KDMR (AM)

KDMR (1190 kHz) is an AM radio station licensed to Kansas City, Missouri, serving the Kansas City metropolitan area. The station is owned by the Catholic Radio Network, Inc.^[1] It airs a Spanish-language Roman Catholic religious radio format. KDMR airs both local shows and national programming from EWTN Radio.

KDMR operates at 5000 watts by day. But because AM 1190 is a clear-channel frequency reserved for Class A stations KEX in Portland, Oregon, and XEWK in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico, KDMR must reduce power at night to 500 watts to avoid interference.

History

On September 1, 1971, the station went on the air as KAYQ.^[2] It used the slogan "Fresh Air for Kansas City", and aired a Middle of the Road music and news format, competing with ratings leader KMBZ 980. The format later changed to country music for several years.

On December 20, 1978, the station changed its call sign to KJLA under Owner/General Manager Wilton "Chip" Osborn, and played 24-hour disco hits until that music phenomenon faded in 1980. Even the newscasts had a disco beat in the background. In the fall of 1981, KJLA switched to "The Music of Your Life," a syndicated adult standards format, and dropped all local newscasts. Yet several months later, the station received a national Associated Press award for its coverage of the deadly Hyatt Regency skywalk collapse.

On October 12, 1992, the station's call letters were changed to KFEZ, to reflect the "easy" sound of the station as a Music of Your Life network affiliate. On March 3, 1997, the format switched to Business News and the call letters were changed again to KPHN.^[3]

On July 20, 2002, at 2 PM, Radio Disney made its debut in Kansas City, with the first song being "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne. In June 2013, Disney put KPHN and six other Radio Disney stations in medium-sized markets up for sale, in order to refocus the network's broadcast distribution in the top 25 markets.^[4]

On July 31, 2013, KPHN dropped the Radio Disney affiliation and went silent.^[5] In April, Disney filed to sell KPHN to the Catholic Radio Network (a Missouri Non-Profit Corporation), owner of KEXS.^[6] The sale was consummated on July 25, 2014,^[7] at a purchase price of $700,000, and accepted by the FCC on July 28, 2014. After almost one year, KPHN resumed operations on July 25, 2014.^[8]

On December 11, 2016, which is the vigil of the feast day for Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico, the station switched to a Spanish-language Catholic radio format.^[9] Meanwhile, sister stations 1090 KEXS and 890 KMVG continue to serve Kansas City as English-language Catholic radio stations.

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References

External links

• Query the FCC's AM station database for KDMR
• Radio-Locator Information on KDMR
• Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for KDMR
• Query the FCC's FM station database for K224ET
• Radio-Locator information on K224ET
• FCC History Cards for KDMR