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KWSN (1230 AM "FOX Sports Sioux Falls") 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 ...
carrying a
sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...
format with
Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an American sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports division and iHeartMedia, parent company ...
programming. The station serves the
Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up ...
, area. It was acquired by
Midwest Communications Midwest Communications is a Wausau, Wisconsin-based radio broadcasting company. It owns 82 radio stations located primarily within the Midwest United States, in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Illinois and ...
, Inc. in 2012. This station is also aired on a translator, K251BH, at 98.1 FM.


History


Early years

KDAK, Inc., obtained a construction permit for a new radio station on 1230 kHz in Sioux Falls on November 13, 1947. It could not use the call letters KDAK, as they were assigned to a ship at sea; the new station therefore took the call letters KISD. It had to wait for its dial position to open up: KELO was in the process of moving from 1230 to 1320 kHz as part of a power increase. On May 2, 1948, KELO moved to 1320, and KISD debuted that same moment, using KELO's old tower site and facilities. Together with KIHO (1270 AM), which started on May 28, the two new outlets brought Sioux Falls to a total of four stations. After filing for increased power in 1959, the FCC granted a daytime power increase to 1,000 watts in October 1961. The boost became effective on March 5, 1962; at the same time, the station picked up the
Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...
, which had lost its affiliate in Sioux Falls the year before as the result of the sale of KIHO to Northwestern College and its transformation into a Christian radio station. It was the first network affiliation for KISD since its 13-month-long hookup with the short-lived
Liberty Broadcasting System The Liberty Broadcasting System was a U.S. radio network of the late 1940s and early 1950s founded by Gordon McLendon, which mainly broadcast live recreations of Major League Baseball games, by following the action via Western Union ticker reports. ...
in the early 1950s.


Rock 'n' roll

Verl Thomson, who had founded the station in 1948, sold it in 1966 to a group majority-owned by
William F. Buckley, Jr. William Frank Buckley Jr. (born William Francis Buckley; November 24, 1925 – February 27, 2008) was an American public intellectual, conservative author and political commentator. In 1955, he founded ''National Review'', the magazine that stim ...
, publisher of the ''
National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...
''; Buckley and business partner Peter Starr also owned the KOWH stations in
Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...
. KISD's studios offices were relocated from a site on the edge of town back to downtown; Thomson remained involved with the station by broadcasting editorials but sold KISD in order to focus on his other businesses, a tourist camp and the Sioux Chief Train Motel comprising retired Pullman sleeping cars. The station's tower collapsed in 1968 when a boom attached to a sign truck snagged overhead
guy wire A guy-wire, guy-line, guy-rope, or stay, also called simply a guy, is a tensioned cable designed to add stability to a free-standing structure. They are used commonly for ship masts, radio masts, wind turbines, utility poles, and tents. A thi ...
s supporting the mast. The tower, still on Verl Thomson's property, narrowly missed the train motel as it fell. While Buckley and Starr changed the music format to contemporary, KISD's opposition to the establishment of new stations in the Sioux Falls area on economic grounds continued from former ownership. In 1963, under Thomson, KISD lodged a complaint against the Sioux Empire Broadcasting Company, which proposed to build a new station at 1520 kHz; despite a favorable ruling for the proposed station, KISD continued to object. In April 1970, more than eight years after the group had filed, the FCC granted final approval for what would become KCHF. Starr sold KISD to Stanley Deck, who owned KDIX radio and television in
Dickinson, North Dakota Dickinson is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 25,679 at the 2020 census. Dickinson is home to the Ukrainian Cultural Institute, which has a museum and holds events year round for the ...
, for $700,000 in 1971.


KKRC and KYKC

Another North Dakota firm acquired KISD in 1977: Red River Valley Broadcasting, owned by Tom Ingstad, making its first purchase in the state of South Dakota. After the sale closed, the station changed its format to adult contemporary; on May 18, the call letters officially changed to KKRC, the first change in 30 years of broadcasting. The entire air staff was replaced and the station relocated to new studios; on the first day, the newly renamed KKRC partnered with a local gas station to sell gas for 12.3 cents per gallon, reflecting its frequency. The adult contemporary format made KKRC the fourth-rated radio station in Sioux Falls in 1980 and 1981, of a total of nine outlets. In 1980, Ingstad acquired KLYX-FM 93.5 and relaunched it as adult contemporary station KKRZ. As a result of low ratings, both stations changed formats on January 1, 1982; the FM became Top 40 KKRC-FM, inheriting the former AM sound, while the AM flipped to country. Initially seeking the call letters KXXS, an objection by competitor KXRB forced a change to KYKC (for "kicks"). Ingstad sold six stations—AM-FM combos in Sioux Falls,
Grand Forks, North Dakota Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...
, and
La Crosse, Wisconsin La Crosse is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population as of the 2020 census w ...
—to Vaughn's Inc. for $8 million in 1985. While KKRC-FM became the number-one radio station in the market, KYKC found itself at the bottom; in a report on that year's radio ratings, station manager Paul Logan noted that "we will be looking at that". On December 31, 1987, after 18 hours of stunting, KYKC threw out its country format—the records filled two garbage bins—and flipped to oldies as KKFN, "Sioux Falls' Fun Spot", playing much of the same music it would have decades earlier as KISD.


KWSN

KKFN and KKRC-FM were bought by the XMT Radio Group of
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 ...
, in 1990 for $1.5 million. Major changes followed at both. KKRC-FM became classic rock KRRO on a new frequency at higher power; KKFN flipped to talk as KWSN (for "weather, sports and news") and picked up the programs of
Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program ...
and
Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of '' The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM r ...
. A 1994 sale attempt to sell KWSN and KRRO to Radio One of
Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...
, failed. SFR, Inc., acquired the stations in 1994 and sold them to Midcontinent Radio of South Dakota for $3 million in 1996; this sale brought them under common control with KELO-AM-FM and saw them move into the KELO radio studios. KWSN remained a news-talk outlet until July 2000, when Midco opted to establish KELO AM as its news-talk station and move KWSN to a strictly sports format. After a 52-year history in Sioux Falls radio, Midcontinent sold all of its stations, including KWSN, to Backyard Broadcasting of Baltimore in 2004. It marked the company's exit from broadcasting, having sold off
KELO-TV KELO-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States, affiliated with CBS and MyNetworkTV. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, and maintains studios on Phillips Avenue in downtown Sioux Falls; its tran ...
in 1996. Backyard sold its seven Sioux Falls stations in 2012 to their present owner,
Midwest Communications Midwest Communications is a Wausau, Wisconsin-based radio broadcasting company. It owns 82 radio stations located primarily within the Midwest United States, in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Illinois and ...
, in a $13.35 million transaction.


References


External links


KWSN official website
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FCC History Cards for KWSN
{{coord, 43, 27, 28, N, 96, 40, 14, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title WSN Fox Sports Radio stations Radio stations established in 1948 Midwest Communications radio stations 1948 establishments in South Dakota