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KLMS

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Coordinates: 40°47′45.6″N 96°34′56.24″W / 40.796000°N 96.5822889°W / 40.796000; -96.5822889
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Not to be confused with KLM.
KLMS
Currently silent
Broadcast areaLincoln metropolitan area
Frequency1480 kHz
BrandingMix 103.3
Programming
FormatAdult hits
Ownership
Owner
KFOR, KFRX, KIBZ, KTGL, KZKX
History
First air date
October 24, 1949; 75 years ago (1949-10-24)
Last air date
December 10, 2024
Former call signs
KLMS (1948–1990)
KFMQ (1990–1993)
KMEM (1993–1997)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID54708
ClassB
Power1,000 watts day
750 watts night
Transmitter coordinates
40°47′45.6″N 96°34′56.24″W / 40.796000°N 96.5822889°W / 40.796000; -96.5822889
Translator(s)103.3 K277CA (Lincoln)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live
Websitemymix1033.com

KLMS (1480 AM) was a commercial radio station in Lincoln, Nebraska.[2] It is owned by Alpha Media and it features an adult hits radio format, switching to Christmas music for much of November and December.

KLMS is a Class B station. By day, it transmitted with 1,000 watts; to avoid interference to other stations on 1480 AM, at night it reduced power to 750 watts. It uses a directional antenna with a five-tower array.[3] Programming is also heard on 250-watt FM translator K277CA on 103.3 MHz.[4]

History

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Early years

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On June 28, 1946, the Lincoln Broadcasting Corporation applied to build a new radio station in Lincoln, to broadcast on 1480 kHz day and night with 1,000 watts.[5] The corporation was headed by Howard A. Shuman, formerly of KFOR;[6] Shuman had helped put that station on the air from David City in 1924.[7] The application was granted on October 16, 1947,[5] and the company began work on a five-tower array for transmitting.[8] With independent programming,[9] KLMS took to the air on October 24, 1949.[10] Its programming emphasized music as well as local news and sports, though the station also had an affiliation with the short-lived Liberty Broadcasting System.[11] Ownership and programming remained stable in the early years; Shuman acquired majority control of the company in 1960,[5] while the Mutual Broadcasting System was added the next year.[12] Those two changes coincided with a turn in KLMS's fortunes. For its first decade, the station had maintained a block programming format—a "department store of radio", as one later manager put it—but the implementation of a new adult contemporary-type format in 1959 turned KLMS into Lincoln's top station in 1960.[13]

Shuman sold the station he had helped build 25 years prior to Telegraph-Herald, Inc., of Dubuque, Iowa, in 1974; the newspaper owned two other stations in the Midwest.[14] Five years later, Telegraph-Herald purchased KFMQ (101.9 FM) from its general manager, Steve Agnew.[15] Telegraph-Herald, Inc., became Woodward Communications in 1981, in a move to clarify the division between the newspaper and its parent company.[16] Under Woodward, the station implemented directional daytime broadcasting from a full new transmitter site at 98th and A streets. Completed in 1983, the $500,000 site featured eight towers which were used in different configurations during the day and at night.[17] In 1985, KLMS and KFMQ moved into the same offices, having never shared studio space despite being commonly owned for six years; by that time, KLMS's adult contemporary format had drifted to oldies.[18]

A bad "Breeze", oldies revival and format flips in the 1990s

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In November 1986, Woodward Communications fired KLMS station manager Lee Thomas, who had been associated with the station since 1959 and had been program director for most of the previous 20 years.[19] That decision turned out to have a direct effect on KLMS. Thomas joined with three other investors, all former KLMS-KFMQ employees, to buy struggling Lincoln-area FM station KJUS[20] and relaunched it as oldies-formatted KLDZ in March 1987.[21] KLDZ quickly captured significant audience share in the Lincoln market; though officials insisted that it was not due to the new competition, KLMS exited the oldies format in October and flipped to "The Breeze", a new-age music format fed by the Progressive Music Network of Minneapolis; it was the second station to take the service.[22][23]

