| Semi-simulcast ofKFNZ-FM Kansas City | |
|---|---|
| |
| Broadcast area | Kansas City metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 610kHz |
| Branding | The Fan AM 610 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Sports |
| Network | Fox Sports Radio |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | June 5, 1922 (1922-06-05) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | "Fans" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 11270 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 5,000 watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 38°59′3.02″N94°37′42.85″W / 38.9841722°N 94.6285694°W /38.9841722; -94.6285694 |
| Repeater | 96.5 KFNZ-FM HD2 (Kansas City) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (via Audacy) |
| Website | www |
KFNZ (610AM) is a broadcast radio station in the United States.Licensed toKansas City, Missouri, KFNZ broadcasts asports radio format simulcasting much ofKFNZ-FM; both stations are owned byAudacy, Inc. Programming includes local sports talk shows, theFox Sports Radio network, and live coverage ofKansas City Chiefs football,Kansas City Royals baseball, andKansas State University football and basketball.
The station was first licensed in 1922 with call sign WDAF, founded byThe Kansas City Star. It became anNBC Red Network affiliate. In 1957, theStar sold WDAF to National Theatres in order to settle an antitrust lawsuit; WDAF would later be bought by Transcontinental Television in 1960 andTaft Broadcasting in 1964. Beginning in the 1960s, the station had apop standards music format, followed bycountry music from 1977 to 2003. With personalities includingBob "Hoolihan" Wells andWalt Bodine, WDAF had been among the most popular radio stations in Kansas City from the 1960s to 1990s, ranked as high as no. 1 inArbitron local ratings in the 1980s and early 1990s; in 1983, the station was even ranked among the top 25 nationally in morning drive ratings byRadio & Records.
In 2003, WDAF changed its call sign to KCSP and picked up its current sports format, withJason Whitlock among its inaugural hosts. In 2024, KCSP changed to KFNZ and a simulcast of KFNZ-FM.
Effective December 1, 1921, the Department of Commerce, which regulated radio at this time, adopted regulations setting aside two wavelengths for use by broadcasting stations: 360 meters (833 kHz) for "entertainment" programs, and 485 meters (619 kHz) for "market and weather" reports.[2]
The station was first licensed on May 16, 1922, as WDAF, toThe Kansas City Star, for operation on 360 meters.[3] The WDAF call sign was randomly assigned from a sequential list of availablecall letters. Currently most stations west of the Mississippi River have call letters beginning with "K". However, WDAF was licensed before the government changed the dividing line between W and K call signs. Prior to the January 1923 establishment of the Mississippi River as the boundary, call letters beginning with "W" were generally assigned to stations east of an irregular line formed by the western state borders from North Dakota south to Texas, with calls beginning with "K" going only to stations in states west of that line.[4]
WDAF made its debut broadcast on June 5, 1922.[5] It bounced around various frequencies, including 750, 730, 680, 820 and 810 kHz. It moved to 610 kHz in 1928, splitting time with stationWOQ, and became the sole occupant of 610 AM in Kansas City the next year when WOQ switched to 1300 kHz. WDAF carried programs from both theNBC Red Network and theBlue Network until becoming a primary NBC Red affiliate in 1930.[6]
WDAF increased power to 5,000 watts daytime in 1935, and 5,000 watts nighttime in 1939.[7] In 1948, theStar obtained a construction permit to create a WDAF TV station on channel 4.[8] WDAF-TV first broadcast on October 16, 1949.[9]
Following an antitrust lawsuit, the Kansas City Star Company signed a consent decree in November 1957 to sell WDAF-AM-TV.[10] This lawsuit stemmed from "combination advertising and subscription rates for both morning and afternoon newspapers in a 'monopoly' newspaper market," explainedBroadcasting magazine on December 9, 1957.[11] The Star Company eventually sold the WDAF stations for $7.6 million to National Theatres Inc. through licensee National-Missouri TV in December 1957.[12][13][7] WDAF addedBob "Hoolihan" Wells fromKOCY inOklahoma City in 1959 to host on Saturday mornings.[14]
In 1960, National-Missouri TV sold the WDAF stations to Transcontinent Television Corporation for $9.7 million combined.[15] Transcontinent then launchedWDAF-FM on 102.1 MHz in 1961.[16][17]
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Transcontinent sold off many of its TV and radio stations in 1964. WDAF-AM-FM-TV was part of a multi-market, $26.9 million purchase of stations byTaft Broadcasting.[19] On February 19 that year, WDAF AM's broadcast license was transferred to Taft effective April 1.[7] Taft programmed apop standards format for WDAF, with personalities includingWalt Bodine.[20] Beginning December 13, 1964, WDAF expanded its broadcast schedule to 24 hours a day.[21]
Through its WDAF Radio Records label, in June 1965 WDAF releasedWDAF Radio Presents Kansas City Jazz, a live concert album featuringCount Basie,Clare Fischer, and other jazz musicians.[22] The AM and FM WDAF stations had initially simulcast, but beginning October 11, 1965, WDAF-FM broke away in afternoons to play contemporary pop albums following an FCC order for radio stations to separate at least 50 percent of AM and FM programming.[23]
