KFNZ (610

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base uni ...

) is a commercial

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station licensed to

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, and owned by

Audacy, Inc. Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corp., it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning over 220 radio stations across 47 media ...

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

s a

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format with

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96.5 KFNZ-FM, except when there are two live sporting events, with each station carrying one of them. The studios and offices are on Squibb Road in

Mission, Kansas Mission is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 9,954. History An Indian mission ...

. KFNZ is one of the oldest radio stations in the

Kansas City metropolitan area The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

, going on the air in 1922. Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 page C-122 KFNZ is a Class B regional station, with a power of 5,000

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s, both the daytime and nighttime, using a non-directional antenna on one tower. The

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is off Mission Road in Prairie Village, Kansas. Programming is also heard on the HD2

subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compressi ...

of KFNZ-FM. Local sports shows are heard from mornings to early evenings on weekdays, with programming from

Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an Radio in the United States, American Sports radio, 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 ...

airing nights and weekends. Although the station had the slogan "The

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Channel" when it began in June 2003, it is currently the

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Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

, whose rights were reacquired by Entercom (now Audacy) in 2008. It is also the co-flagship station of the NFL's

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

. The Kansas State Wildcats radio network is also heard on KFNZ.

History

Early years (1922–1967)

Effective December 1, 1921, the Department of Commerce, which regulated radio at this time, adopted regulations setting aside two wavelengths for use by broadcasting stations: 360 meters (833 kHz) for "entertainment" programs, and 485 meters (619 kHz) for "market and weather" reports. The station was first licensed on May 16, 1922, as WDAF, to the ''Kansas City Star'', for operation on 360 meters. The WDAF call sign was randomly assigned from a sequential list of available

call letters 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 Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be fo ...

. Currently most stations west of the Mississippi River have call letters beginning with "K". However, WDAF was licensed before the government changed the dividing line between W and K call signs. Prior to the January 1923 establishment of the Mississippi River as the boundary, call letters beginning with "W" were generally assigned to stations east of an irregular line formed by the western state borders from North Dakota south to Texas, with calls beginning with "K" going only to stations in states west of that line. WDAF made its debut broadcast on June 5, 1922. It bounced around various frequencies, including 750, 730, 680, 820 and 810 kHz. It moved to 610 kHz in 1928, splitting time with station WOQ, before becoming the sole occupant of 610 AM in Kansas City. WDAF became an

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

affiliate just before moving to 610 kHz. It carried programs from both the

NBC Red Network The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (also known as the NBC Red Network from 1927 to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in continuous operation from 1926 through 1999. Along with the NBC Blue Network, it wa ...

and the

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up until 1930, when WDAF became a primary NBC Red affiliate.KCSP (AM) History
/ref> WDAF increased power to 5,000 watts daytime in 1935, and 5,000 watts nighttime in 1940. In 1949, co-owned television station WDAF-TV came on the air.''Broadcasting Yearbook 1977'' page B-114. Retrieved Aug. 10, 2024.
/ref> It was the second TV station in Missouri and the first in Kansas City. Like WDAF (AM), it primarily was an NBC affiliate, although it carried shows from other networks as well. WDAF-TV became a Fox affiliate in 1994. In 1958, the Kansas City Star sold WDAF-AM-TV to National Missouri TV. In 1960, National Missouri TV merged with Transcontinent Television. On March 5, 1961, Transcontinent signed on an FM station at 102.1 MHz, which today is KCKC.

Taft Broadcasting Taft Broadcasting Company (also known as Taft Television and Radio Company, Incorporated) was an American media conglomerate based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company was rooted in the Taft family, family of William Howard Taft, the 27th President ...

merged with Transcontinent in 1965, bringing WDAF-AM-FM-TV under its control.

Middle of the road music (1967–1977)

Taft changed 610 WDAF to a full service middle of the road music format on April 30, 1967. WDAF carried news from the ABC American Information Radio Network, mainly owing to the company's very good relationship with its television counterpart. It became a secondary

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

affiliate in 1974, airing programming such as the '' CBS Radio Mystery Theater''.

61 Country (1977–2003)

WDAF flipped to

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

in February 1977, calling itself "61 Country". Although Kansas City had several country stations, WDAF programmed its country music in an uptempo way, as if it were

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently 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. "To ...

. Taft Broadcasting owned it until 1987, when a

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put it under Great American Communications ownership. After a financial restructuring, Great American sold WDAF-TV and became known as Citicasters, owning AM 610 and FM 102.1 until 1997. Entercom bought WDAF (AM) in October 1997. The FM was sold off in June, first to American Radio Systems, then Westinghouse/ CBS Radio. (It is currently owned by Steel City Media.) Despite having as many as three full power FM competitors at various times, WDAF remained the top-rated country station in Kansas City. From 1992 to 1995, WDAF also held the Royals broadcast rights. In 2002, the station picked up the rights to

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and basketball. David Lawrence, Phil Young, and Ted Cramer were among the longtime personalities on 61 Country, along with newscasters Charles Gray, Frank Haynes, and Caroline Rooney.

610 Sports (2003–2024)

In 2003, Entercom announced it would move WDAF to 106.5 on the FM dial, and would flip AM 610 to

sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...

to compete against WHB. Beginning August 10, 2003, the country programming was

on both frequencies until the new sports station was ready. At 2 p.m. on September 10, 2003, the station became KCSP, "61 Sports" (later "610 Sports"). Leading up to the premiere, Entercom had swiped Jason Whitlock, Bill Maas and Tim Grunhard from WHB, though all three have since moved on. '' The Jim Rome Show'' moved to KCSP in December. Kansas Jayhawk sports moved to KCSP in September 2006. Kansas City Royals baseball began airing on KCSP in the 2008 season. In 2011, KCSP beat WHB in the ratings for the first time. In 2012, KCSP dropped ''The Jim Rome Show'' in favor of expanding its local programming.

96.5 The Fan (KFNZ-FM simulcast)

On August 8, 2024, at 10 a.m., KCSP announced that it would begin simulcasting on FM sister station KRBZ beginning August 15, and rebrand as "96.5 The Fan". The FM side, which adopted the KFNZ-FM callsign, would become the new flagship station for the

(which had been on WDAF-FM) and the Royals with the move.Sports Comes to FM in Kansas City with Launch of 96.5 The Fan
/ref> Some Royals games would remain solely on 610 AM, which would also take on the KFNZ call sign.

References

External links

* *
FCC History Cards for KFNZ
(covering 1922-1979 as WDAF)