WKBF was 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 ...
licensed to
Rock Island, Illinois
Rock Island is a city in and the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The original Rock Island, from which the city name is derived, is now called Rock Island Arsenal, Arsenal Island. The popul ...
, which last carried a
regional Mexican
Regional Mexican is a Latin music radio format encompassing the musical genres from the different parts of rural Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Genres include banda, country en español, Duranguense, grupero, mariachi, New Mexico ...
format. The station's frequency was 1270 kHz, and was broadcast at a power of 5 kW. It last broadcast in Autumn 2018, and its license was cancelled on June 1, 2020. Its transmitter was located on 22nd Avenue (Old Colona Road) in
Moline, alongside the Moline–
East Moline border just off 53rd Street and Avenue of the Cities.
Station history
Early history
The history of the station dates to 1925, when businessman Calvin Beardsley purchased an experimental radio transmitter that operated in
Cambridge, Illinois
Cambridge is a village in Henry County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,160 at the 2010 census, down from 2,180 in 2000. It is the county seat of Henry County.
History
Before 1843, the land where Cambridge is currently located was ...
. He took the equipment and set it up at the rear of his store in Rock Island.
The station was first licensed on February 20, 1925, with the
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 assigne ...
WHBF and broadcasting 100 watts at 1350
kHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...
.
[History Cards for WKBF](_blank)
fcc.gov. Retrieved May 27, 2018. The call letters were randomly assigned from a sequential roster of available call signs, however, they were said to stand for "Where Historic Blackhawk Fought".
The station changed frequency to 1210 kHz in November 1928,
and moved to the Harms Hotel in Rock Island in 1932. In November of that year, Beardsley sold interest in his station to the John Potter family, which operated the ''
Rock Island Argus
''The Dispatch–Argus'' is a daily morning newspaper in East Moline, Illinois and circulated primarily throughout the Illinois side of the Quad Cities — Moline, East Moline, Rock Island and Rock Island County, but also for sale in retail esta ...
''. In 1939, the station changed frequency to 1240 kHz, and increased power to 1,000 watts, 24 hours a day, with a directional array at night.
In 1940, the station's power was increased to 5,000, with a directional array, day and night, and in
1941
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...
, the station changed frequency to 1270 kHz,
where it remained for the balance of its existence.
WHBF was joined by a sister
FM radio station -
WHBF-FM, the first in the
Quad Cities
The Quad Cities is a region of cities (originally four, see History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport and Bettendorf in southeastern Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in northwestern Illinois. These cities are t ...
- in October 1947, and a
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
station went on the air in July 1950. By now, all three facilities were located in the Telco Building in downtown Rock Island.
WHBF underwent many format changes since the end of the
Golden Age of Radio
The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment, entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcastin ...
. During the 1960s and early 1970s the station aired a
middle-of-the-road,
adult standards format.
1974-1995: 'Country Sunshine' era
The station's signature format for many years was
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, ...
; from 1974 to 1995, the station was known as "Country Sunshine Radio", and aired both current and
classic country
Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades.
Repertoire
The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on innov ...
music.
WHBF first adopted the country format in 1974, and for years was among the top-rated stations in the
Quad Cities
The Quad Cities is a region of cities (originally four, see History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport and Bettendorf in southeastern Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in northwestern Illinois. These cities are t ...
market, alongside powerhouses
KSTT and
KIIK.
But by the mid-1980s, amid the explosive growth of FM radio, WHBF's listenership began to wane. WLLR-FM, which began broadcasting its country format at the Quad-Cities market's
101.3 MHz in 1983, began to erode WHBF's listenership, and by the end of the 1980s, WLLR was the overall top-rated overall station in the market. Meanwhile, 1270 kHz - which changed its callsign to WKBF in March 1987
- would never regain its former popularity.
WKBF's country format struggled through the early 1990s, getting most of its programming from the
Satellite Music Network
Satellite Music Network was the first satellite delivered network to provide complete live 24-hour-a-day music programming to local stations, under several different formats.
History
Affiliate stations, mostly in small and medium markets, co ...
's "
Real Country
Real Country is a 24-hour radio format produced by Westwood One. Real Country is marketed at the demographic of men aged 35 to 64. Its programming consists of a fairly broad playlist of "Today's Stars and the Legends." Classic country is the st ...