In February 1966,Billboard named WDAF among the most popular easy listening stations in the U.S. for a 25.3 weekday morning audience share leading theHooper survey for Kansas City for December 1965 and January 1966.[24] Subsequently in June 1966,Billboard observed that pop standards comprised nearly three quarters of the music on WDAF with the remainder dedicated to current hits.[25]
Beginning February 14, 1977, WDAF changed its format tocountry music and brand to "61 Country", withRandy Michaels as new operations manager.[26][27][28] At the time, no other AM station in Kansas City had a country format.[26] WDAF enjoyed strong ratings as a country station in the 1970s and 1980s as measured byRadio & Records surveys. In October and November 1978, WDAF was the most popular station among listeners aged 25 to 54.[29] In spring 1983, WDAF not only topped the Kansas City ratings but also tied for 17th out of the top 25 morning drive shows nationally and fourth out of the top 25 country stations inAQH share.[30]
In theArbitron spring 1987 radio survey, WDAF led the Kansas City ratings with nearly 30,000 listeners per quarter hour.[31] Later in 1987, Great American Communications bought Taft and its stations, including WDAF AM and TV, through ahostile takeover.[32][33] WDAF again led the Arbitron surveys in Kansas City for spring 1988 and spring 1989.[34][35]
The 1990s had multiple changes in programming, ratings, and ownership. For winter 1992, WDAF returned to the top of the Arbitron Kansas City ratings after briefly trailing FM rivalKFKF.[36] Then in 1994, following aChapter 11 bankruptcy, Great American Communications was renamed Citicasters.[37][38] WDAF again was no. 1 in winter 1993 and winter 1994.[39][40] But WDAF fell to third, with KFKF taking over the no. 1 spot in spring 1995.[41] WDAF returned to no. 1 for winter 1995 and spring 1996.[42][43] However, spring 1996 would be the last time WDAF ranked no. 1; WDAF remained a top-five station but trailed KFKF and other FM competitors likeKPRS for much of 1996 and 1997.[44][45][46] In the fall 1999 Arbitron ratings, WDAF had a 6.6 share, fourth overall but best among four country stations.[47]
From1992 to1994, WDAF was the flagship station for theKansas City Royals radio network, beforeKMBZ regained the Royals broadcast rights beginning in1995.[48][49] AKansas City Star writer criticized WDAF's Royals postgame talk show as the "worst call-in show" on local sports radio.[50]
In1994, the WDAF stations separated, whenNew World Communications purchased WDAF-TV and three other Great American Communications TV stations for a combined $350 million.[51]Jacor purchased WDAF and other Citicasters stations in 1996.[52] WDAF AM was purchased twice in 1997, first byAmerican Radio Systems in June, thenEntercom in October.[53][54] WDAF and other Entercom stations broadcast out of a studio on Belinder Road inWestwood, Kansas; in 2016, theShawnee Mission School District purchased the Belinder Road Entercom building, and the building was demolished in 2021 in preparation for a new elementary school funded by a voter-approved bond measure.[55][56]
In 2002, WDAF signed a contract with theUniversity of Missouri's Tiger Radio Network to broadcastfootball andMissouri Tigers men's basketball games and weekly talk shows.[57] In spring 2003, WDAF ranked fourth in the Arbitron Kansas City ratings with a 5.4 share.[58]
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In 2003, Entercom announced it would move WDAF to106.5 on the FM dial, and would flip AM 610 tosports talk to compete againstWHB.[59] At 2 p.m. on September 10, 2003, the station became KCSP, "61 Sports" (later "610 Sports").Jason Whitlock was among its inaugural local hosts, andThe Jim Rome Show would move to KCSP from WHB effective December 8.[60]
With the format change did some an initial ratings drop, with WDAF's rating share going down from 5.6 in summer 2003 to 2.8 in fall 2003; KCSP's first full quarter returned a 2.2 in winter 2004.[61] By fall 2004, KCSP began overtaking WHB in some ratings surveys, but WHB jumped far ahead by the winter, with some shows beating KCSP by five or more points among men aged 25 to 54.[62]
Kansas Jayhawk sports moved to KCSP in September 2006. Kansas City Royals baseball began airing on KCSP in the 2008 season. In 2012, KCSP droppedThe Jim Rome Show in favor of expanding its local programming.[6]
Beginning with the2020 season, KCSP joined the Kansas City Chiefs radio network to provide live coverage of news conferences with head coachAndy Reid and quarterbackPatrick Mahomes, in addition to the weeklyChiefs Kingdom Radio Show; Chiefs games would be on sister stationWDAF-FM.[63]
On August 8, 2024, at 10 a.m., KCSP announced that it would begin simulcasting on FM sister station KRBZ beginning August 15, and rebrand as "96.5 The Fan". The FM side, which adopted theKFNZ-FM callsign, would become the new flagship station for theKansas City Chiefs (which had been on WDAF-FM) and the Royals with the move.[64] In case of event conflicts, some Royals games would remain solely on 610 AM, which would also take on the KFNZ call sign.[65]
KFNZ is aClass B regional station, with a power of 5,000watts, both the daytime and nighttime, using anon-directional antenna on one tower.[66] Thetransmitter is off Mission Road inPrairie Village, Kansas.[67] Programming is also heard on theHD2subchannel of KFNZ-FM.