 | |
| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | EasternIowa |
| Frequency | 600kHz |
| Branding | Newsradio 600 WMT |
| Programming | |
| Format | News/talk |
| Affiliations |
|
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | July 30, 1922; 103 years ago (1922-07-30) |
Former call signs | WJAM (1922–1928) |
Call sign meaning | Waterloo Morning Tribune (now-defunct newspaper that once owned the station) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 73593 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 5,000 watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 42°3′40″N91°32′42.6″W / 42.06111°N 91.545167°W /42.06111; -91.545167 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (viaiHeartRadio) |
| Website | 600wmtradio |
WMT (600kHz) is acommercialAM radio station inCedar Rapids, Iowa. It broadcasts anews/talkradio format and is owned byiHeartMedia, Inc. The studios are co-located with formersister stationKGAN-TV channel 2, near the intersection of Collins Road (Iowa Highway 100) and Old Marion Road NE in Cedar Rapids, in a building known as "Broadcast Park".
By day, WMT is powered at 5,000 wattsnon-directional. At night, to protect other stations on600 AM from interference, WMT uses adirectional antenna with a three-tower array. Itstransmitter site is on Radio Road nearMarion.[2] WMT is aClass B station broadcasting on a Regional AM frequency.
WMT is the oldest radio station in Cedar Rapids. It was first licensed, as WJAM, on August 1, 1922, to Douglas "Tex" Perham.[3] Its originalcall sign was randomly assigned from a sequential list of available call signs. In addition, until the January 1923 adoption of the Mississippi River as the dividing line, Iowa was one of the states normally assigned "W" call letters.[4] The stationsigned on the air on July 30, 1922, with a program presented in conjunction withThe Evening Gazette.[5]
In 1928, Harry Shaw purchased WJAM and moved the station from Cedar Rapids toWaterloo, renaming it WMT after the now-defunctWaterloo Morning Tribune newspaper which he owned. WMT was originally anaffiliate of theNBC Blue Network, but flipped affiliates toCBS Radio in 1940. It carried its dramas, comedies, news and sports during the "Golden Age of Radio.[6]
Shaw sold the station to the Cowles family, owners of theDes Moines Register, in October 1934. WMT moved back to Cedar Rapids the following year, occupying the studios of the defunct KWCR radio after KWCR's frequency was taken over byKSO inDes Moines, another Cowles station, WMT continued to operate a secondary studio in Waterloo until 1947. The Cowleses sold WMT toDelaware-based American Broadcasting Stations in 1944.
WMT-TV, the first television station in Cedar Rapids, signed on at channel 2 on September 30, 1953. On February 27, 1963, WMT-FM (nowKKSY-FM) debuted at 96.5 MHz with the same song, "Don't Send Me Posies When It's Shoesies That I Need", played on the AM station's inaugural broadcast 41 years earlier.
Ownership of the WMT stations was passed on to Orion Broadcasting ofLouisville, Kentucky, in 1968. In 1981, Cosmos Broadcasting ofGreenville, South Carolina, purchased WMT-AM-FM. The company had also planned to purchase WMT-TV, but the television station was sold toGuy Gannett Communications because of ownership restrictions at the time. The TV station changed its call letters toKGAN. (WMT and KGAN continue to broadcast from the same building on Collins Road, known as "Broadcast Park"; however, WMT now gets its weather reports fromKCRG-TV.)
An ownership group that included former Iowa governorRobert D. Ray and sportscaster Forrest "Frosty" Mitchell purchased WMT on October 1, 1986. On January 1, 1996,Palmer Communications (owners ofWHO radio in Des Moines) acquired WMT. WHO and WMT were later sold toJacor Broadcasting, which was eventually acquired byClear Channel Communications. In 2014, Clear Channel changed its name toiHeartMedia, Inc.
WMT has always maintained atfull service staff of newscasters, agriculture reporters and sportscasters. From the 1950s to the 1980s, it playedmiddle of the road music. It was also affiliated withCBS Radio News for world and national coverage. By the 1990s, it had eliminated all music programming and became atalk radio station. In the early 2010s, it switched its network toFox News Radio.
Beginning January 2, 2012, WMT began simulcasting on KWMG inAnamosa at 95.7MHz, to give WMT listeners the option to hear the station on FM. The simulcast ended on August 18, 2014.[7] FM 95.7 is nowKOSY-FM, airing asports radio format.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