" satellite service. In 1994, management was in negotiations with Steve Bridges of
KFMH
KFMH (101.9 FM, "Kool 101.9") is a radio station licensed to serve Belle Fourche, South Dakota. The station serves Rapid City, South Dakota, with an on-channel broadcast booster licensed as KFMH-FM1. The station is owned by Oregon Trail Broadcas ...
to move its progressive music format and its staff to 1270 after that station was sold, but nothing ever came of it. By 1995, with WKBF at the bottom of the ratings for several years, station managers finally decided to lay the country station to rest.
Format shuffle
For a year, WKBF simulcasted
WHTS-FM's
Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...
format.
In September 1996, the station flipped to
adult standards/
MOR format,
although virtually all of its programming was from
ABC Radio Networks ABC Radio may refer to:
Australia
* History of ABC Radio (Australia), the division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) responsible for:
** ABC Classic, a classical music radio station
** ABC Classic 2, an un-presented streaming-only c ...
. However, this format's listenership remained minimal.
In February 2004, programmers with the
Quad City Radio Group - which by now was
operating the station - decided to use the frequency for a
country recurrents format. WKBF played country favorites from the 1970s through 1990s, but the station's format failed to entice listeners.
WKBF's next format - a
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
talk
Talk may refer to:
Communication
* Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people
* Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people
* Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct
...
format - debuted on the frequency in March 2005. The station's primary programming came from
Air America Radio
Air America (formerly Air America Radio and Air America Media) was an radio in the United States, American radio network specializing in progressive talk radio. It was on the air from March 2004 to January 2010.
The network was founded as a left ...
,
with hosts including
Al Franken
Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American comedian, politician, media personality, and author who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. He gained fame as a writer and performer on the television comed ...
,
Stephanie Miller
Stephanie Catherine Miller (born September 29, 1961) is an American political commentator, comedian, and host of '' The Stephanie Miller Show'', a Progressive talk radio program produced in Los Angeles, California, by WYD Media Management and s ...
and
Mark Riley. Despite all the format changes, one carryover program remained: "Croonerville", a Sunday morning program of
adult standards hosted by local personality Charlie Honold;
the program premiered on WKBF in 1996 and ran for 10 years. The switch to progressive talk provided a modest boost to WKBF's ratings, reaching a 2.6 share in the fall 2005
Arbitron
Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...
ratings report for the Quad Cities market.
2006-2007: Christian talk era
Prior to 2006, WKBF, and sister station
WHTS
WHTS (105.3 FM), licensed to Coopersville, Michigan, is a Top 40 (CHR) radio station in the Grand Rapids, Michigan market. WHTS is owned and operated by Cumulus Media and transmits with an ERP of 20,000 watts. It is heard as far north as Tusti ...
, were owned by Mercury Broadcasting and operated by a
joint sales agreement
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or time ...
with
Clear Channel Communications
iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...
.
In October 2006, it was announced the station would be acquired by Quad Cities Media, for a purchase price of $150,000 and would go
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
talk by the end of the year.
[Burke, David.]
WKBF goes Christian talk
, ''Quad-City Times
The ''Quad-City Times'' is a daily morning newspaper based in Davenport, Iowa, and circulated throughout the Quad Cities metropolitan area ( Davenport, Bettendorf and Scott County in Iowa; and Moline, East Moline, Rock Island and Rock Isla ...
'', October 20, 2006. Retrieved May 27, 2018. On December 5, the station switched to an all-Christmas format, the prelude to a Christian-oriented station. Known as "Truth 1270," the primary focus was on Christian preaching and teaching; sacred music was provided by
AbidingRadio at night and early morning.
During the "Truth 1270" era, WKBF became the Quad City market's first radio station to go digital, with the
CAM-D technology.
2007-2018: Regional Mexican era
On June 22, 2007, after airing a 100-year-old recording of
Ira Sankey
Ira David Sankey (August 28, 1840 – August 13, 1908) was an American gospel singer and composer, known for his long association with Dwight L. Moody in a series of religious revival campaigns in America and Britain during the closing decades ...
singing "God Be With You Till We Meet Again", WKBF flipped to "La Pantera", a regional Mexican format,
[Burke, David.]
WKBF radio flips to Spanish format
, ''Quad-City Times
The ''Quad-City Times'' is a daily morning newspaper based in Davenport, Iowa, and circulated throughout the Quad Cities metropolitan area ( Davenport, Bettendorf and Scott County in Iowa; and Moline, East Moline, Rock Island and Rock Isla ...
