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 ...
licensed
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to
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 ...
. The station is owned by SummitMedia and it airs 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, ...
format. Most weekday afternoon and evening programming is from local hosts, while during mornings, late nights and weekends, KXSP carries the ESPN Radio Network.
KXSP operates at 5,000
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, using a non-directional
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 ...
off Sorensen Parkway in North Omaha. Due to its location near the bottom of the AM dial, as well as Nebraska's flat land (with near-perfect ground conductivity), its signal is easily heard in most of the eastern half of
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
, as well as parts of
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
,
Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
,
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 ...
and
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...
. It provides grade B coverage as far south as Kansas City as far east as Des Moines, and as far north as Sioux Falls. Offices and studios are located on Mercy Road in Omaha's Aksarben Village. KXSP programming is also carried on the HD-2 subchannel of
KSRZ
KSRZ (104.5 FM, "Star 104.5") is a radio station broadcasting an adult contemporary format. Licensed to Omaha, Nebraska, United States, the station serves the Omaha-Lincoln-Council Bluffs Metropolitan area. The station is owned by SummitMedia. ...
.
History
On April 2, 1923, the station first signed on, owned by the
Woodmen of the World
WoodmenLife (officially Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society) is a not-for-profit fraternal benefit society founded in 1890, based in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, that operates a large privately held insurance company for its members.
...
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 ...
WOAW. Management originally sought the call letters WOW (for Woodmen Of the World) but they were already used by the steamship ''Henry J. Bibble''. A call sign beginning with "W" was possible in Nebraska because originally the dividing line between "K" and "W" stations followed the western border of Nebraska. WOAW's call sign was issued on November 27, 1922, shortly before the divide was moved to the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
in January 1923. Despite this, the station was able to claim the WOW call sign on December 16, 1926, upon retirement of the ''Bibble''. The Woodmen society put the station up for sale in 1945 out of fear that it would jeopardize its tax-exempt status; it eventually leased the station to "Radio Station WOW," a group of local investors. That group later added a television station (now
WOWT
WOWT (channel 6) is a television station in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Gray Television. The station's studios are located on Farnam Street near downtown Omaha, and its transmitter is located on a "tower farm" ...
KEZO-FM
KEZO-FM (92.3 FM) is a commercial radio station in Omaha, Nebraska. It is owned by SummitMedia. KEZO airs an active rock radio format. KEZO's studios are located on Mercy Road in Omaha's Aksarben Village, and the station's transmitter is off No ...
).
In 1951, Meredith Corporation bought the WOW stations. The AM station became a
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 "cont ...
station in the early 1970s, where former ''
Shindig!
''Shindig!'' is an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles,Jimmy O'Neill worked for a time, and a
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...
station in the early 1980s. In 1955, it dropped network affiliations with NBC Radio and agreed to switch to CBS Radio as part of a five-station deal covering TV and radio stations in three cities. Meredith sold channel 6 to
Chronicle Publishing Company
The Chronicle Publishing Company was a print and broadcast media corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California that was in operation from 1865 until 2000. Owned for the whole of its existence by the de Young family, CPC was most notab ...
in 1975, but held on to the radio station until selling it to Great Empire Broadcasting in 1983.
Journal Broadcast Group
Journal Media Group (formerly Journal Communications) was a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based newspaper publishing company. The company's roots were first established in 1882 as the owner of its namesake, the ''Milwaukee Journal'', and expanded into br ...
bought it in 1999. On November 22, 1999, the WOW call letters were dropped in favor of KOMJ with adoption of a new format of adult standards, branded as "Magic 590". On April 25, 2005, KOMJ and then-sister station KOSR (1490 AM) swapped formats, with 590 adopting the sports format (as "Big Sports 590") under new call letters KXSP, and 1490 adopting the standards format and KOMJ calls.
On February 1, 2011, KXSP swapped affiliations with
KOZN
KOZN (1620 AM) is a sports station licensed to Bellevue, Nebraska and serving the Omaha metropolitan area. It is owned by NRG Media, headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with studios located at Dodge Street and 50th Avenue in Midtown Omaha, and ...
; KOZN took the Fox Sports Radio affiliation, while KXSP took ESPN. With the affiliation swap, KXSP rebranded as "AM 590 ESPN Radio".
On August 23, 2012, KXSP began airing The Front Stretch Radio Show on Sunday mornings. Originally hosted by Michael Grey, Buddy Ray Jones and Andrew Kosiski, The Front Stretch covered local dirt track racing and NASCAR.
Journal Communications and the E. W. Scripps Company announced on July 30, 2014, that the two companies would merge to create a new broadcast company under the E. W. Scripps Company name that will own the two companies' broadcast properties, including KXSP. The transaction was completed in 2015.
On February 10, 2015, Journal Broadcast Group and the IMG Group announced they had signed a contract for Journal to be the broadcast partner for Nebraska Cornhuskers sports. Effective July 1, 2015, KXSP became the primary station for Nebraska Cornhuskers sports broadcasts, sharing flagship status with Lincoln's
KLIN
KLIN (1400 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station broadcasting a news talk information format. Licensed to Lincoln, Nebraska, United States, the station serves the Lincoln area. The station is currently owned by NRG Media and features programmin ...
. Co-owned KEZO will simulcast football games, while
KKCD
KKCD (105.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a classic rock format. Licensed to Omaha, Nebraska, United States, the station serves the Omaha area. The station is owned by SummitMedia. KKCD's studios are located on Mercy Road in Omaha's Aksar ...
will air any volleyball, women's basketball and baseball games that conflict with other athletic events. This ended a nine-decade association between the Huskers and
KFAB
KFAB (1110 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Omaha, Nebraska, with studios and offices on Underwood Avenue in Omaha. It broadcasts a talk radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.
KFAB is a Class A clear channel station, operatin ...
, the state's most powerful radio station. However, school officials had long felt chagrin at KFAB's unwillingness to air all major sports, and wanted all games to air on a single, powerful station. KXSP's daytime broadcast range is almost as large as that of KFAB's. As mentioned above, this is due to Nebraska's flat land; most 5,000-watt AM stations in the Midwest have daytime footprints comparable to those of full-power FM stations.
Scripps exited radio in 2018; the Omaha stations went to SummitMedia in a four-market, $47 million deal completed on November 1, 2018.
Award
WOW received a 1946 Peabody Award for Outstanding Regional Public Service for its program series "Operation Big Muddy."