Woodward sold its Lincoln stations to Midwest Communications for $2.8 million in 1988.[24] Midwest nearly immediately flipped KLMS back to oldies; the new-age format had been a failure, dropping the station's audience share from 4.9 percent to 0.7 percent in just six months, and advertisers had lost interest.[25] The oldies revival, however, failed to recover listenership: it ended on November 14, 1990, when the poorly rated AM outlet switched to a simulcast of KFMQ and adopted the KFMQ call letters.[26]

In 1993, a format hole opened abruptly in the market when KHAT (1530 AM), which played big band music, signed off at the end of April when its owner sold the transmitter site property for development and opted not to rebuild the station elsewhere.[27] In response, KFMQ picked up the big band format and became KMEM on June 16,[28] promoting itself as "Your Memory Music Station".[29] The same week KHAT shut down, Midwest sold KFMQ to Radio One Nebraska, Inc., a company headed by Raymond Lamb, for $200,000.[30]

Going sports

[edit]
Logos as an ESPN Radio affiliate.

Lamb sold 10 stations, including two in Lincoln, to Three Eagles Communications for a total of $6.9 million in July 1996.[31] Two months later, Three Eagles bought KFRX (102.7 FM) and KFOR, giving it a four-station cluster in the Lincoln market.[32] After initially promising no format changes, KMEM added two talk shows—Imus in the Morning and Nanci Donellan ("The Fabulous Sports Babe")—in February 1997.[33] It was the prelude to a full-on format flip to sports that May, with a lineup of mostly national talk programs—including The Jim Rome Show—and overnight programming from One on One Sports,[34] reclaiming its heritage KLMS call letters.[35] In December 2000, KLMS switched networks from One on One Sports to ESPN Radio.[36]

Between 1997 and 2023, KLMS had only deviated from sports talk radio once. In January 2010, Three Eagles opted to return to an oldies format on the station for the first time in nearly three decades, attempting to capitalize on the heritage of KLMS in the 1960s and 1970s.[37] Poor listener response to the removal of the sports talk format led Three Eagles to announce a month later that it would reinstate KLMS as it was prior to the switch.[38]

After an FM station, KNTK (93.7 FM), announced it would flip to sports, KLMS—until then the only station in the format in Lincoln—responded by adding local programming to its lineup in afternoon drive.[39]

Three Eagles was purchased by Digity in 2014 in a $66.5 million transaction encompassing 48 stations.[40] Two years later, Digity and its 116 stations were acquired by Alpha Media for $264 million.[41]

Return to music and shutdown

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At midnight on February 15, 2023, KLMS dropped the sports format and began simulcasting KFOR; on the same date, KFOR began simulcasting on KLMS's FM translator K268DF (101.5 FM).[42] The next day, KLMS flipped to adult hits, branded as "Mix 103.3", and began simulcasting on translator K277CA (103.3 FM), which formerly relayed KFOR.[43] The station suffered storm damage and was at reduced power for a month, but on December 10, 2024, KLMS left the air, with Alpha citing "loss of its antenna site" as the reason. Mix continued on air, fed by the second HD Radio subchannel of KFRX.[44]

