KBOB (AM)
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Transmitter coordinates | 41°23′21″N 90°31′0″W / 41.38917°N 90.51667°W |
Translator(s) | 104.1 K281DB (Davenport) |
Links | |
Webcast | Listen Live |
Website | espnquadcities.com |
KBOB is a radio station licensed to
KBOB is owned by Townsquare Media, with studios located at 1229 Brady Street in Davenport, Iowa (along with the co-located KJOC, WXLP, KBEA-FM and KIIK-FM).
History
The station signed on July 7, 1946 as KSTT, broadcasting from the Hotel Davenport in downtown Davenport. Format was typical of the era, with big band and vocal pop, along with news, sports and farm markets.
It wasn't until the mid-1950s—when it began playing the then-new
The station, which moved in 1963 to 1111 East River Drive in downtown Davenport, had a large window in its studio, where motorists could see their favorite on-air disc jockeys broadcasting. Listeners today remember such radio personalities as Jay Gregory, Mike Kenneally, Michelle Coleman, Tom Clay, Bill Young, Greg Garron, Bryan Bradford, Dave Shropshire, Lou Gutenberger, Bobby Rich, Bob Bateman, Ruth & Fred, "Spike @ the Mic" O'Dell & Jim O'Hara, each of them presenting the current Top 40 hits in an entertaining way. Members of the station's award-winning news department included News Director Jerry Reid and reporters Dave Douglas (Tom Hosmanek), Gary Hummel, Paulee Lipsman, John Cloghssey, Dan Kennedy, Dan Potter, Jack Gabor, David McAlary & Fred Manfra.
KSTT listeners became participants as well as listeners, phoning in news tips, requesting songs. They attended KSTT-sponsored "hootenannys", sock-hops, "Smallstars" basketball games, picnics, concerts & "Good Guy-A-Go-Go" dances & contests. Dick Orkin's infamous "Chicken Man" a radio series & "The Tooth Fairy" another radio series episodes were heard daily.
For many years, KSTT remained the top-rated station in the Quad Cities market. But by the late 1970s early 1980s, KSTT's audience started to shrink. In August 1984, KSTT changed callsigns to KKZX, known to listeners as "11-KZX", and took one last-ditch effort at Top 40 music and had mild success. In early 1986, KKZX flipped to easy listening until 1987. After Guy Gannett Broadcasting sold the station as well as its sister station 97X to Goodrich Broadcasting, the station returned to its legendary KSTT call letters, but began programming "Golden Oldies" music from the 1950s through early 1970s, airing many of the same songs it played in its heyday. It worked for a while, but the resurgence was temporary.
Beginning in January 1989, KSTT was doing some simulcasting with sister FM station WXLP. By February 1992, 1170 AM's format was largely
During its 10-year run as a sports station, KJOC received most of its programming from ESPN Radio, and was the Quad Cities outlet for Chicago-area professional sports, including the Chicago Bears, Chicago Bulls, Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox. For most of the 1990s, KJOC also provided coverage of local sports.
In April 2003, KJOC adopted a talk radio format.
On August 20, 2008, KJOC switched to an oldies format, getting most of its programming from
On February 20, 2012, KUUL dropped their longtime oldies format and switched to a Top 40, which temporarily left KJOC as the lone oldies station in the Quad Cities; shortly after KUUL's switch, WYEC ("Rewind 93.9") began emphasizing its oldies format, which it had adopted some time earlier. KJOC's "True Oldies Channel" service focused on 1960s and 1970s music, while WYEC largely played music from the 1970s and 1980s plus some from the 1960s.
New owners and more format switches
On August 30, 2013, a deal was announced in which
The transaction was consummated effective November 14, 2013.The format switched back to sports – a format last at 1170 AM 11 years earlier – on May 1, 2014, once again getting network programming from ESPN Radio.[6][7]
On June 16, 2014, sister station
On September 8, 2014, a new
In January 2015, it was announced that KBOB would become the radio broadcaster for the Quad Cities River Bandits; a Class-A Minor League Baseball team which is the Midwest League affiliate of the Houston Astros.[10] 1AM 1170 had been the play-by-play broadcaster for the 2Quad Cities River Bandits from 1988 to 1996 before losing the broadcast rights to cross-market competitor WKBF in 1997. 2015 marks the first time AM 1170 would be the play-by-play broadcaster for the Quad Cities River Bandits in 19 years.
On August 30, 2019, KBOB returned to sports talk, branded as "ESPN 1170 AM", which moved from sister KJOC. Concurrently, that station flipped to active rock.[11]
Notes
- 1. AM 1170 held the callsign KSTT from 1988 to 1992 and the callsign KJOC from 1993 to 1996.
- 2. The Quad Cities River Bandits were known as the Quad City Angels from 1988 to 1991 and the Quad City River Bandits from 1992 to 1996.
References
- ^ "41°23'21.0"N 90°31'00.0"W".
- Quad City Times, April 17, 2003. Accessed August 21, 2008.
- ^ [2] Burke, David, "Oldies return to 1170AM," Quad City Times, August 21, 2008. Accessed August 22, 2008.
- ^ "Official: Cumulus Buys Dial Global, Spins Some Stations To Townsquare; Peak Stations Sold To Townsquare, Fresno Spun To Cumulus". All Access. August 30, 2013. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
- ^ "Cumulus Makes Dial Global And Townsquare Deals Official". RadioInsight. August 30, 2013. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
- ^ "ESPN Radio coming to your local radio dial on KJOC," Quad-Cities Online, April 30, 2014. Accessed 5-1-2014. [3]
- Quad City Times, May 1, 2014. Accessed 05-01-2014. [4]
- ^ Burke, David, "Q-C FM station to flip to ESPN," Quad-City Times, June 13, 2014. Accessed 06-17-2014. [5]
- Quad City Times, September 8, 2014. Accessed 09-08-2014. [6]
- ^ LaNave, Marco, "KBOB to broadcast all Bandits games in 2015," Minor League Baseball, January 21, 2015. Accessed 02-15-2015. [7]
- ^ I-Rock 93.5 Debuts in Quad Cities; ESPN Moves to 1170 Radioinsight - August 30, 2019
- Anderson, Frederick I, editor. "Joined By a River: Quad Cities." Lee Enterprises, 1982. ISBN 0-910847-00-2
External links
- Cumulus Quad Cities market
- An example of a KSTT survey from January 1972
- Another KSTT survey, this one from November 1974
- KBOB in the FCC AM station database
- KBOB in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
- K281DB in the FCC FM station database
- K281DB at FCCdata.org