KXSP

Coordinates: 41°19′0.00″N 95°59′52.00″W / 41.3166667°N 95.9977778°W / 41.3166667; -95.9977778

KXSP (590 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Omaha, Nebraska. The station is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company and it airs a sports radio format. Most weekday afternoon and evening programming is from local hosts, while mornings, late nights and weekends, KXSP carries the ESPN Radio Network.

KXSP operates at 5000 watts, using a non-directional transmitter off Sorensen Parkway, with its signal easily heard in parts of Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri. Offices and studios are located on Mockingbird Drive. KXSP is also heard on FM translator K276FB on 103.1 MHz in Schuyler, Nebraska. And KXSP programming is also carried on the HD subchannel of 92.3 KEZO-FM.

History

On April 2, 1923, the station first signed on, owned by the Woodmen of the World life insurance society, using the call sign WOAW.^[1] 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 in January 1923.^[2] Despite this, the station was able to claim the WOW call sign on December 16, 1926,^[2] 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) in 1949 and an FM station in 1961 (now KEZO-FM)).

In 1951, Meredith Corporation bought the WOW stations. The AM station became a Top 40 station in the early 1970s, where former Shindig! host Jimmy O'Neill worked for a time, and a country station in the early 1980s. Meredith sold the station in 1983, and Journal Broadcast Group bought it in 1999. In November 1999, the WOW call letters were dropped in favor of KOMJ with adoption of a new format of adult standards. When the station switched to a sports format in 2005, the call letters were changed again to KXSP.

On February 1, 2011, KXSP swapped affiliations with 1620 KOZN. KOZN took the Fox Sports Radio affiliation and KXSP took ESPN. With the affiliation swap, KXSP also became known as "AM 590 ESPN Radio" instead of "Big Sports 590".

On August 23, 2012, KXSP aired 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.

KXSP is simulcast on sister station 92.3 KEZO's HD2 digital audio subchannel.

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.^[3]

On February 10, 2015 Journal Broadcast Group and the IMG group announced they had signed a contract for Journal Broadcast Group in Omaha to be the broadcast partner for Cornhusker Sports. Effective July 1, 2015 KXSP became the primary station for Nebraska Cornhuskers sports broadcasts with co-owned FM stations KEZO-FM and KKCD also airing some games.^[4]

Award

WOW received a 1946 Peabody Award for Outstanding Regional Public Service for its program series "Operation Big Muddy."^[5]

References

External links

• AM 590 ESPN Radio Official Website
• History of WOW
• Query the FCC's AM station database for KXSP
• Radio-Locator Information on KXSP
• Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for KXSP