KONA (610 kHz) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

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 Kennewick-Richland-Pasco, Washington, and serving the Tri-Cities region in Benton, Franklin and Walla Walla Counties. It broadcasts a

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...

format with farm reports, weather and sports. It is owned by

Townsquare Media Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

, through subsidiary Townsquare License, LLC, and calls itself "News Radio 610 KONA." KONA is powered at 5,000

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. It uses a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

at all times to protect other stations on 610 AM. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is off East Perkins Road at 2048 PR SE in Richland. The

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

s and offices are on West Lewis Street in Pasco.

Programming

KONA airs a mix of local and nationally syndicated shows. Weekdays begin with a block of news, information, farm reports and call-in shows. There are also hour-long newscasts at noon and 5pm. National hosts include Armstrong & Getty, ''Markley, Van Camp & Robbins'', Lars Larson,

Ben Shapiro Benjamin Aaron Shapiro (born January 15, 1984) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator, media host, and attorney. He writes columns for Creators Syndicate, ''Newsweek'', and ''Ami Magazine'', an ...

, Michael Knowles, '' Coast to Coast AM with George Noory'' and '' This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal''. Weekends feature shows on money, health, home repair, law, technology, science, pets, cars and wine. Weekend hosts include Kim Komando, Mike Gallagher, Chris Plante, ''Science Fantastic with Dr.

Michio Kaku Michio Kaku (; ; born January 24, 1947) is an American theoretical physicist, Science communication, science communicator, futurologist, and writer of popular-science. He is a professor of theoretical physics at the City College of New York and ...

, The Pet Show with Warren Eckstein'', '' Bill Handel on the Law'' and '' Somewhere in Time with Art Bell''. World and national news is provided by

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 ...

History

The station signed on the air in January 1948. It was originally on 1230 kHz and its

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

was KWIE. It was owned by Mid-Columbia Broadcasters and was powered at only 250 watts, a fraction of its current output. In the 1950s, it got permission from 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 ...

to move the station to 610 kHz and boost the power to 5,000 watts, allowing it to be heard over the entire the Tri-Cities of Washington. In 1957, the station was acquired by Cascade Broadcasting. Cascade already owned KEPR-TV Channel 19, so the AM station switched its call sign to KEPR to match the TV station. Because the TV station aired CBS television shows, KEPR Radio became a CBS Radio

Network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

. In 1967, it added an FM station, 105.3 KEPR-FM. In 1969, the radio stations split from the TV station, acquired by Tri-Cities Broadcasting. The call signs were switched to KONA and KONA-FM. AM 610 had a middle of the road format of popular music, news and sports, while the FM station played beautiful music. In the 1980s, as music listening switched from AM to FM, KONA 610 gradually reduced the music shows and added more talk programming, until it made the transition to all-talk. In 2003, KONA-AM-FM were acquired by CCR-Tri Cities IV.Information from Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2010 page D-580
/ref> Effective June 17, 2022, Cherry Creek Radio sold KONA as part of a 42 station/21 translator package to Townsquare Media for $18.75 million.

References

External links

FCC History Cards for KONA
* {{Townsquare Media ONA (AM) Radio stations established in 1948 1948 establishments in Washington (state) Townsquare Media radio stations News and talk radio stations in the United States