KUOA (1290 AM) 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

Siloam Springs, Arkansas Siloam Springs is a city in Benton County, Arkansas, Benton County, Arkansas, United States, and located on the western edge of the Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers metropolitan area, Northwest Arkansas metropolitan area. As of the 2020 Unite ...

. It serves

Northwest Arkansas Northwest Arkansas (NWA) is a metropolitan area and region in Arkansas within the Ozarks. It includes four of the ten largest cities in the state: Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville, Springdale, Arkansas, Springdale, Rogers, Arkansas, Rogers, ...

, including Fayetteville and Bentonville. KUOA airs a

Regional Mexican Regional Mexican music refers collectively to the regional subgenres of the country music of Mexico and its derivatives from the Southwestern United States. Each subgenre is representative of a certain region and its popularity also varies by ...

format and is owned by Jesus Gabriel Hernandez, through licensee Maxx Media Radio, LLC. The station is known as "La Maxxima 103.1 FM & 1290 AM." KUOA has a daytime power of 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. But to protect other stations on AM 1290, it greatly reduces power at night to 31 watts. It uses a non-directional antenna. 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 West University Street in Siloam Springs, near the Arkansas-

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

border. Programming is also heard on

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...

103.1 K276CO in Fayetteville.

History

The station was first licensed, as KFMQ, on December 4, 1923, to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. The original call letters were randomly assigned from an alphabetical list of available call signs, and was changed to KUOA in 1926. It was licensed as a

daytimer A clear-channel station is a North American AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classification exists to ensure the viability of cross ...

, required to go off at sunset, when

AM band Medium wave (MW) is a part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM broadcasting, AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. Duri ...

radio waves travel farther. The station moved to AM 1290 with the implementation in 1941 of the

North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA, ; ) refers to a series of international treaties that defined technical standards for AM band (mediumwave) radio stations. These agreements also addressed how frequency assignments were d ...

(NARBA). The station was acquired by John Brown University in 1935. It was run as a

Christian radio Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

station, carrying religious programs and Southern Gospel music.Broadcasting Yearbook 1986 page B-22
/ref> In 1947, it added an FM station at 105.7, using the

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 ...

KUOA-FM. The two stations were

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 ...

s of the

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Golden Age of Radio, ...

. The FM station was later sold to separate owners and is now KMCK-FM, a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

station, while John Brown University now owns and broadcasts from KLRC. In 2005, the university sold the AM radio station to longtime Northwest Arkansas broadcaster Dewey Johnson. But he retired due to health problems. The station was sold later that year to Galen O. Gilbert, a former JBU student who had owned radio stations in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. Gilbert started a classic country format on the station. The station was sold in August 2008 to longtime Arkansas broadcaster Jay Bunyard, and became an all-

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...

station known as "The Hog". Paired with a brand new Fayetteville-licensed FM translator at 105.3 FM, the radio station aired live and local programming throughout the day, and focused mainly on

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville. The University of Arkans ...

athletics. In 2010, Bunyard purchased FM 99.5 KAKS, and The Hog was

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

on its 25,000 watt signal. On December 13, 2012, KUOA split from its simulcast with sports-formatted KAKS 99.5 FM and changed to a

talk radio 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, Interview (jo ...

format, branded as "AM 1290 The Mouth". On January 1, 2015, the talk programming was discontinued. KUOA resumed simulcasting sports-formatted KAKS 99.5 FM. KUOA began airing its programming on

K249EV 97.7 MHz, licensed to

Johnson, Arkansas Johnson is a city in Washington County, Arkansas, United States. The community is located in the Ozark Mountains and is surrounded by valleys and natural springs. Early settlers took advantage of these natural features and formed an economy b ...

. In November 2016, the translator moved its frequency to 95.3 FM, as K237GR. Hog Radio sold KUOA to Jesus Gabriel Hernandez's Maxx Media Radio, LLC for $50,000 effective April 30, 2021. On September 16, 2022, KUOA flipped to Regional Mexican as "La Maxxima 1290 AM". It rebranded as "La Maxxima 103.3 FM & 1290 AM" on June 8, 2023 with the addition of translator 103.1 FM K276CO in Fayetteville.

References

External links

{{Spanish Radio Stations in Arkansas UOA UOA Radio stations established in 1984 1984 establishments in Arkansas Regional Mexican radio stations in the United States