KMA (960
kHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base uni ...
) is an
AM 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 to serve
Shenandoah, Iowa
Shenandoah is a city in Page County, Iowa, Page and Fremont County, Iowa, Fremont counties in Iowa, United States. The population was 4,925 at the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census. Once referred to as the "seed and nursery ...
.
History
The station was founded in 1925 by seed salesman Earl May. In 1925 Henry A. Field, owner of Field's Nursery in Shenandoah and a business rival of May, founded a competing radio station, KFNF. While both stations offered farm news, the two were to become most competitive by offering live productions of
hillbilly music
''Hillbilly'' is a term historically used for White people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in the Appalachian region and Ozarks. As people migrated out of the region during the Great Depression, the term sp ...
. According to KMA's website, more than a million people traveled to small-town Shenandoah to hear the music.
May built the station headquarters and Mayfair Auditorium at the Mayfair Theatre (the theatre being closed in 1963, the studio demolished in 1964 due to its being declared structurally unsafe by the Iowa State Fire Marshal, and the entire building being demolished in 1966) across the street from the nursery business. Between music sets, May would pitch his seeds and tell nostalgic stories. In 1926 May won the third annual Radio Digest Gold Cup Award, after being voted the "World's Most Popular Radio Announcer" by over 452,000 people throughout the United States.
The KMA shows which were broadcast in the afternoons were called the "KMA Country School" and according to the format emanated from the fictional KMA District No. 9 school with the shows beginning with the ringing of a school bell.
Performers would often go to
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The population was 62,799 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the state's List of cities in Iowa, te ...
, after the show where they would perform at night.
The most famous celebrities in KMA's history were the
Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close-harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, an ...
, Don and Phil. In their early teen years, the brothers and their parents would appear on KMA to sing as "The Everly Family", but by 1952, they were discovered by a talent agent, and made their way to fame in Nashville with such hit songs as "Wake Up, Little Susie".
With the high visibility KMA operated on a slogan of "Keep Millions Advised", which was adopted in early 1926, after sorting through a reported 4,000 suggestions. KFNF was to operate on "Keep Friendly, Never Frown".
In 1949, May Broadcasting company started
KMTV
KMTV-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, affiliated with CBS. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station has studios on Mockingbird Drive in southwest Omaha, and its transmitter is located on a "tower ...
in
Omaha
Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...
, the second-oldest television station in
Nebraska
Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...
. May Broadcasting originally wanted to call the television station KMA-TV. 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 ...
, however, would not allow the two outlets to share call letters as the cities of Shenandoah and Omaha were too far apart (61 miles (98 km)). In 1968, May acquired a second TV outlet,
KGUN-TV
KGUN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Sierra Vista–licensed independent station KWBA-TV (channel 58). The two stations share s ...
in
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
. May Broadcasting sold both KMTV and KGUN-TV to
Lee Enterprises
Lee Enterprises, Inc. is a publicly traded American media company. It publishes 72 daily newspapers in 25 states, and more than 350 weekly, classified, and specialty publications. Lee Enterprises was founded in 1890 by Alfred Wilson Lee and is b ...
in 1986; both stations are now owned by the
E. W. Scripps Company
The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglom ...
.
The county school shows were discontinued in the 1950s and the station continued to offer its farm show and farm housewife shows until the late 1990s; the current format revolves around
ABC News Radio
ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News (United States), ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five-minute newscasts on the hour ...
at the top of each hour, with some agricultural news, regional high school sports and their "Elephant Shop" where listeners can buy, sell, trade or give away personal property on the air.
In March 2010,
KMA Broadcasting launched a new 100,000-watt FM station,
KMA-FM 99.1, licensed to
Clarinda, Iowa
Clarinda is a city in and the county seat of Page County, Iowa, United States. It is located in Nodaway Township, Page County, Iowa, Nodaway Township. The population was 5,369 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census.
History
C ...
, and broadcasting from facilities north of neighboring Hawleyville. KMAland Broadcasting also owns Hometown Cable in southwest Iowa.
The Earl May Seed and Nursery Company is still family-owned. Earl May's granddaughter, Betty Jane Shaw, is the current head of the company. Field eventually sold KFNF and its seed business; the current holder of the
KFNF
KFNF (101.1 FM, "Today's Best Country") is a radio station licensed to serve Oberlin, Kansas.The station is owned by Armada Media Corporation and licensed to Armada Media - McCook, Inc. It airs a Country
A country is a distinct part of th ...
callsign, an FM station in
Oberlin, Kansas
Oberlin is a city in and the county seat of Decatur County, Kansas, Decatur County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 1,644.
History
Oberlin was platted in 1878. It was named after Ob ...
, is unrelated to the former KFNF. The 920 AM frequency formerly occupied by KFNF is now
KYFR, a Christian radio station owned by
Family Radio
Family Radio is a non-profit Christian radio network based in Franklin, Tennessee, United States. Established in 1959, Family Radio airs Calvinist teaching and Christian music. The network is most widely known for its false Family Radio#Failed ...
.
Effective December 16, 2019, the May family sold the radio station and its assets to KMAland Broadcasting, LLC, a group consisting of local investors. The sale marked the end of over 94 years of family ownership.
In popular culture
In the book ''
The Bridges of Madison County
''The Bridges of Madison County'' (also published as ''Love in Black and White'') is a 1992 best-selling Romance novel, romance novel by American writer Robert James Waller that tells the story of an Italian-American World War II war bride livi ...
'', which sold more than 60 million copies, the characters listen to KMA. In the 1995 movie directed by
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...
references to this station were removed and the format of the radio station in the film was switched to
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
.
References
External links
kmaland.comEarl May history of stationHillbilly Music profile of station
{{Authority control
MA
Page County, Iowa
Radio stations established in 1925
1925 establishments in Iowa
News and talk radio stations in the United States