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| Broadcast area | Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 590kHz |
| Branding | AM 590 ESPN Omaha |
| Programming | |
| Format | Sports |
| Affiliations | ESPN Radio |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KEZO-FM,KKCD,KQCH,KSRZ | |
| History | |
First air date | April 2,1923 (as WOAW) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | "Sports" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 50313 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 5,000watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 41°18′55″N95°59′52″W / 41.31528°N 95.99778°W /41.31528; -95.99778 |
| Repeater(s) | |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www.am590espnradio.com |
KXSP (590AM) is a commercialradio stationlicensed toOmaha, Nebraska. The station is owned bySummitMedia and it airs asportsformat. Most weekday afternoon and evening programming is from local hosts, while during mornings, late nights and weekends, KXSP carries theESPN Radio Network.
KXSP operates with 5,000watts, using a non-directionaltransmitter off Sorensen Parkway in North Omaha. Due to its location near the bottom of the AM dial, as well as Nebraska's flat land (with near-perfectground conductivity), its signal is easily heard in most of the eastern half ofNebraska, as well as parts ofIowa,Missouri,Kansas andSouth Dakota. It provides grade B coverage as far south asKansas City as far east asDes Moines, and as far north asSioux Falls. Offices and studios are located on Mercy Road in Omaha'sAksarben Village. KXSP programming is also carried on theHD2 subchannels ofKEZO-FM andKSRZ.
On April 2, 1923, the station firstsigned on, owned by theWoodmen of the Worldlife insurance society, using thecall sign WOAW.[2] Management originally sought the call letters WOW (for "Woodmen of the World") but they were already used by the steamshipHenry J. Bibble. A call sign beginning with "W" was possible in Nebraska because originally the dividing line between "K" and "W" stations followed the western border of Nebraska. WOAW's call sign was issued on November 27, 1922, shortly before the divide was moved to theMississippi River in January 1923.[3] Despite this, the station was able to claim the WOW call sign on December 16, 1926,[3] upon retirement of theBibble.
The station eventually became so profitable that it could not remain under the Woodmen society's umbrella without threatening its tax-exempt status. Accordingly, the Woodmen leased the station to a group of local investors who formed Radio Station WOW, Inc., and assigned the license to the group in 1943.[4] The group added a television station (nowWOWT) in 1949.
In 1951,Meredith Corporation bought the WOW stations. In 1955, it dropped WOW's network affiliation withNBC Radio and agreed to switch toCBS Radio as part of a five-station deal covering TV and radio stations in three cities.[5]
Meredith added an FM station in 1961 (nowKEZO-FM). WOW became aTop 40 station in the early 1970s, where formerShindig! hostJimmy O'Neill worked for a time. The station switched to acountry format in the early 1980s.
Meredith sold WOWT toChronicle Publishing Company in 1975, but held on to the radio stations until selling to Great Empire Broadcasting in 1983.Journal Broadcast Group bought the radio stations in 1999. On November 22, 1999, the WOW call letters were dropped in favor of KOMJ with adoption of a new format ofadult standards, branded as "Magic 590".[6][7]
On April 25, 2005, KOMJ and then-sister stationKOSR (1490 AM) swapped formats, with KOMJ adopting the sports format (as "Big Sports 590") with new call letters KXSP, and 1490 adopting the standards format and KOMJ callsign.
On February 1, 2011, KXSP swappedaffiliations withKOZN (1620 AM); KOZN took theFox Sports Radio affiliation, while KXSP took ESPN. With the affiliation swap, KXSP rebranded as "AM 590 ESPN Radio".
On August 23, 2012, KXSP began airing The Front Stretch Radio Show on Sunday mornings. Originally hosted by Michael Grey, Buddy Ray Jones and Andrew Kosiski, The Front Stretch covered local dirt track racing and NASCAR.
Journal Communications and theE. W. Scripps Company announced on July 30, 2014, that the two companies would merge to create a new broadcast company under the E. W. Scripps Company name that would own the two companies' broadcast properties, including KXSP. The transaction was completed in 2015.[8]
On February 10, 2015, Journal Broadcast Group and theIMG Group announced they had signed a contract for Journal to be the broadcast partner forNebraska Cornhuskers sports. Effective July 1, 2015, KXSP became the primary station forNebraska Cornhuskers sports broadcasts, sharing flagship status with Lincoln'sKLIN. Co-owned KEZO will simulcast football games, whileKKCD will air any volleyball, women's basketball and baseball games that conflict with other athletic events. This ended a nine-decade association between the Huskers andKFAB, the state's most powerful radio station. However, school officials had long felt chagrin at KFAB's unwillingness to air all major sports, and wanted all games to air on a single, powerful station. KXSP's daytime broadcast range is almost as large as that of KFAB's.[9][10] As mentioned above, this is due to Nebraska's flat land; most 5,000-watt AM stations in the Midwest have daytime footprints comparable to those of full-power FM stations.
Scripps exited radio in 2018; the Omaha stations went toSummitMedia in a four-market, $47 million deal completed on November 1, 2018.[11]
WOW received a 1946Peabody Award for Outstanding Regional Public Service for its program series "Operation Big Muddy".[12]