KWHW (1450 AM) is an American

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 A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

to serve

Altus Altus or ALTUS may refer to: Music * Alto, a musical term meaning second highest musical or vocal type * Altus (voice type), a vocal type also known as countertenor Places * Altus, Arkansas, US ** Altus AVA, a wine-growing region near Altus, Ark ...

, the seat of Jackson County in southwestern Oklahoma, United States. Established in 1947, KWHW is owned by James G Boles , Jr. It airs a

full service Full service or Full Service may refer to: * Full-service radio, a wide range of programming * Full Service Network, a communications company Entertainment * "Full Service", a song by the New Kids on the Block from their album ''The Block'' * Fu ...

mix of music, news, sports, and local programming. The station is simulcast on

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 ...

KPRO (93.5 FM).

Programming

KWHW broadcasts a full-service

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 Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informati ...

along with farm reports on weekdays. Sunday programming is primarily church broadcasts and Gospel music programming. KWHW airs a

tradio Tradio is a type of talk radio show format, though now considered archaic, where listeners call in to buy or sell items. The concept is analogous to classified ads in local newspapers and most prevalent in the south and midwest. "Tradio" is a p ...

program called "Swap Shop" on weekday and Saturday mornings. The station broadcasts the meetings of the Altus City Council on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. KWHW station also airs select sporting events involving Altus High School and the

Oklahoma State Cowboys The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater. The program's mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates at the National Col ...

. Some of the station's news and music programming comes from

Citadel Media Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which w ...

Dial Global 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 ...

,. KWHW's

morning show Breakfast television (Europe, Canada, and Australia) or morning show (United States) is a type of news or infotainment television programme that broadcasts live in the morning (typically scheduled between 5:00 and 10:00a.m., or if it is a loc ...

is hosted by Eddie Wilcoxen. He is a published poet, recognized landscape designer, karate champion, and was named as an official Olympic Hero in 1996. In January 2011, Wilcoxen was named

Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...

for the state of Oklahoma for 2011 though 2012 by the Oklahoma Humanities Council.

History

This station began broadcasting on April 2, 1947, at 1450 kHz with 250

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of 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 quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s of power under the ownership of the Altus Broadcasting Company. The company was 50% owned by local newspaper ''

The Altus Times-Democrat The Altus Times is a two-day a week newspaper based in Altus, Oklahoma and owned by Graystone Media Group. It is published Wednesday and Saturday. History The original ''Altus Times'' was founded as a weekly newspaper by J. Ed Van Meter in Decem ...

''. Frank E. Wimberly served as both the company's president and the station's

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all ...

. The station was assigned 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 assig ...

"KWHW" by 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). In 1961, the station was granted a

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 ...

by the FCC to increase their daytime power to 1,000 watts. KWHW Logo

On September 9, 1969, the station was acquired by KWHW Radio, Inc., with Hugh Garnett serving as president and general manager. By 1974, George Wilburn had taken on the general manager role and KWHW broadcast a middle of the road music format with 30 hours of

and one hour of Gospel music each week as "special" programming. On April 1, 1974,

KWHW-FM signed on at 93.5 FM. In 1979, Eddie Wilcoxen became the station's music director. In April 1984,

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 ...

holder KWHW Radio, Inc., reached an agreement to sell this station and

KWHW-FM to Altus Radio, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on May 29, 1984, and the transaction was formally consummated on July 2, 1984. During the 1980s, the station transitioned from middle of the road to a country music format. In October 2003, Altus Radio, Inc., made a deal to sell this station, along with

s KRKZ in Altus and

KQTZ KQTZ (105.9 FM) is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Hobart, Oklahoma. The station is currently owned and operated by James G Boles , Jr. KQTZ, along with KWHW (1450 AM) and KRKZ (now KPRO, 93.5 FM), were acquired f ...

in Hobart, to Monarch Broadcasting, Inc, for a combined sale price of $1,800,000. The deal gained FCC approval on December 12, 2003, and the transaction was consummated on December 31, 2003. Effective September 8, 2021, Monarch Broadcasting sold KWHW, KQTZ, KWHW-FM, and translator K245CY to James G Boles , Jr. for $1.

References

External links

KWHW official website
{{AM Stereo radio stations in the United States WHW Country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1947 Jackson County, Oklahoma 1947 establishments in Oklahoma