WMBH
| City of license | Joplin, Missouri |
|---|---|
| Branding | ESPN 1560 |
| Frequency | 1560 kHz |
| First air date | 1926 |
| Format | Sports |
| Power |
500 watts daytime 35 watts nighttime |
| Class | D |
| Facility ID | 72493 |
| Callsign meaning |
Where Memories Bring Happiness (slogan first year of operation) |
| Former callsigns | KQYX (1926-2001) |
| Affiliations | ESPN Radio |
| Owner | Jerry Tibbetts |
| Website | espnjoplin.com/wmbh |
WMBH (1560 AM) is a radio station licensed to Joplin, Missouri. It was founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1926, later moving to Joplin in 1927. WMBH is the only station in the Joplin area to have a callsign beginning with a "W" due to its Chicago origins.
WMBH is the longest continually operating station in the Joplin area. The station is owned by Jerry Tibbetts.
On October 9, 2006 WMBH flipped formats from Talk/Sports to Urban Contemporary as "1560 The Beat".
The station currently serves as a repeater for KSHQ, an ESPN Radio station in Pittsburg, Kansas.
Station Origin
The following description comes from "Missouri's Digital Heritage" website:
WMBH, which used the slogan "Where Memories Bring Happiness" claimed to be Joplin's first radio station. However, WHAH can top that. It was the first radio station in all of southwest Missouri, operating from Joplin's Hafer Radio Supply Company at 112-114 W. Sixth beginning in September 1922. Its velvet-lined, soundproof studio regularly broadcast concerts, addresses, news features, and baseball scores to homes up to 125 miles away.
The first broadcast featured the Fortnightly Music Club, the Joplin High School Orchestra, and Mayor Taylor Snapp's lecture entitled "The City of Joplin is Never Behind in Anything. " For the first time ever, during the Presidential campaign of 1924, Joplin residents clustered around radios and listened with wonder to the voices of the candidates. President Calvin Coolidge spoke from his study in the White House, while John W. Davis spoke from a studio in New York City.
In order to reduce interference to the broadcast's reception, the city had to turn off all its street lights between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m.
WMBH began servicing the Joplin area in 1926, with a studio in the Keystone Hotel and a transmitter at 1334 Roosevelt. In January 1942, the station spent $5,000 to double its space to 2,000 square feet, moving into new quarters in the lobby of the Frisco Building.
In 1946, WMBH-FM Radio went on the air, broadcasting a variety of informative and entertaining programs including the long-running "Quality Hour of Music."[1]
WMBH-FM (102.5) is now known by the call letters KIXQ.
References
External links
- WMBH at MySpace
- KGCS Pioneer Broadcaster: WMBH
- Query the FCC's AM station database for WMBH
- Radio-Locator Information on WMBH
- Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WMBH
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Coordinates: 37°04′10″N 94°32′49″W / 37.06944°N 94.54694°W