenos Aires * Meridiano in Coronel Charlone, Córdoba * Momentos in Grutly, Santa Fe * Orfeo in C� ...

. In 1986, Katz Broadcasting was acquired by Newcity Communications. The following year, Newcity acquired KRMG, putting the two stations back under common ownership. It was also during the 1980s that KWEN got a boost in its antenna height, broadcasting from a tower more than 1,300 feet tall, with a signal stretching from the border of

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

to the suburbs of Oklahoma City. In 1997,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

-based Cox Media acquired KWEN and KRMG. Cox eventually added three other FM stations and two TV stations to its Tulsa roster.

HD Radio

KWEN broadcasts in the HD Radio digital format. KWEN aired a Contemporary Christian music format on its HD2 subchannel, branded as "Spirit 105.7", which was also simulcast on FM translator K289CC (105.7 MHz). On January 19, 2018, KWEN-HD2 changed the format to active rock, branded as "105.7 The Bone". On December 11, 2020, K289CC switched from active rock to business news, branded as "Success 105.7", and began simulcasting KWEN-HD4.A Bone-less Recipe For Success in Tulsa
Radioinsight - December 11, 2020 The HD3 and HD4 have since been de-activated, resulting in the business news format moving to HD2.

Translators

References

External links

* * * * {{COXMG WEN Cox Media Group Radio stations established in 1961 1961 establishments in Oklahoma