KQMS (1670 AM, "NewsTalk 105.7 KQMS") is a radio station in

Redding, California Redding is a city in and the county seat of Shasta County, California, and the economic and cultural capital of the Shasta Cascade region of Northern California. Redding lies along the Sacramento River, north of Sacramento, California, Sacrame ...

. Owned by Stephens Media Group, it broadcasts a

conservative talk Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enough ...

format. The station is also carried on FM translators on 105.7 in Anderson (from which the station derives its current branding), and 104.7 in Redding.

Programming

The station was the longtime home of popular conservative talk show host

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...

until 2021 when the show ended its run four months after Limbaugh's death from cancer. Several different hosts also have their shows currently on KQMS including

Dan Bongino Daniel John Bongino (born December4, 1974) is an American government official, Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator, radio host, and former law enforcement officer who has served as the 20th Deputy Director of ...

Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American conservative television presenter, broadcaster and writer. He hosts ''The Sean Hannity Show'', a radio syndication, nationally syndicated talk radio show, has hosted a Hannity, sel ...

Glenn Beck Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...

and Michael Knowles. The station news team and on-air talent includes Steve Gibson, Kelly Frost Sr. and Kelly Frost Jr.

History

KQMS originated as the expanded band "twin" of an existing station on the standard AM band. In 1936 a new station was licensed in Redding as KVCV, which became KSXO in 1977, KHTE in 1989, and KNRO in 1993. The station switched to the fast-growing news/talk format in the late 1980s. On March 17, 1997, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that eighty-eight stations had been given permission to move to newly available " Expanded Band" transmitting frequencies, ranging from 1610 to 1700 kHz, with KNRO authorized to move from 600 to 1670 kHz."FCC Public Notice: Mass Media Bureau Announces Revised AM Expanded Band Allotment Plan and Filing Window for Eligible Stations"
(FCC DA 97-537), March 17, 1997. Notice lists the station user its earlier call sign of KHTE. A construction permit for the expanded band station was assigned the call letters KAZT on January 9, 1998. On January 22, 2001, there was a call letter swap, with KAZT transferred from 1670 AM to 600 AM, while the reverse was true for KNRO, which moved from 600 AM to 1670 AM. An FCC policy mandated that both the original station and its expanded band counterpart could operate simultaneously for up to five years, after which owners would have to turn in one of the two licenses, depending on whether they preferred the new assignment or elected to remain on the original frequency. It was ultimately decided to transfer full operations to the expanded band station, and on June 25, 2001, the license for original station, KAZT on 600 AM, was cancelled. On August 21, 2016, there was a second call letter and format swap between two Redding stations, which this time saw the call sign KQMS and a news/talk format moving from 1400 AM to 1670 AM, while the KNRO call sign and its sports format moved from 1670 AM to 1400 AM. The new call letters stood for "Quality Music Station", based on various earlier music formats. KQMS simulcasted all of its programming with sister station KQMS-FM 99.3 until January 15, 2017, when 99.3 FM dropped the simulcast, while continuing on 105.7 and 104.9 FM.

Alumni

Among former radio personalities that have worked at or have hosted programs on KQMS include top talent from the past: *Don Kirk – Late 1990 Weekend KQMS/KSHA Board-Op and Former KPAK Operations Manager & KPAK Morning Drive personality *Bob Meyer – News Director *Ken Murray – Former mayor of Redding *George Newcom – Openline host, program director & news director *Sonny Stupek – High school color analyst (former head softball coach and former head football coach at

Shasta College Shasta College is a public community college in Redding, California, with branch campuses in Burney, Weaverville, and Red Bluff. It was founded in 1950 and later moved to a much larger campus while the original campus became the new locatio ...

, now retired. Also former junior college coach of Jason Sehorn) *George Tharalson – News Director, High School Sports and Shasta College football play-by-play (also formerly associated with Action Video Entertainment) *Paul Vietti – Shasta College football color commentator (formerly with KRCR and KMCA-AM)

Previous logos

Translators

KQMS broadcasts on the following translators:

References

External links

KQMS official website

FCC History Cards for AM 600
(covering 1935–1981 as KVCV / KSXO) Translators * * * * {{coord, 40, 33, 31, N, 122, 19, 48, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title QMS News and talk radio stations in the United States