KFH (AM)

KFH
City Wichita, Kansas
Branding Sports Radio 1240 & 97.5 KFH
Frequency 1240 kHz
Translator(s) 97.5 K248CY (Wichita)
First air date April 1, 1922
Format Sports
Power 630 watts
Class C
Facility ID 53598
Callsign meaning "Kansas' Finest Hotel" (studios were formerly in Carey House Square at Douglas and Emporia, Wichita)
Former callsigns KAKE
KAKZ
KRZZ
KNSS
Affiliations CBS Sports Radio
ESPN Radio
Owner Entercom Communications
(Entercom License, LLC)
Sister stations KDGS, KEYN-FM, KFBZ, KNSS, KNSS-FM
Webcast Listen Live
Website kfhradio.com

KFH (1240 AM) is a sports[1] radio station licensed to Wichita, Kansas.[2] The station is owned by Entercom.[3] The station's studios are located at North Woodlawn and East 21st in Northeast Wichita, while the transmitter is located north of downtown.

History

The station started in March 1922[4] as WEAH, owned by the Lander Radio Company, and was originally intended to broadcast market reports. It began actual broadcasts on April 1, 1922. On June 23, 1923,[4] the station was sold to the Wichita Board of Trade. During the next period of nearly two years, the Rigby Gray Hotel Company Corporation (operator of the Lassen Hotel) gradually took over the ownership, with the final sale taking place on April 30, 1925.[4] The hotel company chose to change the call letters to KFH, standing for "Kansas' Finest Hotel," and at 9:45am, February 14, 1926, the first radio broadcast under the call letters KFH was made. The Wichita Eagle, a local newspaper, purchased 50% of KFH on October 1, 1929.[4] KFH became a Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) affiliate on October 8, 1929. The Federal Communications Commission authorized an increase in daytime power to 5 KW on May 28, 1935.[5]

Ownership remained under the control of the hotel company until June 5, 1963, when the Federal Communications Commission approved the transfer of the station license to Aeschlayer & Reynolds of Dallas, Texas.[4] The new oner retained the station for less than five and a half years, however, and sold KFH to Phil and Nancy Kassebaum, operating under the corporate name "KFH Radio, Inc." on November 1, 1968.

The ownership remained stable for twenty years, until October 19, 1988, when the station was purchased by Midcontinent Broadcasting Company of Kansas, which held the station until July 1, 1994, and sold it to Pourtales Radio Partnership on that date.[4] Pourtales did not retain ownership very long; the company signed a letter of intent to sell KFH to Triathlon Broadcasting on Friday, March 24, 1995 and completed the sale on June 2, 1995.[4] The station was in turn sold to Entercom on February 23, 2000.[4]

The station had broadcast for decades at 1330 AM until it swapped frequencies with KNSS on August 30, 2004.

KFH carried a talk format beginning in the 1990s until 2002, when it shifted most of its political talk shows to KNSS, and also added a simulcast on 98.7 FM, displacing smooth jazz KWSJ. KFH then became a hot talk station, carrying shows such as Don & Mike and Loveline. It shifted back to a more mainstream talk format in 2006. On May 9, 2011, KFH changed its format to sports talk. KFH carries some programs from CBS Sports Radio.

In early 2015, the radio station will move to the Ruffin Building at 9111 East Douglas, formerly the Pizza Hut headquarters.[6] KFH moved its FM simulcast to 97.5 FM on October 12, 2016; KFH-FM then became KNSS-FM, a simulcast of KNSS.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for KFH
  2. ↑ Radio-Locator Information on KFH
  3. ↑ Query the FCC's AM station database for KFH
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Official Site
  5. ↑ "(untitled brief)" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 1, 1935. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  6. ↑ Entercom Radio to move to Ruffin Building.
  7. ↑ "Which Wichita radio stations are moving spots on the dial?". The Wichita Eagle. October 7, 2016. Retrieved October 15, 2016.

External links

Coordinates: 37°43′06″N 97°19′05″W / 37.71833°N 97.31806°W / 37.71833; -97.31806

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