KMLD is a commercial

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 ...

located in

Casper, Wyoming Casper is a city in and the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the List of municipalities in Wyoming, second-most populous city in the state after Cheyenne, Wyoming, Cheyenne, with the population at 59,038 as of th ...

, broadcasting on 94.5 FM. KMLD airs an

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 format branded as "Melody 94.5". The music programming is syndicated by

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdi ...

and the

True Oldies Channel Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel (also known more recently as ''The True Oldies Channel: Greatest Hits'') is a radio network begun in the spring of 2004. Originally distributed by ABC Radio Networks via satellite, the service plays a hybrid ol ...

. All Mt. Rushmore Casper stations are located at 218 N. Wolcott in downtown Casper. The transmitter is located on Casper Mountain.

History

The 94.5 frequency started as KAWY, receiving its license to cover on May 11, 1979. The station was one of four radio stations broadcasting to Casper at the time. The others were KTWO, KVOC, and sister

KATI KATI (94.3 FM), branded as 94.3 KAT Country, is a radio station which broadcasts country music and St. Louis Cardinals baseball. Licensed to California, Missouri, the station serves the Jefferson City Jefferson City, informally Jeff City, ...

. As KAWY, the station was referred to as Y94 and later KY 94. In 1981, KAWY and then KATI were sold to Stuart Broadcasting. After operating at a loss due to newcomer

KTRS-FM KTRS-FM (104.7 Hertz, MHz) is a Contemporary hit radio, top 40 radio station in Casper, Wyoming branded as 104.7 KISS-FM (brand), Kiss FM owned by Townsquare Media. As with a majority of FM broadcasting, FM stations from Casper, the broadcast tow ...

, the station was sold a year later to a Colorado company. KAWY played an album oriented rock format, as it could not compete with KTRS. The stations were sold again in 1985, to a local businessman. The station was flipped to KGRQ, using the slogan "Gourmet Rock". The stations continued to lose money and both stations were taken silent in the fall of 1987. KGRQ returned to air in 1988, thanks to KTWO radio. The station changed calls to KMGW on May 15, 1989. The station was known as Magic 94.5, carrying an adult contemporary/variety format. The KMGW calls were moved to 96.7 in 1997 (which would become

KRNK KRNK (96.7 FM broadcasting, FM, "Rock 96.7") is a radio station in Casper, Wyoming broadcasting a mainstream rock radio format, format. The station is currently owned by Townsquare Media. History KRNK has its origins in the summer of 1989, as a ...

). The current incarnation started at 97.3 FM in 1997, and was owned by Hart Media. The station was known as "Melody 97.3". The station was later sold along with the other Hart Media Stations to Mountain States Broadcasting in 1998. Mountain States owned

(then on 95.5 FM), KRVK (which had just signed on at 107.7 FM), and KYOD (on 104.7 FM). The station was sold once again when

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

bought Mountain States Broadcasting. The present owner is Mt. Rushmore Broadcasting. A short while after being bought by Mt. Rushmore, the station moved down to 94.5 FM. Citing technical difficulties, the station, along with its five other sister stations went dark for a period of time in August 2011. KVOC, KMLD, and KHOC remained silent as of December 17, 2011. Other than equipment reasons, no further information as to why the three stations were off the air had been provided.

Fines

KMLD, along with other Casper stations owned by Mt. Rushmore Broadcasting were fined $68,000 for using unlicensed

studio transmitter link A studio transmitter link (STL) sends a radio station's or television station's audio and video from the broadcast studio or origination facility to a radio transmitter, television transmitter or uplink facility in another location. This is a ...

s, which the company had been using for 16 years. The FCC fined the company $68,000 for "willfully and repeatedly" violating the law, giving the stations' owner 30 days to get licenses for its STLs for KHOC, and sister stations KHOC,

KASS Kass is a surname. It originated in several different ways, including as a nickname in former eastern territories of Germany from the Czech language, Czech word ("blackbird" or "shrewd person"), from the Estonian language, Estonian word ''kass'' ...

, and KQLT. In 2012, station owner Jan Charles Gray was named in a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Labor for improperly paying employees. Gray called the claims in the lawsuit "bogus". In 2013, Gray informed the Casper Star Tribune that the lawsuit and a $68,000 fine for unlicensed STLs were "a lot of baloney." Gray said if the FCC doesn't back down, he plans to "sue them on behalf of every radio owner in America that has been wronged by them".

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References

External links

Melody 94.5 Facebook
{{Oldies Radio Stations in Wyoming MLD Oldies radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1997 Natrona County, Wyoming 1997 establishments in Wyoming