KWAM
Broadcast area | Memphis metropolitan area |
---|---|
Frequency | 990 kHz |
Branding | The Mighty 990 |
Programming | |
Language | English |
Format | Conservative talk |
Affiliations | |
Ownership | |
Owner |
|
History | |
First air date | February 9, 1947 |
Former call signs | KWEM (1947–1959) |
Call sign meaning | Rhymes with "wham"[1] |
Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 35873 |
Class | B |
Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 35°8′4.00″N 90°5′38.00″W / 35.1344444°N 90.0938889°W |
Translator(s) | 107.9 W300DE (Memphis) |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Webcast | Listen live |
Website | mighty990 |
KWAM (990
in the late 1940s and 1950s.By day, KWAM is powered at 10,000
History
Early years
The owners of Little Rock-area radio station
West Memphis was described as the "Las Vegas of the South" in this era, and its programming drew from musicians playing in clubs.
KWEM was purchased by Dee Rivers in 1951.[19] In March 1952, Rivers applied to have the station moved across the Mississippi River to Memphis, Tennessee, which was approved in January 1954; the transmitter site remained in Arkansas.[7] He started the "Dee" Rivers Stations Group, which later owned WEAS-FM in Springfield/Savannah, Georgia, and WGOV (now WGUN) in Valdosta, Georgia, as well as other stations in Georgia and Florida. KWEM held a construction permit to build a channel 48 television station in Memphis, KWEM-TV, but abandoned it in August 1953 because it could not find an adequate site that could house both AM and TV studios and the TV station's transmitter site and did not want this situation to hinder improvements to the radio station.[20] It continued to be an influential hotbed of talent; the transmitter remained on the Arkansas side of the river.[7] This lasted through the end of the decade, when KWEM became KWAM.[7]
Power Boost
On March 31, 1959, Rivers changed the call letters to KWAM[7] as part of a presentation overhaul that did little to change the station's format.[1] The next year, it stopped playing live music.[16] In 1963, the station got FCC permission to boost its power to 10,000 watts, using a directional antenna, but it still could not broadcast after sunset.[7] The transmitter, however, failed and was destroyed in a fire the next year; competitor WLOK loaned equipment to help KWAM return to the air.[21]
The KWEM call letters were later revived for KWEM-LP, a low-power FM station in West Memphis owned by Arkansas State University Mid-South, which serves as a tribute to the KWEM of the late 1940s and 1950s and began broadcasting on FM in 2015 (an earlier version had been established in 2009). The project was led by Dale Franklin, who died in 2017.[22]
Gospel and Religion
In 1968, KWAM began airing
In 1986, KWAM got nighttime authorization. It was allowed to stay on the air after sunset, but at only 450 watts.[26]
Changes in ownership

In February 1996, U.S. Radio announced it would purchase KWAM and the FM station,
Clear Channel sold KWAM to Concord Media for $1 million in 2000.[28] Concord switched KWAM to a talk radio format competing directly against WREC, which Clear Channel (renamed iHeartMedia in 2014) retained. Several years later, KWAM changed hands again, this time bought by Legacy Media, which also owns WEKS, an FM country music station in Zebulon, Georgia, just outside Atlanta. In 2017, Legacy Media added a 250-watt translator for KWAM, W300DE (107.9 FM); the next year, Legacy would change the station's branding to "KWAM The Voice - Talk Radio for the Midsouth."
Legacy Media sold KWAM as well as its translator for $685,000 to the upstart Starnes Media Group, LLC, owned by Memphis native Todd Starnes. A conservative American columnist, commentator, author and radio host, Starnes previously worked for Baptist Press and Fox News/Fox News Radio,[29] having departed the latter in October 2019.[30] Upon the close of the purchase on March 31, 2020, Starnes Media Group changed the station's branding to reflect the history of the station, renaming it "The Mighty 990."[31]
Programming
After Tim Van Horn left for station WKIM in late October 2022, Ben Deeter now hosts the station's morning drive time news and interview show, Wake Up Memphis.[32] The majority of the station's lineup consists of nationally syndicated talk shows and is regarded as the flagship station for owner Todd Starnes's weekday afternoon program.[31]
Other syndicated hosts include Armstrong & Getty, Lars Larson, Sebastian Gorka, Rita Cosby, Bill O'Reilly, Charlie Kirk and "Red Eye Radio." Weekends feature shows on money, health, guns, gardening, home repair and the outdoors. Some weekend shows are paid brokered programming. Most hours begin with an update from Townhall News.
