KJOC

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KJOC is a radio station licensed to Davenport, Iowa, and has a talk radio format. The station's frequency is 1170 kHz, and broadcasts at a power of 1kW.

KJOC is owned by Cumulus Media, with studios located in Davenport, Iowa (along with the co-located KQCS, WXLP, KBEA-FM and KBOB-FM.

[edit] History of 1170 kHz

For Quad Cities-area baby boomers, the Davenport allocation for 1170 kHz represented good times and the best rock 'n' roll music in the area.

The station signed on in July 1946, but it wasn't until the mid-1950s -- when it began playing the then-new Top 40/contemporary hit radio genre -- that the station really took off in popularity. Disc jockeys made liberal use of listener requests and call-in contests. If there was a live broadcast or news happening in the Quad Cities, listeners were sure to spot the "Big Red" mobile news cruiser. KSTT also polled listeners on their favorite current songs, which disc jockeys then presented in a weekly countdown program. Quad-City area servicemen in Vietnam had tapes of KSTT programming sent to them.

The station, which was located along East River Drive in downtown Davenport, had a large window in its studio, where motorists could see their favorite on-air disc jockeys broadcasting. Listeners today remember such radio personalities as Jay Gregory, Mark Stevens, Lou Gutenberger, Bobby Rich, Ruth and Fred, Spike O'Dell and Jim O'Hara, each of them presenting the current Top 40 hits in an entertaining way.

"KSTT listeners became participants as well as listeners, calling Ruth and Fred on the Phone Show, phoning in news tips, (and) requesting songs," one history of the station stated. "They attended KSTT-sponsored hootenannys and hops, ball games and picnics, concerts and Good Guy-A-Go-Go dances. And they entered contests." Dick Orkins infamous Chickenman and Toothfairy episodes were heard daily.

For many years, KSTT remained the top-rated station in the Quad Cities market. But by the late 1970s, with FM radio stations gaining in popularity (particularly KIIK 104), KSTT's audience started to shrink. In the mid 1980s (1984) KSTT changed its call letters to KKZX, known to listeners as 11KZX and took one last ditch effort at "Top 40" music and had mild success, that lasted until early 1986. After Guy Gannett Broadcasting sold the station as well as its sister station 97X to Goodrich Broadcasting, the station returned to its legendary KSTT call letters but began programming Golden Oldies -- music from the 1950s through early 1970s. It worked for a while, but the resurgence was temporary.

By the mid to late 1980s, KSTT was doing some simulcasting with its sister station, WXLP-FM (aka 97X, a rock-oriented station). By 1992, 1170 AM's format was largely sports and sports talk, and in January 1993, the station's call letters were switched to reflect its format: KJOC.

During its 10-year run as a sports station, KJOC received most of its programming from ESPN Radio, and was the Quad-Cities outlet for Chicago-area professional sports -- including the Bears, Bulls, Cubs and White Sox. For most of the 1990s, KJOC also provided coverage of local sports.

KJOC's current talk format debuted in April 2003. The station's signature talk show is hosted by Bill O'Reilly; Chicago-area sports remains a fixure on KJOC.

[edit] Sources

• Anderson, Frederick I, editor. "Joined By a River: Quad Cities." Lee Enterprises, 1982. ISBN 0-910847-00-2

[edit] External links

• Cumulus Quad Cities market
• An example of a KSTT survey from January 1972
• Another KSTT survey, this one from November 1974
• Query the FCC's AM station database for KJOC
• Radio Locator Information on KJOC