WNMT is a

talk radio 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 ...

station in

Hibbing, Minnesota Hibbing is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 16,214 at the 2020 census. The city was built on mining the rich iron ore of the Mesabi Iron Range and still relies on that industrial activity today. At th ...

that broadcasts over the preassigned frequency of 650 AM. Currently WNMT is owned 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 ...

. Midwest also owns five radio stations on the

Iron Range The term Iron Range refers collectively or individually to a number of elongated iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior in the United States and Canada. Much of the ore-bearing region lies alongside the range of granite hills formed by ...

; WMFG,

WMFG-FM WMFG-FM (106.3 FM broadcasting, FM) is a radio station licensed to Hibbing, Minnesota. The station serves the Hibbing area. The station is currently owned by Midwest Communications. Sister Stations Midwest also owns six radio stations on the Ir ...

, WNMT,

WTBX WTBX (93.9 FM) is a U.S. radio station in Hibbing, Minnesota, serving the Iron Range region. The station is owned by Midwest Communications and airs a hybrid format of hot adult contemporary and modern adult contemporary. In 2008, the station be ...

, and

WUSZ WUSZ "Radio USA" (99.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is a U.S. radio station in Hibbing, Minnesota, serving the Iron Range region. The station airs country music, and is owned by Midwest Communications. Sister Stations Midwest also owns Seven radio statio ...

. All five stations share the same studio location at 807 W. 37th Street, Hibbing. WNMT broadcasts a typical AM station pattern during the day which gives it good coverage over most of Northeastern Minnesota. However at nighttime, the station broadcasts a directional pattern from five towers which makes it difficult to receive south of the immediate

. This is done to protect signals to the south broadcasting on the same frequency; particularly

clear-channel station A clear-channel station is an AM broadcasting, AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from Interference (communication), interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The syste ...

WSM in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

History

The initial broadcast over WNMT is thought to have been that of the assassination of Presidential contender

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...

the previous night, June 5, 1968. The former WNMT station broadcast from dawn to dusk nearly every day, and broadcast a variety of family-oriented programming. The owner and operator was an elderly (now deceased) gentleman, surname Watkins, (date of birth contested). Before changing its callsign to WNMT, 650 AM Hibbing was WKKQ. WKKQ signed on the air on June 1, 1975 at 1060 AM with a clear channel daytime-only signal. The station was variously known as "The Super Q" and "Clear Channel Country". The first song played was John Denver's "

Thank God I'm a Country Boy "Thank God I'm a Country Boy", also known as "Country Boy", is a song written by John Martin Sommers and recorded by American singer/songwriter John Denver. The song was originally included on Denver's 1974 album '' Back Home Again''. A version rec ...

". The station signed off at sunset with a special arrangement of "Happy Trails to You" ending with "Happy trails to you from WKKQ". WKKQ was affiliated with the United Press Radio news and provided strong local news and community calendars to compete with Hibbing's pioneer station WMFG. The station moved to 650 AM in the mid-1980s and was allowed to broadcast on reduced power from sunset to sunrise. At one point in time, the station also broadcast in AM Stereo. The move to 650 kHz coincided with a switch to ABC Radio and WKKQ took Paul Harvey from WMFG. In early 1998, the call letters were changed to the current WNMT, followed by a format change in April 1998.

External links

WNMT website
{{coord, 47, 22, 31, N, 93, 00, 56, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title Radio stations in Minnesota News and talk radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1968 1968 establishments in Minnesota Midwest Communications radio stations