KRVN (880 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 ...

Lexington, Nebraska Lexington is a city in Dawson County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 10,348 at the 2020 census, making it the 16th most populous city in Nebraska. It is the county seat of Dawson County. Lexington is located in southern Nebraska, ...

, and serving most of the rural central and western part of the state. The station features agricultural news programming during the day and classic country at night. KRVN is one of two 50,000-watt stations in Nebraska, the other being KFAB 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 ...

. It is the second-most powerful station in the state; unlike KFAB, it is not a

clear-channel A clear-channel station is a North American AM broadcasting, AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from Interference (communication), interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classifi ...

, Class A station, but it does operate on a clear-channel frequency, on which

WHSQ WHSQ (880 kHz, "ESPN New York 880") is an AM radio station in New York City, owned by Audacy, Inc. The station is operated by Good Karma Brands (GKB) under a local marketing agreement (LMA). It broadcasts a sports radio format as the co-flag ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

is the dominant station. KRVN broadcasts from a four-tower antenna array located in the middle of cornfields near

Holdrege, Nebraska Holdrege is a city in Phelps County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 5,515 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Phelps County. The Nebraska Prairie Museum is located in Holdrege. History Holdrege was established in 1883 whe ...

. KRVN is Nebraska's primary entry point station for the

Emergency Alert System The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a Emergency population warning, national warning system in the United States designed to allow authorized officials to broadcast emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via Cable television, cable ...

. Due to its transmitter power and central Nebraska's flat land (with near-perfect

ground conductivity Ground conductivity refers to the electrical conductivity of the subsurface of the earth. In the International System of Units (SI) it is measured in millisiemens per meter (mS/m). Radio propagation Ground conductivity is an extremely important ...

), KRVN boasts one of the largest coverage areas in the Western United States. During the day, tower #3 radiates the transmitter's full power to almost all of Nebraska's densely populated area, as well as more than half of

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

and northeastern

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. At night, power is fed to all four towers to provide a directional signal aimed to the west to protect WHSQ. This results in the second-largest city within its coverage area, Kearney, only getting a grade B signal; a translator at 106.9 FM is used to make up for this shortfall. Even with this arrangement, it is able to cover western Nebraska, northwestern Kansas, northeastern Colorado, and most of the Dakotas. KRVN is a member of the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding t ...

radio network. The KRVN network is unique in that it is owned and operated by a

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

of farmers and ranchers, the

Nebraska Rural Radio Association The Nebraska Rural Radio Association is a radio broadcast network in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It was formed in 1948 with the goal of bringing information to farmers and ranchers in the state, including daily grain and livestock markets, weather ...

. It was founded in 1948, opening its first station, KRVN, in 1951. It was originally located at 1010 AM, broadcasting with 10,000 watts. In 1972, it moved to its current frequency and boosted its transmitting power to 50,000 watts; the lower dial position and stronger transmitter enabled it to serve more of central Nebraska's farmers.NRRA timeline
/ref> The NRRA launched a sister music station with a similar callsign, KRVN-FM (River 93.1), in 1962.

References

External links

FCC History Cards for KRVN

About KRVN
– Includes a timeline of developments of the Nebraska Rural Radio Association's network RVN (AM) News and talk radio stations in the United States Classic country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1951 1951 establishments in Nebraska {{Nebraska-radio-station-stub