WMT (600

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base uni ...

) 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 ...

AM radio AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transmi ...

station in

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. The population was 137,710 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Iowa, second-most populous city in Iowa. The city lies o ...

. It broadcasts a

news/talk 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, interviews ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios are co-located with former

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 ...

KGAN-TV channel 2, near the intersection of Collins Road ( Iowa Highway 100) and Old Marion Road NE in Cedar Rapids, in a building known as "Broadcast Park". By day, WMT is powered at 5,000 watts non-directional. At night, to protect other stations on 600 AM from interference, WMT uses a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

with a three-

tower array A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower ...

. Its

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 ...

site is on Radio Road near Marion. WMT is a Class B station broadcasting on a Regional AM frequency.

History

WMT is the oldest radio station in Cedar Rapids. It was first licensed, as WJAM, on August 1, 1922, to Douglas "Tex" Perham. Its original

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 ...

was randomly assigned from a sequential list of available call signs. In addition, until the January 1923 adoption of the Mississippi River as the dividing line, Iowa was one of the states normally assigned "W" call letters. The station

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air on July 30, 1922, with a program presented in conjunction with ''The Evening Gazette''.

Waterloo Morning Tribune and Des Moines Register

In 1928, Harry Shaw purchased WJAM and moved the station from Cedar Rapids to Waterloo, renaming it WMT (for the now-defunct ''Waterloo Morning Tribune'' newspaper that he owned). WMT was originally an affiliate of the

NBC Blue Network The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the National Broadcasting Co ...

, but flipped affiliates to CBS Radio in 1940. It carried its dramas, comedies, news and sports during the "

Golden Age of Radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...

. Shaw sold the station to the Cowles family, owners of the ''

Des Moines Register ''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa, United States. History Early period The first newspaper in Des Moines was the ''Iowa Star''. In July 1849, Barlow Granger began the paper in an abandoned log cab ...

'', in October 1934. WMT moved back to Cedar Rapids the next year, occupying the studios of the defunct KWCR radio after KWCR's frequency was taken over by KSO in

Des Moines Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

, another Cowles station, although WMT continued to operate a secondary studio in Waterloo until 1947. The Cowleses sold WMT to

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

-based American Broadcasting Stations in 1944. WMT-TV, the first television station in Cedar Rapids, signed on at channel 2 on September 30, 1953. On February 27, 1963, WMT-FM (now

KKSY-FM KKSY-FM (96.5 MHz "Kiss Country") is a commercial FM radio station in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It broadcasts a country music radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. KKSY carries the syndicated ''Bobby Bones Show'' in morning drive time an ...

) debuted at 96.5 MHz with the same song, "Don't Send Me Posies When It's Shoesies That I Need", that was played on the AM station's inaugural broadcast 41 years earlier.

Ownership changes

Ownership of the WMT stations was passed on to Orion Broadcasting of

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, in 1968. In 1981, Cosmos Broadcasting of

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville ( ; ) is a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, sixth-most pop ...

, purchased WMT-AM-FM. The company had also planned to purchase WMT-TV, but the television station was sold to

Guy Gannett Communications Guy Gannett Communications was a family-owned business consisting of newspapers in Maine and a handful of television stations in the eastern United States. The company was founded by its namesake, Guy P. Gannett, in 1921, and was managed by a f ...

because of ownership restrictions at the time. The TV station changed its call letters to

KGAN KGAN (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States, serving Eastern Iowa as an affiliate of CBS and Fox. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to Dabl affiliate KFXA (c ...

. (WMT and KGAN continue to broadcast from the same building on Collins Road, known as "Broadcast Park"; however, WMT now gets its weather reports from

KCRG-TV KCRG-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States, serving Eastern Iowa as an affiliate of American Broadcasting Company, ABC, MyNetworkTV, and The CW. Owned by Gray Media, the station has studios on Seco ...

.) An ownership group that included former Iowa governor Robert D. Ray and sportscaster Forrest "Frosty" Mitchell purchased WMT on October 1, 1986. On January 1, 1996,

Palmer Communications Palmer Communications was a radio and television company started by B.J. Palmer, then owner of the Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, around 1929. They were formed after buying WOC (AM) from Robert K. Karlowa's Karlowa Radio Co ...

(owners of WHO radio in Des Moines) acquired WMT. WHO and WMT were later sold to

Jacor Jacor Communications was a media corporation, existing between 1987 and 1999, which owned many radio stations in the United States. In 1998, Jacor was purchased by Clear Channel Communications, now iHeartMedia, for $2.8 billion. Jacor Communicat ...

Broadcasting, which was eventually acquired by

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

. In 2014, Clear Channel changed its name to iHeartMedia, Inc.

News/talk

WMT has always maintained at

full service Full service or Full Service may refer to: Entertainment Books * ''Full Service'' (book), a 2012 memoir by Scotty Bowers * '' Full Service No Waiting'', a 1998 album by Peter Case Music * "Full Service", a song by the New Kids on the Block fr ...

staff of newscasters, agriculture reporters and sportscasters. From the 1950s to the 1980s, it played middle of the road music. It was also affiliated with

CBS Radio News CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. It ...

for world and national coverage. By the 1990s, it had eliminated all music programming and became 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 ...

station. In the early 2010s, it switched its network to

Fox News Radio Fox News Radio is an American radio network owned by Fox News. It is syndicated to over 500 AM and FM radio stations across the United States. It also supplies programming for three channels on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. History In 2003, ...

. Beginning January 2, 2012, WMT began simulcasting on KWMG in Anamosa at 95.7

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

, to give WMT listeners the option to hear the station on FM. The simulcast ended on August 18, 2014. FM 95.7 is now

KOSY-FM KOSY-FM (95.7 MHz) is a radio station licensed to Anamosa, Iowa, and serving the Cedar Rapids metropolitan area. It airs a sports radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The station's studios are located within iHeartMedia's Cedar Ra ...

, airing a

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 ...

format.

References

* (Retrieved on 2006-08-01 via Newsbank.) *

External links

*
FCC History Cards for WMT
(covering 1929-1981) {{Authority control Mass media in Cedar Rapids, Iowa IHeartMedia radio stations μ Radio stations established in 1922 1922 establishments in Iowa News and talk radio stations in the United States