'', June 22, 2007. Retrieved May 28, 2018. thus becoming the first full-time Spanish radio station in the Quad Cities. While most of the broadcast day featured regional Mexican music, in the mornings, from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., WKBF broadcast Spanish religious programming like ''Gracias a Vosotros'' and ''Enfoque a la Familia''.
During 2007, WKBF broadcast
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
and
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 broadcasts, and
Quad Cities River Bandits
The Quad Cities River Bandits are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Their home games are played at Modern Woodmen Park (formerly John O'Donnell Stadium) in Davenport, Iowa, one ...
baseball games in the English language, alongside its Spanish-language programming; the sports programming has since moved to other stations in the market.
From March through June 2008, WKBF dropped Regional Mexican for all-Christian Spanish programming from the
Bible Broadcasting Network
The Bible Broadcasting Network (BBN) is a listener-supported global Conservative Christian radio network staffed and headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was founded in 1971 by Lowell Davey, who was the network's president until his dea ...
's Spanish network ''Red de Radiodifusión Bíblica''.
In June 2008, WKBF was sold to La Jefa Latino Broadcasting,
[Burke, David.]
WKBF-AM radio sold to Hispanic broadcasters
, ''Quad-City Times
The ''Quad-City Times'' is a daily morning newspaper based in Davenport, Iowa, and circulated throughout the Quad Cities metropolitan area ( Davenport, Bettendorf and Scott County in Iowa; and Moline, East Moline, Rock Island and Rock Isla ...
'', June 18, 2008. Retrieved May 28, 2018. for a purchase price of $680,000. La Jefa continued the Regional Mexican format, under the "La Jefa" brand as opposed to the "La Pantera" brand. By January 2010, WKBF was the 2nd-most-listened-to AM station in the entire Quad Cities market with a 1.9 share.
In early 2013, WKBF – which had been broadcasting on an
FM translator
Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...
at 105.7
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...
in the Quad Cities, applied to the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
to move the transmitter from
Davenport to
Moline and upgrade its power from 10 watts to 250 watts.
End of operations
In the fall of 2018, the 105.7 FM translator frequency (along with 1270 AM) went silent; that December, announcement of the sale of the FM translator to
Augustana College was made, with plans to relocate the transmitter and use it as the repeater for
WVIK
WVIK (90.3 FM) is the flagship National Public Radio station for the Quad Cities region of eastern Iowa and northwest Illinois. It is based in Rock Island, Illinois, and licensed to and owned by Augustana College. The studios are located on Au ...
's forthcoming HD2 programming. Augustana College and WVIK formally announced plans to launch the new station on both 90.3-HD2 (the station's hybrid digital frequency) and the translator at 105.7 FM beginning October 1, 2019.
Meanwhile, nothing was publicly announced about the status of 1270 AM or its future, or why the frequency has been silent. However, one of the transmitter towers was demolished on January 14, 2020, and the second tower was demolished eight days later. WKBF's license was officially cancelled by the
FCC
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdictio ...
on June 1, 2020.
History of call letters
The call letters WKBF were previously assigned from 1926 until 1935 to an
AM station
AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transm ...
in Indianapolis, Indiana.
From 1968 to 1975, the
WKBF-TV
WKBF-TV was a television station that broadcast on channel 61 in Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio, United States, from January 1968 to April 1975. Owned and operated by Kaiser Broadcasting as one of an eventual group of six stations, it was the first ...
call sign was used by a now-defunct television station in Cleveland, Ohio.
References
Sources
* Anderson, Frederick I, editor. "Joined By a River: Quad Cities." Lee Enterprises, 1982.
Radio stations make new country connection ''The North Scott Press'',
Eldridge, Iowa
Eldridge is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States. The population was 6,726 in the 2020 Census; Eldridge is a suburb and part of the Quad Cities metropolitan area.
History
Jacob M. Eldridge, the city's namesake, arrived in central Scott ...
, June 22, 2005
* Rock Island Argus editorial "We welcome the Pirate FM to Rock Island" March 4, 1994.
* Arbitron, Inc. Ratings, Fall 2005
External links
FCC Station Search Details: DWKBF(Facility ID: 8593)
FCC History Cards for WKBF(covering 1927-1979 as WHBF)
{{coord, 41, 29, 40, N, 90, 28, 00, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title
Radio stations in the Quad Cities
Radio stations established in 1925
Radio stations disestablished in 2020
Defunct radio stations in the United States
1925 establishments in Illinois
2020 disestablishments in Illinois
KBF