WHO (AM)

WHO

Broadcast area	Des Moines, Iowa
Branding	NewsRadio 1040, WHO
Frequency	1040 (kHz) (also on HD Radio)
First air date	April 11, 1924
Format	News/Talk
Power	50,000 watts
Class	A
Callsign meaning	Derived from the word "WHO"; also attributed to Palmer Chiropractic slogan "With Hands Only"
Affiliations	Fox News Radio Iowa Hawkeyes Radio Network
Owner	Clear Channel Communications (Citicaster Licensee, L.P.)
Website	www.whoradio.com

WHO is a clear channel radio station broadcasting 50,000 watts on 1040 AM with a news/talk format. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications and is located in Des Moines, Iowa. The station can be heard over most of the continental United States during nighttime hours. During daytime hours, its transmitter power and Iowa's flat land allows it to be heard in almost all of Iowa, as well as parts of Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and Wisconsin.

History

WHO first began broadcasting on April 11, 1924, from the top floor of the Liberty Building in downtown Des Moines. The callsign came from the fact that during the 1920s people searching for stations on the radio dial would ask, "Who is it?" The station was originally owned by Bankers Life, which is now the Principal Financial Group. After the FRC's General Order 40 reallocated frequencies in 1928, WHO ended up sharing time on the same frequency with WOC in Davenport. In 1930, B. J. Palmer, owner of WOC, bought WHO, and the two stations operated together as WOC-WHO until a new 50,000-watt transmitter near Mitchellville began operating on November 11, 1933. (WOC ceased broadcasting that day but returned on another frequency a year later.) Palmer later changed the call letter slogan to represent 'With Hands Only', which he had adopted as a slogan of Chiropractic. WHO moved from 1000 AM to the current 1040 AM on March 29, 1941, as a result of the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement. Today WHO is one of only two 50,000-watt AM radio stations in Iowa (KXEL in Waterloo is the other), though WHO's signal is non-directional and KXEL's is directional [1].

In 1948, WHO-FM 100.3 signed on the air; WHO-FM has changed formats and call letters several times since then and now broadcasts as KDRB, "100.3 The Bus." In 1954, WHO-TV began broadcasting on channel 13.

WHO was owned by the Palmer family until Jacor Broadcasting purchased the station in 1997; Jacor merged with Clear Channel Communications a year later. WHO and the other Clear Channel radio stations in Des Moines (KDRB, KPTL, KKDM, and KXNO) continued to share a building with WHO-TV until they moved into a new facility in 2005.

For many years, WHO has used an owl as its mascot--an apparent play on its call letters.

Personalities and programming

Future President Ronald Reagan working for WHO in the mid-1930s

United States President Ronald Reagan worked as a sportscaster with WHO from 1932 to 1937. Among his duties were re-creations of Chicago Cubs baseball games. During that time, it was too expensive for teams to air games outside their hometowns.

Current local talk show hosts include Van Harden and Bonnie Lucas, co-hosts of the Van & Bonnie[2] morning show; followed by Jan Mickelson in the Morning; and Simon Conway, originally from London, England, taking over the afternoon drive slot in April 2011. Weekend local talk shows include Saturday Morning Live and the WHO Radio Wise Guys. WHO also carries syndicated talk shows such as those hosted by Rush Limbaugh, Dave Ramsey, and Michael Medved.

WHO has also been the longtime flagship station of University of Iowa sports. Jim Zabel, who joined WHO in 1944 [3], was their play-by-play voice for Hawkeye football and basketball games from 1949 to 1996. While Gary Dolphin now handles those duties, Zabel remains with WHO as co-host (with Jon Miller of HawkeyeNation.com, who is the heir apparent to Zabel as WHO's Sports Director, announced in May 2006) of the Sound Off sports talk show that airs after Hawkeye games, and as co-host of Two Guys Named Jim on Sunday nights with former Iowa State University football coach Jim Walden.

WHO perennially ranks at or near the top of the Arbitron ratings in the Des Moines market.

WHO broadcasts an Internet stream 24 hours per day at WHORadio.com.

References

• Stein, Jeff, Making Waves: The People and Places of Iowa Broadcasting (ISBN 0-9718323-1-5). Cedar Rapids, Iowa: WDG Communications, 2004.

External links

• WHO official website
• WHO radio historical artifacts from DesMoinesBroadcasting.com
• WHO-Tour of Transmitter and History
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WHO
• Radio-Locator Information on WHO
• Query Arbitron's AM station database for WHO