KESJ (1550 AM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

broadcasting a classic hits format, licensed to

St. Joseph, Missouri St. Joseph is a city in and county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri, Buchanan County, Missouri, United States. A small portion of the city extends north into Andrew County, Missouri, Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the princ ...

. The station is owned by Eagle Communications, Inc.

History

KESJ came on air in 1946 as KRES, and was initially on 1230 kHz broadcasting from 113 S. 7th Street. The 1550 frequency debuted as KRES in 1953. Missouri Valley Broadcasting owned the station. KRES used

AP News The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are distributed to its members, maj ...

. In 1961, the station was assigned the call letters "KKJO", and it began airing a middle of the road (MOR) format. In 1966, the station adopted a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

format, using a slogan "Tiger Radio". The studios for the station moved to 1101 South Belt Highway. In 1980, the station acquired an FM counterpart on 105.1, from its competitor KUSN. In 1981, the station transitioned from top 40 to adult contemporary and middle of the road programming. In 1988, KKJO and KSFT swapped callsigns, with KSFT landing on the AM frequency. At that time, format was satellite-fed

adult standards Adult standards (also sometimes known as the nostalgia or Big Band format) is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations. Adult standards started in the 1950s and is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly tho ...

. In 1999, the station transitioned to 1950s through 1960s

Oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

music. It was known as "Oldies 1550". On August 24, 2009, the station changed call letters to KESJ and began airing

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

. It was an affiliate of the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the "Fighting Tigers of Columbia" who, in 1864, protected Columbia ...

, and

Northwest Missouri State University Northwest Missouri State University (NW Missouri) is a public university in Maryville, Missouri, United States. It has an enrollment of 9,152 students. Founded in 1905 as a teachers college, its campus is based on the design for Forest Park (St. ...

sports. An FM

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

came on air in 2019 on 107.5 MHz. The station adopted its current format and branding on August 22, 2019. The station primarily airs classic hits from the 1980s through 1990s. It gained the slogan "Joe Town 107-5", using the translator dial position.Joe Town Arrives in St. Joseph
Radioinsight - August 22, 2019

Previous logo

References

External links

* * ESJ St. Joseph, Missouri Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in Missouri Classic hits radio stations in the United States {{Missouri-radio-station-stub