KRDO (1240 AM) is a commercial

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 ...

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. The station is owned and operated by the

News-Press & Gazette Company The News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) is a media company based in St. Joseph, Missouri, wholly owned and operated by the Bradley family. It is presided by Brian Bradley and David R. Bradley, with Hank Bradley (retired), Eric Bradley and Kit Bra ...

St. Joseph, Missouri St. Joseph is a city in and the county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri. Small parts of St. Joseph extend into Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the principal city of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includ ...

and it airs a

news/talk 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 ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/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, simultane ...

with

KRDO-FM KRDO-FM (105.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Security, Colorado and serving the Colorado Springs-Pueblo media market. It is owned and operated by the News-Press & Gazette Company of St. Joseph, Missouri, through its licensee Pik ...

. Both stations are aided by the news department of co-owned

KRDO-TV KRDO-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) alongside low-power Telemundo affiliate KTLO-LD (channel 46) and radio stations ...

, with some TV newscasts also heard on the radio stations. Studios, offices and the AM

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

are on South 8th Street in Colorado Springs. Weekdays, after a morning news block, KRDO-AM-FM carry nationally syndicated programs, three of which are about family finances:

Dave Ramsey David Lawrence Ramsey III (born September 3, 1960) is an American personal finance personality, radio show host, author, and businessman. An evangelical Christian, he hosts the nationally syndicated radio program ''The Ramsey Show''. Ramsey has ...

Clark Howard Clark Brian Howard (born June 20, 1955) is a popular consumer expert and podcast host of ''The Clark Howard Show''. Life and career Howard grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. His parents, Bernard and Joy Garson Howard, were prominent members of Atl ...

and

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

-based

Tom Martino Thomas Gerard Martino (born 1953) is a Consumer Protection, consumer advocate and United States, American talk radio host. He is also known as "The Troubleshooter". His nationally Radio syndication, syndicated show "The Troubleshooter Show" airs ...

. Also heard weekdays are

Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American talk show host, conservative political commentator, and author. He is the host of ''The Sean Hannity Show'', a nationally syndicated talk radio show, and has also hosted a commentar ...

, Clyde Lewis and

Coast to Coast AM ''Coast to Coast AM'' is an American late-night radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics. Most frequently the topics relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was hosted by creator Art Bell from its inception in 19 ...

with

George Noory George Ralph Noory (born June 4, 1950) is an American radio talk show host. Since January 2003, Noory has been the weekday host of the late-night radio talk show ''Coast to Coast AM''. The program is syndicated to hundreds of radio stations in ...

. Weekends feature shows on money, health, home repair, guns, computers and travel. Syndicated weekend hosts include

Kim Komando Kimberly Ann Komando (born 1967) is the host of two daily radio shows and one weekend radio show about consumer technology. On her weekly call-in show, she provides advice about technology gadgets, websites, smartphone apps, and internet security. ...

and

Rudy Maxa Rudy Maxa was born in 1949 and is an American consumer travel expert. Maxa is the host and executive producer of 85 half-hour travel shows on the world's great destinations that are broadcast on public television in the U.S. with titles such as ...

. Some weekend hours are paid

brokered programming Brokered programming (also known as time-buy and blocktime) is a form of broadcast content in which the show's producer pays a radio or television station for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot comm ...

. Most hours begin with world and national news from

ABC News Radio ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five minute newscasts on the hour and news briefs at half-pas ...

History

In March 1947, KRDO first

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...

. It was owned by the

Pikes Peak Pikes Peak is the List of mountain ranges of Colorado#Mountain ranges, highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in North America. The Ultra-prominent peak, ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest ...

Broadcasting Company and was Colorado Springs' second radio station (after

KVOR KVOR (740 AM, "AM 740 KVOR") is a commercial radio station in Colorado Springs, Colorado, serving Colorado Springs and Pueblo. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a news/talk radio format. KVOR is powered at 3,300 watts by day. But because ...

). 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 ...

has always been KRDO, referring to KoloRaDO, with a "K" substituting for the "C." The station originally transmitted with a power of 250

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 Wa ...

s. In 1953, KRDO put a TV station on the air, Channel 13 KRDO-TV, as Colorado Springs'

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

Network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

. (The TV station today is an

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

TV affiliate.) By the late 1960s, KRDO got a daytime power boost to 1,000 watts, though the station still had to reduce power at night to 250 watts. In 1969, an FM station was put on the air,

, a

beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...

outlet. In 1975, KRDO joined NBC's News and Information Service to become an

all-news radio All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news. All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news stations can run the ...

station. When that service was discontinued in 1977, KRDO switched to a middle of the road format of popular music and news, as an affiliate of 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 ...

. and later the RKO Radio Network. By the mid-1980s, the older songs were dropped and the station moved to a

full service Full service or Full Service may refer to: * Full-service radio, a wide range of programming * Full Service Network, a communications company Entertainment * "Full Service", a song by the New Kids on the Block from their album ''The Block'' * F ...

adult contemporary music Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

format while returning to Mutual Broadcasting and clearing Larry King's evening talk program. In 1985, the FCC allowed KRDO to remain powered at 1,000 watts, both day and night. In late 1987, KRDO switched to an

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

format utilizing the Pure Gold (now Classic Hits) services from Satellite Music Network (SMN), who's interests are now owned by

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and ...

which in turn is currently owned by

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 ...

. In 1991, the station flipped to a

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, ...

format.Broadcasting Yearbook 1993 page B-56
/ref> By the mid-1990s, the station was broadcasting an

all sports All Sports is the first greatest hits album by Australian rock and pop band The Sports, released in December 1982. The album peaked at number 35 on the Australian Kent Music Report. Reception Steve Schnee from AllMusic AllMusic (previou ...

format. During most of its run as a sports station, KRDO carried One On One Sports (later known as Sporting News Radio and today is known as SB Nation Radio). In June 2006, KRDO-AM-TV were sold to the News-Press & Gazette company, while KRDO-FM went to Citadel Broadcasting, switching call letters to

KATC-FM KATC-FM (95.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The station has been broadcasting a country music format since 2006 and its on-air moniker is Cat Country 95.1. The station is owned and operated by Cumulus Media, ...

as a country music outlet. The Hoth Family, as Pikes Peak Broadcasting, had owned KRDO from its founding in 1947 until 2006, nearly six decades. The new owners coupled KRDO with FM 105.5, changing the FM call sign to KRDO-FM and having both radio stations simulcast a news-talk format, while drawing on the news department resources of KRDO-TV. KRDO-AM is rebroadcast on translator K223CU in Colorado Springs at 92.5 FM.

References

External links

Radio Homepage-KRDO.com

FCC History Cards for KRDO
{{News/Talk Radio Stations in Colorado

RDO RDO may stand for: * Radom Airport, Poland, IATA code * Radio Dom Ostankino, Russian broadcaster and member of the European Broadcasting Union * Ranidel de Ocampo (born 1981), Filipino basketball player * Raster Document Object (.rdo), a file forma ...

News-Press & Gazette Company Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in Colorado