KLMS

On June 28, 1946, the Lincoln Broadcasting Corporation applied to build a new radio station in Lincoln, to broadcast on 1480 kHz day and night with 1,000 watts.{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=43092 |title= History Cards for KLMS|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}} (Guide to reading History Cards) The corporation was headed by Howard A. Shuman, formerly of KFOR;{{Cite news |date=May 7, 1946 |title=Group proposes radio station |page=4 |work=Lincoln Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74462204/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} Shuman had helped put that station on the air from David City in 1924.{{Cite news |date=January 10, 1975 |title=Broadcasters Meet Tuesday; To Honor Two |page=21 |work=Lincoln Journal |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74463762/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} The application was granted on October 16, 1947,{{r|hc}} and the company began work on a five-tower array for transmitting.{{Cite news |date=November 16, 1948 |title=New Local Radio Station To Be in Operation Feb. 1: Firm Seeks Site For Transmitter |page=4 |work=Lincoln Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74462594/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} With independent programming,{{Cite news |date=September 18, 1949 |title=New Station—KLMS—To Go On The Air Next Month |page=6-D |work=Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74462688/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} KLMS took to the air on October 24, 1949.{{Cite news |date=October 30, 1949 |title=Radio Station KLMS Begins Broadcasting |page=D-6 |work=Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74462741/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} Its programming emphasized music as well as local news and sports, though the station also had an affiliation with the short-lived Liberty Broadcasting System.{{Cite news |date=January 28, 1951 |title=Nebraska Radio-TV Year Review |page=9-D |work=Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74462823/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} Ownership and programming remained stable in the early years; Shuman acquired majority control of the company in 1960,{{r|hc}} while the Mutual Broadcasting System was added the next year.{{Cite news |date=December 10, 1961 |title=KLMS Joining Mutual System |page=14B |work=Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74463140/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} Those two changes coincided with a turn in KLMS's fortunes. For its first decade, the station had maintained a block programming format—a "department store of radio", as one later manager put it—but the implementation of a new adult contemporary-type format in 1959 turned KLMS into Lincoln's top station in 1960.{{Cite news |date=October 13, 1974 |title=Manager Says KLMS Progress Tells Him Miracles Do Happen |page=6TV |work=Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74463454/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}}

Shuman sold the station he had helped build 25 years prior to Telegraph-Herald, Inc., of Dubuque, Iowa, in 1974; the newspaper owned two other stations in the Midwest.{{Cite news |date=December 4, 1974 |title=Sale of KLMS Is Completed |page=36 |work=Lincoln Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74463570/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} Five years later, Telegraph-Herald purchased KFMQ (101.9 FM) from its general manager, Steve Agnew.{{Cite news |date=May 16, 1979 |title=Dubuque corporation buys KFMQ |page=54 |work=Lincoln Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74463868/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} Telegraph-Herald, Inc., became Woodward Communications in 1981, in a move to clarify the division between the newspaper and its parent company.{{Cite news |date=February 20, 1981 |title=Company wants to change name |page=19 |work=Lincoln Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74463972/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} Under Woodward, the station implemented directional daytime broadcasting from a full new transmitter site at 98th and A streets. Completed in 1983, the $500,000 site featured eight towers which were used in different configurations during the day and at night.{{Cite news |last=Kelly |first=Gene |date=June 3, 1983 |title=Eight new towers give boost to KLMS signal |page=22 |work=Lincoln Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74464202/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} In 1985, KLMS and KFMQ moved into the same offices, having never shared studio space despite being commonly owned for six years; by that time, KLMS's adult contemporary format had drifted to oldies.{{Cite news |last=Truell |first=Matt |date=May 9, 1985 |title=2 stations in Lincoln will move |page=21 |work=Lincoln Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74464297/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}}

In November 1986, Woodward Communications fired KLMS station manager Lee Thomas, who had been associated with the station since 1959 and had been program director for most of the previous 20 years.{{Cite news |date=November 4, 1986 |title=27 years on, Lee Thomas seeks new station: Radio station KLMS fires local broadcaster |page=20 |work=Lincoln Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74464857/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} That decision turned out to have a direct effect on KLMS. Thomas joined with three other investors, all former KLMS-KFMQ employees, to buy struggling Lincoln-area FM station KJUS{{Cite news |date=January 31, 1987 |title=Local investors seek radio license transfer |page=8 |work=Lincoln Star |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74464915/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} and relaunched it as oldies-formatted KLDZ in March 1987.{{Cite news |last=Wolgamott |first=L. Kent |date=March 8, 1987 |title=New FM radio station plays oldies in stereo |page=12TV |work=Sunday Journal-Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74464976/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} KLDZ quickly captured significant audience share in the Lincoln market; though officials insisted that it was not due to the new competition, KLMS exited the oldies format in October and flipped to "The Breeze", a new-age music format fed by the Progressive Music Network of Minneapolis; it was the second station to take the service.{{Cite news |last=Ineck |first=Tom |date=September 30, 1987 |title=KLMS joins New Age movement |page=24 |work=Lincoln Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74465033/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}}{{Cite news |date=November 2, 1987 |title=Breeze on the air |page=50 |work=Broadcasting |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1987/BC-1987-11-02.pdf |access-date=March 26, 2021}}

