KKAA (1560 AM, "Pure Country 107.1 & 99.9") was a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

licensed to serve

Aberdeen, South Dakota Aberdeen ( Lakota: ''Ablíla'') is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, United States, located approximately northeast of Pierre. The city population was 28,495 at the 2020 census, making it the third most populous ci ...

. The station was last owned by Robert J. Ingstad, Todd Ingstad, and Tallie Colville, through licensee I3G Radio, LLC.

History

Country music

In the summer of 1974, KKAA's transmitter site was constructed south of Aberdeen, next to the waste treatment plant. The antenna site's

ground conductivity Ground conductivity refers to the electrical conductivity of the subsurface of the earth. In the International System of Units (SI) it is measured in millisiemens per meter (mS/m). Radio propagation Ground conductivity is an extremely importan ...

was excellent for an AM radio station, as the Aberdeen area is a flood plain, with soil that provides excellent radio wave propagation, and an excellent ground plane. Extensive testing and measuring went into the fine-tuning of the 6 tower, directional antenna array. The original equipment included a custom built antenna phasor built to specs provided by the Harold Munn Radio consulting group, and the original transmitter was a 5,000 watt Continental, phase-modulated, solid-state, which was state of the art at the tme. The transmitter produced so much heat that it was used to warm the building in the winter. By summer's end 1974, the field measurements were done. At night KKAA operated with a highly directional signal that sent most of its signal almost due north at roughly 350 degrees, which provided a strong signal over-the-pole to Moscow, Russia, but also meant it could not be heard in Ipswich, South Dakota. The FCC signed off for permission to begin normal broadcasting, and the first words heard on KKAA after the station I.D. were by President Gerald Ford welcoming KKAA to the airwaves. The first song played was "Easy Lovin'" by Freddy Hart, followed by "Stand by your man" by

Tammy Wynette Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music artist, as well as an actress and author. She is considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Ly ...

. The original on-air format was modern country music, and the station operated 24 hours a day. The staff was from all around the country and the average age was 24 years. The line-up included: David Laustsen, general manager; Jean Laustsen, operations manager; Bard Kallestad, chief engineer & D.J.; Telford Toffelmire, program director,& D.J.; Chuck Timanus, news director; Ray Smith, farm director; Bob Matson, sales director; Jay Jackson, D.J. (morning man); Jeff James, D.J. (drive-time); Jefferson Red (Merle Valness), D.J.(evenings); Lovely-Liz (Elizabeth Epstein), D.J.(grave-yard shift). Under the mantle of Sunset Broadcasting, the owner of the FCC license was Dakota North Plains Corporation, which owned and operated the Dakota Farmer magazine and other businesses. Local acceptance of the new radio station was overwhelming and commercial sales were very successful. In fact, the price of advertising tripled in just over one year's time. Within three years, the general manager was elected to the South Dakota state legislature and most of the original crew were moving on to other opportunities. One of the people who moved on, was Aberdeen's own Jerry Oster, who migrated to WNAX, where he has held almost every job at the station and is now the news director. In June 1997, Roberts Radio of

Pleasantville, New York Pleasantville is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located 30 miles north of Manhattan. The village population was 7,019 at the 2010 census. Pleasantville is home to the secondary campu ...

, made a deal to acquire KSDN and KSDN-FM to accompany its previous still-pending deal to purchase of KKAA and KQAA-FM. The KKAA/KQAA deal was finalized on July 1, 1997. At the time, KKAA broadcast a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

format and a spokesman for Robert Radio stated they intended to maintain this programming. In June 2000, Clear Channel purchased Roberts Radio in a deal valued at a reported $65.9 million. Aberdeen radio stations KKAA (1560 AM), KQAA (94.9 FM), KSDN (930 AM), KSDN (94.1 FM) and KBFO (106.7 FM) were part of that deal. In May 2001, the station added "News and Views with Ed Schultz," a current affairs talk show based at KFGO in Fargo, North Dakota, to its weekday lineup.

News/talk

In early October 2002, Clear Channel juggled the lineups of KKAA and KSDN to give KKAA a current events talk focus and KSDN a sports talk focus. KKAA shifted from a full-service format mixing country music, agriculture news, and some talk programming to a news and information talk station. On KKAA,

Dr. Laura Doctor is an academic title that originates from the Latin word of the same spelling and meaning. The word is originally an agentive noun of the Latin verb 'to teach'. It has been used as an academic title in Europe since the 13th century, w ...

Schlessinger's afternoon advice show was replaced by "The

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of '' The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM r ...

