KOUU
Radio station in Pocatello, Idaho
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
KOUU (1290 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a classic country music format, as well as local high school sports events.[3] Licensed to Pocatello, Idaho, United States, the station is currently owned by Idaho Wireless Corporation and features programming from ABC Radio.[4]
| |
| Frequency | 1290 kHz |
|---|---|
| Branding | Country Classics 1290 AM/96.5 FM |
| Programming | |
| Format | Classic Country |
| Affiliations | ABC Radio |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Idaho Wireless Corporation |
| History | |
First air date | November 21, 1956[1] |
Former call signs |
|
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 28255 |
| Class | D |
| Power | |
Transmitter coordinates | 42°57′28″N 112°25′46″W |
| Translator | see below |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | countryclassicsidaho.com |
History
The station went on the air as KYTE on November 21, 1956.[1] J. Ronald Bayton, the original owner of the independent, music-minded KYTE, sold the station a year later for $60,000 to Thomas R. and A. H. Becker of Newport, Oregon.[5]
Further changes came during 1961 and 1962, when KYTE moved from its original base to a new downtown studio,[6] reopened after a month's silence under new management,[7] and changed its call letters to KSNN on February 26, 1962.[8] The new managers, Tommy Thompson and Daniel C. Libeg, also acquired the station itself: in 1965, Libeg bought out Thompson's share in KSNN.[9]
After a vandalism attempt in April 1967 in which someone shot out the tower lights with a .22-caliber rifle,[10] the station sought approval to move its transmitter site[11] as part of a $100,000 expansion that also included new studio facilities and the construction of an FM station at 93.7 MHz, KSNN-FM.[12] The new offices opened in September 1968,[13] while the FM outlet launched in 1969. KSNN also was hit with a lawsuit from the Associated Press in July 1969 for failure to pay a wire service bill.[14]
While the AM and FM outlets simulcast for the latter's first years in operation, the two stations split the simulcast in 1977, with the FM continuing to offer a Top 40 format while the AM flipped to oldies.[15]
In March 1978, KSNN-AM-FM was sold to the KSNN Broadcasting Company, composed primarily of three businessmen from Hutchinson, Kansas, for $159,000.[16] The new ownership changed the call letters of the AM station to KISU on May 1.[8] A format change in April 1981 resulted in new KZBQ call letters, allowing the television station at Idaho State University to pick up the KISU-TV calls later that year.[17]
KZBQ was acquired by its current owners, Idaho Wireless, in 1985 for $325,000; by this time, it ran an adult contemporary format.[18]
On January 23, 1995, the station changed its call sign to the current KOUU, call letters that had resided on the then-unbuilt 104.1 station at American Falls which became KORR.[19]
Translators
Three translators are listed as associated with the KOUU license: