KONO (AM)
San Antonio metropolitan area | |
Frequency | 860 kHz |
---|---|
Branding | 86 KONO |
Programming | |
Language(s) | English |
Format | Oldies |
Ownership | |
Owner |
|
History | |
First air date | January 17, 1927 |
Former call signs | KGRC (1927-1930) |
Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 50029 |
Class | B |
Power | 5,000 watts day 900 watts night |
Transmitter coordinates | 29°26′38″N 98°25′05″W / 29.444°N 98.418°W |
Repeater(s) | 101.1 KONO-HD2 (Helotes) |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Webcast | Listen live Listen live (via Audacy) |
Website | www |
KONO (860
KONO broadcasts with 5,000
History
Early years
KONO is the fourth-oldest radio station in San Antonio. It was first licensed, as KGRC, on January 17, 1927, to Gene Roth & Company.[3] On January 24, 1930, the station changed its call letters to KONO.[4]
The station began as a hobby for Eugene Roth in a room over his garage in downtown San Antonio. As the broadcasting industry grew, Eugene Roth's son, Jack, began working with his dad, later inheriting the station. At first, it only transmitted with 100
In February 1947, an FM station was added, KONO-FM at 92.9 MHz.[5] (The FM station later took the call sign KITY and is currently KROM.) Eugene Roth served as the president of Mission Broadcasting, while Jack was the station's general manager.
In the 1950s, KONO's format was
Top 40 - The Big 86
In the 1960s and 70s, KONO, "The Big 86," was one of the leading Top 40 stations in San Antonio. Some of the on air personnel were Howard Edwards, Don Couser, Woody Roberts, Skinny Don Green, Lee 'Baby' Simms, Dave Mitchell, Johnny Shannon, Charlie Scott, Nick St John and Frank Jolley. KONO won national awards in the 60s for its popularity and creativity. In 1965, Bob Pearson and Howard Edwards were selected as two of the top radio personalities in the country. KONO and its sister station KITY would remain at 317 Arden Grove, attached to the KSAT-TV building, until the early 1990s, when they moved to a location on NE Loop 410.
In the 1970s, KONO and KTSA battled in the Top 40 format. Although KONO's more recurrent-based style frequently played second-fiddle to the more current-oriented KTSA, it continued to do well. The two stations provided a nice 1-2 punch that made WOAI regret its brief flirtation with the top-40 format in the mid-'70s. The two also ran AM/FM simulcast KQAM/KSAQ (“Q-100”) out of the format after a few years.
KONO began the 1980s with the same recurrent-heavy Top 40 format it had in the 1970s but with a softer sound than before. KONO's days as a true contemporary hits station were numbered, as AM Top 40 stations were rapidly losing audience to FM upstarts. KONO began to evolve to a gold-based
Oldies format
At the end of 1985, Jack Roth announced he was selling KONO and KITY to Duffy Broadcasting, based in Dallas.[6] Until this point, KONO had been owned by the Roth family for its entire existence. In 1987, Duffy struck a deal with Booth American in 1987 that created Genesis Broadcasting.[7]
About a year later, KONO became a "rock 'n roll oldies" station, jettisoning music from the mid-'70s while adding some older titles. However, in 1988, KSMG dropped its AC format to go oldies, and KONO, once again, struggled to maintain its audience against an FM upstart.
KONO began the 1990s getting further squeezed within the oldies format. In the summer of 1990,
Adding KONO-FM
Continuing to struggle and looking for answers, Genesis announced it would set up a
KONO-FM launched in late January/early February 1991 and paid immediate dividends. Although it would take another two years for KONO-AM-FM to top KSMG, KISS watched its oldies ratings slip, and would end up firing its entire airstaff that summer to run the Satellite Music Network's "Pure Gold" format. Ironically, after Rusk's attempt to sell KSMG to Jacor failed, KISS-AM-FM were LMA'ed to Rusk to combine with KSMG. Rusk aired KSMG's format on both KISS stations in addition beginning in October 1991 and flipped KISS to adult standards as "KLUP The Loop." In December, KISS-FM returned to its previous active rock format. KONO-AM-FM overtook KSMG in the ratings a year later.
In 1992, after the FCC allowed duopolies, Booth American began to prepare for a merger. The resulting company, which combined with Broadcast Alchemy, became known as Secret Communications. It spun off Booth's Top 40 outlet
Change in ownership
Also in 1993, Genesis announced it would not be exercising its option to buy KONO-FM. Instead, Gillespie Broadcasting, the owners of KONO-FM as well as Fredericksburg-based KNAF and the new KFAN-FM in Johnson City, planned to buy KONO.[9]
After closing on the sales of KONO and the other remaining Genesis stations, Booth and Broadcast Alchemy announced their merger.[10] Then, KONO-AM-FM were sold once again, this time to longtime San Antonio general manager John W. Barger.[11] Barger had also acquired KWCB in Floresville a couple years earlier and moved its tower closer to San Antonio, renaming it KRIO-FM and switching its dial position to 94.1 MHz. During this time, KONO's higher ratings forced KSMG out of the oldies format once and for all, first for a 1970s-driven AC format known as "The Best Mix of the '60s, '70s and '80s...The Oldies Revolution!" and later to a Hot AC format, as "The Best Mix of the '70s, '80s and '90s."
After successfully moving KWCB into the San Antonio radio market, Barger started working on moving KONO-FM closer to San Antonio. The initial proposal called for KONO-FM to broadcast from the tower used by KAJA (which was named for Barger's kids when he was the GM). Barger proposed switching KONO-FM's city of license from Fredericksburg to Castroville. KONO-FM would also downgrade from a Class C to a Class C1. A counter-proposal was actually granted by the FCC, where KONO-FM would move to KAJA's tower, but be licensed to Helotes, making up for an AM station licensed to that city that went dark several years earlier.[12]
Cox Radio acquisition
In 1996, radio ownership rules were further relaxed with the Telecommunications Act of 1996. In 1998, Cox Radio, entered the market by acquiring New City Communications and its three stations: KKYX, KCYY and KCJZ. Then, Cox acquired Rusk Communications.[13] and Barger[14] (Cox spun off KRIO-FM to comply with ownership rules.)[15] Cox had assembled a super cluster that combined the four former oldies stations, once bitter rivals, under the same roof.
The simulcast on KONO and KONO-FM ended when the AM flipped to
On January 13, 2017, at 6 p.m., KONO returned to oldies.[17] This time, KONO concentrates on the 1960s/70s, while KONO-FM skews a bit younger, with a mostly 1980s-based playlist with some 70s titles and a few 90s songs.
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for KONO". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ Radio-Locator.com/KONO-AM
- ^ "New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, January 31, 1927, page 3.
- ^ FCC History Cards
- ^ Broadcasting History 1958 page A-382
- ^ "Public Notice Comment".
- ^ "Public Notice Comment".
- ^ "Public Notice Comment".
- ^ "Public Notice Comment".
- ^ "Booth American, Broadcast Alchemy Merge Radio Stations".
- ^ "Public Notice Comment".
- ^ "Application Search Details".
- ^ "Public Notice Comment".
- ^ "Public Notice Comment".
- ^ "Public Notice Comment".
- ^ Radio-Talk thread about KONO flipping formats. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
- ^ KONO Returns to Oldies Radioinsight - January 13, 2017
External links
- Official website
- KONO in the FCC AM station database
- KONO in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
- FCC History Cards (covering KGRC / KONO from 1927 to 1980)