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KLMS". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "KLMS Facility Record". United States FCC, audio division.
  3. ^ "Radio-Locator.com/KLMA".
  4. ^ "Radio-Locator.com/K277CA".
  5. ^ a b c FCC History Cards for KLMS
  6. ^ "Group proposes radio station". Lincoln Journal. May 7, 1946. p. 4. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  7. ^ "Broadcasters Meet Tuesday; To Honor Two". Lincoln Journal. Associated Press. January 10, 1975. p. 21. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  8. ^ "New Local Radio Station To Be in Operation Feb. 1: Firm Seeks Site For Transmitter". Lincoln Journal. November 16, 1948. p. 4. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  9. ^ "New Station—KLMS—To Go On The Air Next Month". Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star. September 18, 1949. p. 6-D. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  10. ^ "Radio Station KLMS Begins Broadcasting". Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star. October 30, 1949. p. D-6. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  11. ^ "Nebraska Radio-TV Year Review". Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star. January 28, 1951. p. 9-D. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  12. ^ "KLMS Joining Mutual System". Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star. December 10, 1961. p. 14B. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  13. ^ "Manager Says KLMS Progress Tells Him Miracles Do Happen". Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star. October 13, 1974. p. 6TV. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  14. ^ "Sale of KLMS Is Completed". Lincoln Journal. December 4, 1974. p. 36. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  15. ^ "Dubuque corporation buys KFMQ". Lincoln Journal. May 16, 1979. p. 54. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  16. ^ "Company wants to change name". Lincoln Journal. February 20, 1981. p. 19. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  17. ^ Kelly, Gene (June 3, 1983). "Eight new towers give boost to KLMS signal". Lincoln Journal. p. 22. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  18. ^ Truell, Matt (May 9, 1985). "2 stations in Lincoln will move". Lincoln Journal. p. 21. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  19. ^ "27 years on, Lee Thomas seeks new station: Radio station KLMS fires local broadcaster". Lincoln Journal. November 4, 1986. p. 20. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  20. ^ "Local investors seek radio license transfer". Lincoln Star. Associated Press. January 31, 1987. p. 8. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  21. ^ Wolgamott, L. Kent (March 8, 1987). "New FM radio station plays oldies in stereo". Sunday Journal-Star. p. 12TV. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  22. ^ Ineck, Tom (September 30, 1987). "KLMS joins New Age movement". Lincoln Journal. p. 24. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  23. ^ "Breeze on the air" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 2, 1987. p. 50. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  24. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. May 9, 1988. p. 65. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  25. ^ "KLMS returns to oldies songs in its format". Lincoln Journal. October 20, 1988. p. 15. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  26. ^ "KLMS ends 41 years on air". Lincoln Star. November 15, 1990. p. 27. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  27. ^ "Sale silences KHAT, but not big-band sound". Lincoln Journal. April 23, 1993. p. 18. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  28. ^ Bogues, Maureen (June 17, 1993). "KMEM gives big-band tunes new life". Lincoln Star. p. 13. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  29. ^ "KMEM, Your Memory Music Station". Lincoln Journal-Star. May 16, 1993. p. 11A. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  30. ^ "Transactions" (PDF). Radio & Records. April 30, 1993. p. 10. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  31. ^ "Transactions" (PDF). Radio & Records. July 5, 1996. p. 6. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  32. ^ Moser, Daniel R. (September 10, 1996). "Colorado firm buys KFOR, KFRX". Lincoln Journal Star. p. 5B. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  33. ^ Johnson, Tom (February 17, 1997). "Three Eagles sure to make big splash with station changes". Lincoln Journal Star. p. 6C. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  34. ^ Sipple, Steve (May 9, 1997). "KMEM targeting sports fans". Lincoln Journal Star. p. 1C. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  35. ^ Johnson, Tom (December 29, 1997). "Arrivals, departures marked 1997 on air". Lincoln Journal Star. p. 2D. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  36. ^ Korbelik, Jeff (December 18, 2000). "KLMS changes sports-talk programming to ESPN Radio". Lincoln Journal Star. p. 5C. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  37. ^ Korbelik, Jeff (January 26, 2010). "ESPN 1480 switching to oldies music". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  38. ^ Korbelik, Jeff (February 25, 2010). "ESPN 1480 to return by March 8". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  39. ^ Korbelik, Jeff (July 23, 2011). "Sports talk radio finds niche in Lincoln, elsewhere". Lincoln Journal-Star. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  40. ^ Venta, Lance (May 14, 2014). "Digity Acquires Three Eagles". RadioInsight. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  41. ^ Venta, Lance (February 25, 2016). "Alpha Closes On Digity Purchase". RadioInsight. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  42. ^ Venta, Lance (February 15, 2023). "Alpha Preps Lincoln Signal Shuffle". RadioInsight.
  43. ^ Venta, Lance (February 16, 2023). "Alpha Launches Mix 103.3 Lincoln". RadioInsight.
  44. ^ Ellis, Jon (December 12, 2024). "Lincoln AM Station Goes Silent, Format Moves to HD2/Translator". Northpine. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
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