KKNE (940 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 ...

licensed A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...

Waipahu, Hawaii Waipahu () is a former sugarcane Sugar plantations in Hawaii, plantation town and now census-designated place (CDP) located in the Ewa District on the island of Oahu, Oahu in the Honolulu County, Hawaii, City & County of Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawai ...

and located in the

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

radio market, broadcasting with a power of 10,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s. The station's format was last a hybrid of traditional Hawaiian music and talk/information geared toward adults of

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, Indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiʻi was set ...

descent. The station is owned by

SummitMedia SummitMedia, LLC is an American radio broadcasting company based in Birmingham, Alabama. The company formed to purchase mid-market radio stations being divested by Cox Radio in 2013. On November 1, 2018, SummitMedia acquired 19 stations in ...

. The station's studios are located in

Downtown Honolulu Downtown Honolulu is the current historic, economic, and governmental center of Honolulu, the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. It is bounded by Nuuanu Stream to the west, Ward Avenue to the east, Vineyard Boulevard to the n ...

and its transmitter was located near Kunia Camp. It was also featured on Oceanic Spectrum digital channel 856 for the entire state of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. It was originally on 920 kHz and moved to 940 kHz in 1962. A unique feature of KKNE was a greeting and current time given in Hawaiian and English along with the station identification at the top and bottom of each hour (at :00 and :30 past the hour), with a steel guitar playing as background music.

History

Prior to its flip to Traditional Hawaiian, KKNE was home to longtime

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

outlet KDEO and later Japanese music-formatted KJPN. The license was surrendered to the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

on December 5, 2022, who cancelled it the same day. It was reinstated on December 8, 2022 but remained silent, and its license was formally surrendered and deleted again on May 11, 2023. Its license was reinstated again, and still remains silent. On November 27, 2023, KKNE and KPRP returned to the airwaves as Urban Gospel The Vine Connection, programmed by Mae Rodgers, who had previously offered this format and branding on WTOW, WSTK, WEGG, and

KCTO KCTO (1160 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Cleveland, Missouri, United States. The station is owned by the Alpine Broadcasting Corporation. KCTO broadcasts to the greater Kansas City area simulcasting Spanish Catholic programming f ...

. Mae Rodgers is an

AME Zion The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, or the AME Zion Church (AMEZ) is a historically African-American Christian denomination based in the United States. It was officially formed in 1821 in New York City, but operated for a number of y ...

pastor from

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

who is a Gospel Radio veteran. Dr. Kenneth K. Santarelli is also involved in programming, operations, and engineering. Dr. Santarelli is a Biblical Studies professor at Faith Bible College in Independence, Missouri and minister with

The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite) The Church of Jesus Christ is an international Christian religious denomination with origins in the Latter Day Saint (Mormon) movement that is headquartered in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, United States.

, who previously owned WEGG and was involved in programming and technical roles at WSTK,

KCXL KCXL (1140 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Liberty, Missouri, and serving the Kansas City metropolitan area. It features a conservative talk and brokered programming format and is owned by Alpine Broadcasting. Since 2020, ...

KOFO KOFO (1220 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Ottawa, Kansas Ottawa (pronounced ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Franklin County, Kansas, Franklin County, Kansas, United States. It is located o ...

, KCTO, and

WDJS WDJS (1430 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Religious format. Licensed to Mount Olive, North Carolina Mount Olive is a town in Duplin and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. At the 2020 census, the population was 4,1 ...

. This marks the first time that the Urban Gospel has existed on radio in the state of Hawaii.

References

External links

FCC History Cards for KKNE
(covering 1950-1980 as KAHU / KDEO) 1950 establishments in Hawaii Radio stations established in 1950 KNE {{Hawaii-radio-station-stub