KMOX (AM)

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{{Infobox Radio Station 

| name = KMOX
| image = Image:KMOX logo.png
| city = 
| area = St. Louis, Missouri
| branding = News/Talk 1120
| slogan = The Voice of St. Louis
| airdate = December 24, 1925
| frequency = 1120 (kHz)
| format = News/Talk
| power = 50,000 watts
| erp = 
| class = A
| callsign_meaning = none officially, but a local legend says: Kirkwood, Missouri Xmas (the station launched on a Christmas Eve)
| owner = CBS Radio
| website = www.kmox.com

}} KMOX is an AM radio station broadcasting in St. Louis, Missouri and assigned to frequency 1120 kHz. It is a 50,000-watt clear channel radio station, which permits its nighttime signal to be heard in most of the continental U.S. KMOX operates as "News/Talk 1120" and refers to itself as "The Voice of St. Louis."

KMOX is affiliated with the CBS Radio Network and licensed to a CBS Corporation subsidiary, CBS Radio. KMOX's transmitter is located in Pontoon Beach, Illinois.

Contents

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History

KMOX was incorporated in 1925 as The Voice of St. Louis Inc. According to the station's official website, the "KMOX" call letters were assigned by the Federal Radio Commission. The station's owners had hoped to be assigned "K-M-O," but the letters were in use at the time by a wireless station on a ship. KMOX signed on December 24, 1925.

In 1927, the station gave prominent coverage to the Charles Lindbergh flight across the Atlantic, in the Spirit of St. Louis.

In 1927, it became one of the first 16 stations in the CBS network; two years later CBS bought KMOX, and began the process of getting approval to build a 50,000-watt transmitter tower; when completed, it gave the now-clear channel station a signal that could be heard as far away as New Zealand and the Arctic Circle, making it one of the first international radio stations.

In 1933, KMOX covered the first post-Prohibition case of Budweiser beer leaving Anheuser-Busch for the White House, a story carried nationally by CBS.

During the 1930s and 1940s, KMOX was one of several St. Louis stations broadcasting Saint Louis Cardinals and Saint Louis Browns baseball games. KMOX lost broadcasting rights in 1948 when a new Cardinals radio network was formed by the team, but by the 1950s, it became the flagship station of that network (in part due to its clear channel status).

In 1955 Robert Hyland Jr became KMOX's general manager, a role he held for nearly forty years. It was Hyland who emphasized and leveraged KMOX's relationship with the Cardinals; he also made the decision in 1960 to eliminate the station's afternoon music programming in favor of talk radio, a critical change which led to the station's subsequent dominance of the St. Louis radio market. On February 29 of that year, Jack Buck hosted the first "At Your Service" program, which included an interview with Eleanor Roosevelt. That program, like the sports talk programs that soon followed, pioneered a format for radio heavily dependent on interviews, guest appearances, and calls from listeners.

After Hyland died in 1992, Rod Zimmerman was named general manager. He departed in 1998 to manage WBBM Radio in Chicago. Karen Carroll was general manager from 1998 until 2003, when Tom Langmyer was promoted to the top position. Langmyer left in 2005 to become vice president/general manager of WGN Radio in Chicago. Dave Ervin is the station's current general manager.

The station's emphasis has shifted away from broadcasting St. Louis professional sports teams. In 2000, the St. Louis Blues moved to KTRS after having been on KMOX for all but two of the team's 33 seasons. In 2006, the Cardinals broadcasts moved after the team purchased controlling interest in KTRS.

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Programming

KMOX has had a long history of broadcasting sports. In 1926, it broadcast the Cardinals-Yankees World Series, and starting the next season the station was regularly carrying Cardinals games. KMOX's most famous sports figure was Jack Buck, who was the station's year-round sports director during the years he was also calling baseball and football for the CBS radio and television networks.

The station continues to host sports programming such as "Sports on a Sunday Morning" and "Sports Open Line." St. Louis Cardinals broadcaster Dan McLaughlin and Mike Grimm host "Sports Open Line," which airs every weekday night.

While the station was known nationally for sports play-by-play, KMOX is best known in St. Louis for its format of news and talk. The station offers news, weather and traffic updates throughout the day. KMOX holds the distinction of holding the record for consecutive number one Arbitron ratings books in the United States. The station has consistently been the number one radio station with listeners 12 and older since 1972.

Some of the station's popular hosts and local programs include:

"Total Information AM" with Doug McElvein and Debbie Monterrey, Charles Brennan, Paul Harris, "Sports Open Line" with Mike Grimm and Dan McLaughlin, and "Two Johns, No Waiting" with John Carney and Jon Grayson

Rush Limbaugh airs weekdays between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm. This is the only non-local show broadcast on the station.

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Personalities

Notable current and past KMOX broadcasters include:

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Trivia

  • For many years, KMOX broadcast using C-QUAM AM stereo, but stereo transmissions ended in the spring of 2000. The station now broadcasts an HD Radio signal.
  • The former KMOX-FM 103.3MHz, now operates under different ownership as KLOU.
  • The former KMOX-TV channel 4, now operates under different ownership as KMOV.
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External links

Template:St. Louis AM

Template:CBS

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