KWHT (103.5 FM, "K-Wheat") is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission 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 radi ...

licensed to serve

Pendleton, Oregon Pendleton is a city and the county seat of Umatilla County, Oregon. The population was 17,107 at the time of the 2020 census, which includes approximately 1,600 people who are incarcerated at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution. Pendleton ...

, United States. The station, which began broadcasting in 1984, is currently owned by Randolph and Debra McKone's Elkhorn Media Group and the

broadcast license A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which vary ...

is held by EMG2, LLC.

Programming

KWHT broadcasts a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

format to the greater

Walla Walla, Washington Walla Walla is a city in Walla Walla County, Washington, where it is the largest city and county seat. It had a population of 34,060 at the 2020 census, estimated to have decreased to 33,927 as of 2021. The population of the city and its two ...

, area. This includes select programming from the Westwood One Radio Network. Syndicated music programming includes '' America's Grand Ole Opry Weekend'' from

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The company w ...

Facilities

KWHT shares a studio building with sister stations KTIX (1240 AM), KUMA (1290 AM), and KWHT (103.5 FM). This multi-station facility is located at the west end of

Eastern Oregon Regional Airport Eastern Oregon Regional Airport (Eastern Oregon Regional Airport at Pendleton) is a public airport three miles northwest of Pendleton, in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. Commercial service is provided by Boutique Air to Portland, subsidi ...

History

This station received its original

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building per ...

from the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...

(FCC) on May 15, 1980. The new station was assigned the call letters KFMT by the FCC. In September 1983, Faith Media, Inc., announced an agreement to sell this permit for this still-under construction station to AgPal Broadcasting, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on December 1, 1983, and the transaction was consummated on February 7, 1984. AgPal Broadcasting was owned by Pendleton couples Andy and JoAnn Harle plus Cheryl and Jim McAnally. Under new ownership, the station was assigned the current KWHT call letters by the FCC on February 3, 1984. After several extensions, KWHT finally received its license to cover from the FCC on October 17, 1984. In September 1997, AgPal Broadcasting, Inc., reached an agreement to sell KWHT and its

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

s to Capps Broadcast Group through its KSRV, Inc., subsidiary. The deal was approved by the FCC on May 14, 1998, and the transaction was consummated on August 27, 1998. Effective November 1, 2017, Capps Broadcast Group sold KWHT and nine other broadcast properties to Elkhorn Media Group for $1.75 million.

Former on-air staff

* Paul Bonnell, known on the air as Kaptain Kevin Cook, worked as a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

at KWHT in the 1990s after serving in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army S ...

. Bonnell co-hosted a morning show at a radio station in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

, until his death in 2007. * Ron Arp, now the general manager of the

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

office of a

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...

company known as

Fleishman-Hillard FleishmanHillard Inc. (formerly, Fleishman–Hillard) is a public relations and marketing agency founded and based in St. Louis, Missouri. It was acquired by Omnicom Group in 1997, becoming part of the Diversified Agency Services (DAS) division ...

, was a news broadcaster at KWHT in the mid-1980s. Fleishman-Hilliard is a part of the Omnicom Group. * Jeff Walker, then Program Director at KWHT, was also co-host of the morning show and helped manage the station during the mid to late 80s into the early 90s.

References

External links

KWHT official website
* {{Country Radio Stations in Oregon WHT Country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1984 Pendleton, Oregon 1984 establishments in Oregon