References
- ^ a b Mitchell, Henry (March 31, 1959). "That 'New Sound' Is Wham, But Country Tunes Remain". The Commercial Appeal. p. 22.
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for KWAM". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "KWAM Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
- Arbitron.
- ^ Radio-Locator.com/KWAM
- ^ a b c Nelson, Rex (April 10, 2013). "Resurrecting a radio legend". Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f "History Cards for KWAM". Federal Communications Commission. (Guide to reading History Cards)
- ^ "New Station Gathers Audience From Afar: West Memphis KWEM Reported Clear 175 Miles Away". The Commercial Appeal. February 11, 1947. p. 11.
- ^ Poindexter, Ray (1974). Arkansas Airwaves (PDF). Retrieved August 10, 2021 – via World Radio History.
- ^ "Kay Arrives Today!". The Commercial Appeal. February 23, 1947. p. 4.
- ^ a b Randall, Mark (June 5, 2014). "KWEM 'flips the switch' at Mid-South Community College". The Evening Times.
- ^ Boehm, Mike (September 19, 1986). "Sun's sons: Rockabilly pioneers". Providence Journal.
- ^ Shuster, Fred (October 23, 1991). "Blues king had pauper start". Daily News of Los Angeles. p. L8.
- ^ Ellis, Bill (April 29, 2005). "Wolf's guitar man keeps his bite". The Commercial Appeal.
- ^ McCracken, Mitch (July 13, 2010). "Back on the Air: Historic KWEM returns to airwaves". Memphis Daily News. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
- ^ a b Boudreau, Eleanor (May 13, 2013). "You'll Be Mine: Bringing Musical Tourism To West Memphis". WKNO. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
- ^ "Platter Spinner Patter" (PDF). Cash Box. February 12, 1955. p. 11. Retrieved August 30, 2021 – via World Radio History.
- ^ "Country Round Up" (PDF). Cash Box. August 17, 1957. p. 43. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
- ^ "FCC Actions" (PDF). Broadcasting. December 3, 1951. p. 98. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
- ^ "KWEM Turns In TV CP, Unable To Get Site" (PDF). Broadcasting. August 10, 1953. p. 11. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
- ^ "Friends". The Nashville Tennessean. Associated Press. April 8, 1964. p. 4.
- ^ Randall, Mark (November 21, 2017). "Dale Franklin, KWEM radio revivalist, passes away". The Evening Times. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
- ^ Walter, Tom (March 17, 1991). "Churchgoers put Memphis in lead in Black gospel radio". The Commercial Appeal. p. G2.
- ^ "D. D. Is Disc Jockey". Spokane Daily Chronicle. United Press. p. 6. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
- ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1984 page B-239
- ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1990 page B-289
- ^ Campbell, Laurel (May 10, 1996). "Clear Channel agrees to buy Radio Equity". The Commercial Appeal. p. B5.
- ^ Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2005 page D-480
- ^ "Former Fox News Radio Host Todd Starnes Purchases Memphis AM.- Inside Radio". insideradio.com. January 9, 2020.
- ^ Concha, Joe (October 2, 2019). "Radio host Todd Starnes out at Fox News". The Hill. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
- ^ a b Harrison, Michael (January 10, 2020). "Friday, January 10, 2020". Talkers Magazine. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
- ^ "Ben Deeter - at KWAM". KWAM. Retrieved November 2, 2022.
External links
- Facility details for Facility ID 35873 (KWAM) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
- KWAM in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
- Facility details for Facility ID 148438 (W300DE) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
- W300DE at FCCdata.org