Show", moved over from KSDN. Local morning talk show "Aberdeen Today" was expanded from one to two hours, renamed "Talk of the Town," and moved from KSDN to KKAA. "

Tradio Tradio is a type of talk radio show format, though now considered archaic, where listeners call in to buy or sell items. The concept is analogous to classified ads in local newspapers and most prevalent in the south and midwest. "Tradio" is a p ...

," a locally popular show during which listeners call in to buy and sell goods, remained on the Saturday morning schedule. Syndicated commentator

Paul Harvey Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009) was an American radio broadcaster for ABC News Radio. He broadcast ''News and Comment'' on mornings and mid-days on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays and also his famous '' The Rest ...

also shifted from KSDN to KKAA. Before the shakeup there was a mix of news, sports, music, and talk shows on each station. KKAA became almost exclusively a

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. N ...

talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

station. After the format change, the KKAA schedule as of October 2002 was "

Coast to Coast AM ''Coast to Coast AM'' is an American late-night radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics. Most frequently the topics relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was hosted by creator Art Bell from its inception in 1 ...

" with Art Bell from midnight to 5 a.m., business news show "The Wall Street Journal This Morning," at 5 a.m., current events show "America in the Morning" at 6 a.m., Red River Farm Network news show "Country Morning" at 6:30 a.m., local talk show "Talk of the Town" at 7 a.m., "News and Views" with Fargo-based host Ed Schultz at 9 a.m., and local news show "KSDN Midday Report" at 11:30 a.m. This program included the

news and commentary. Afternoon programming began at 1 p.m. with "The Rush Limbaugh Show", continued at 4 p.m. with

consumer advocacy Consumer organizations are advocacy groups that seek to protect people from corporate abuse like unsafe products, predatory lending, false advertising, astroturfing and pollution. Consumer Organizations may operate via protests, litigation, camp ...

show "Troubleshooter Tom Martino," and wrapped up at 6 p.m. with financial advice guru Bruce Williams. Satirical current events host

Phil Hendrie Philip Stephen Hendrie (born September 1, 1952) is an American radio personality and actor. He is widely known for his voiceover talent throughout the radio and film industry. He came to prominence in the 1990s hosting ''The Phil Hendrie Show'', a ...

completed the night from 9 p.m. to midnight.

Religious

In August 2004, KKAA was acquired by locally owned Aberdeen Radio Ranch as part of a group sale by Clear Channel Communications. In November 2004, Aberdeen Radio Ranch reached separate agreements to sell KQAA-FM to the Educational Media Foundation, and KKAA (1560 AM) and KQKD (1380 AM) to

Family Stations, Inc. Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

KKAA broadcast Family Radio Ministry programs preparing Aberdeen for the Rapture on May 21, 2011, which predicted that the world would end on October 21, 2011.

Final years

Effective October 31, 2017, Robert Ingstad's KKAA, LLC acquired KKAA and

KQKD KQKD (1380 AM) is a radio station in Redfield, South Dakota (licensed to serve Redfield). The station is licensed to Gray Ghost Broadcasting. It airs a full service format. The station was assigned these call letters by the Federal Communicat ...

from Family Stations for $85,000. The stations immediately went silent after that. KKAA was then sold by KKAA, LLC to I3G Radio, LLC effective 31 January 2018 for $60,000. On January 6, 2020, KKAA returned to the air with a classic country format, branded as "Pure Country 107.1 & 99.9". I3G Media surrendered the station's license on August 10, 2020.KKAA, Aberdeen, SD (FIN: 15965)
, fcc.gov. August 10, 2020. As a result, K296FW started simulcasting

KSDN-FM KSDN-FM (94.1 MHz, "The Rock 94.1 FM") is a radio station licensed to serve Aberdeen, South Dakota. The station is owned by Prairie Winds Broadcasting, Inc. It airs a mainstream rock music format. The station was assigned the KSDN-FM call lette ...

References

External links

FCC Station Search Details: DKKAA
(Facility ID: 15965)
FCC History Cards for KKAA
(covering 1973-1981) {{Aberdeen Radio

KAA Kaa is a fictional character from ''The Jungle Book'' stories written by Rudyard Kipling. He is a giant snake who is 30 feet long. In the books and many of the screen adaptations, Kaa is an ally of main protagonist Mowgli, acting as a friend ...

1974 establishments in South Dakota Radio stations established in 1974 Radio stations disestablished in 2020

2020 disestablishments in South Dakota Defunct radio stations in the United States