Woodward sold its Lincoln stations to Midwest Communications for $2.8 million in 1988.{{Cite news |date=May 9, 1988 |title=Changing Hands |page=65 |work=Broadcasting |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1988/BC-1988-05-09.pdf#page=61 |access-date=March 26, 2021}} Midwest nearly immediately flipped KLMS back to oldies; the new-age format had been a failure, dropping the station's audience share from 4.9 percent to 0.7 percent in just six months, and advertisers had lost interest.{{Cite news |date=October 20, 1988 |title=KLMS returns to oldies songs in its format |page=15 |work=Lincoln Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74465261/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} The oldies revival, however, failed to recover listenership: it ended on November 14, 1990, when the poorly rated AM outlet switched to a simulcast of KFMQ and adopted the KFMQ call letters.{{Cite news |date=November 15, 1990 |title=KLMS ends 41 years on air |page=27 |work=Lincoln Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74465472/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}}

In 1993, a format hole opened abruptly in the market when KHAT (1530 AM), which played big band music, signed off at the end of April when its owner sold the transmitter site property for development and opted not to rebuild the station elsewhere.{{Cite news |date=April 23, 1993 |title=Sale silences KHAT, but not big-band sound |page=18 |work=Lincoln Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74465538/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} In response, KFMQ picked up the big band format and became KMEM on June 16,{{Cite news |last=Bogues |first=Maureen |date=June 17, 1993 |title=KMEM gives big-band tunes new life |page=13 |work=Lincoln Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74465657/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} promoting itself as "Your Memory Music Station".{{Cite news |date=May 16, 1993 |title=KMEM, Your Memory Music Station |page=11A |work=Lincoln Journal-Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74465619/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} The same week KHAT shut down, Midwest sold KFMQ to Radio One Nebraska, Inc., a company headed by Raymond Lamb, for $200,000.{{Cite news |date=April 30, 1993 |title=Transactions |page=10 |work=Radio & Records |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1993/RR-1993-04-30.pdf |access-date=March 26, 2021}}

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Lamb sold 10 stations, including two in Lincoln, to Three Eagles Communications for a total of $6.9 million in July 1996.{{Cite news |date=July 5, 1996 |title=Transactions |page=6 |work=Radio & Records |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1996/R&R-1996-07-05.pdf |access-date=March 26, 2021}} Two months later, Three Eagles bought KFRX (102.7 FM) and KFOR, giving it a four-station cluster in the Lincoln market.{{Cite news |last=Moser |first=Daniel R. |date=September 10, 1996 |title=Colorado firm buys KFOR, KFRX |page=5B |work=Lincoln Journal Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74465942/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} After initially promising no format changes, KMEM added two talk shows—Imus in the Morning and Nanci Donellan ("The Fabulous Sports Babe")—in February 1997.{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Tom |date=February 17, 1997 |title=Three Eagles sure to make big splash with station changes |page=6C |work=Lincoln Journal Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74466018/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} It was the prelude to a full-on format flip to sports that May, with a lineup of mostly national talk programs—including The Jim Rome Show—and overnight programming from One on One Sports,{{Cite news |last=Sipple |first=Steve |date=May 9, 1997 |title=KMEM targeting sports fans |page=1C |work=Lincoln Journal Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74466092/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} reclaiming its heritage KLMS call letters.{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Tom |date=December 29, 1997 |title=Arrivals, departures marked 1997 on air |page=2D |work=Lincoln Journal Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74466169/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} In December 2000, KLMS switched networks from One on One Sports to ESPN Radio.{{Cite news |last=Korbelik |first=Jeff |date=December 18, 2000 |title=KLMS changes sports-talk programming to ESPN Radio |page=5C |work=Lincoln Journal Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74466290/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}}

Between 1997 and 2023, KLMS had only deviated from sports talk radio once. In January 2010, Three Eagles opted to return to an oldies format on the station for the first time in nearly three decades, attempting to capitalize on the heritage of KLMS in the 1960s and 1970s.{{Cite news |last=Korbelik |first=Jeff |date=January 26, 2010 |title=ESPN 1480 switching to oldies music |work=Lincoln Journal Star |url=https://journalstar.com/sports/huskers/husker-sports/espn-1480-switching-to-oldies-music/article_8c6dd3fe-d79e-58f8-a7e5-f137145edd99.html |access-date=March 26, 2021}} Poor listener response to the removal of the sports talk format led Three Eagles to announce a month later that it would reinstate KLMS as it was prior to the switch.{{Cite news |last=Korbelik |first=Jeff |date=February 25, 2010 |title=ESPN 1480 to return by March 8 |work=Lincoln Journal Star |url=https://journalstar.com/sports/espn-1480-to-return-by-march-8/article_9e3bb3e8-2259-11df-b3f1-001cc4c03286.html |access-date=March 26, 2021}}

After an FM station, KNTK (93.7 FM), announced it would flip to sports, KLMS—until then the only station in the format in Lincoln—responded by adding local programming to its lineup in afternoon drive.{{Cite news |last=Korbelik |first=Jeff |date=July 23, 2011 |title=Sports talk radio finds niche in Lincoln, elsewhere |work=Lincoln Journal-Star |url=https://journalstar.com/entertainment/small-screen/television-and-radio/sports-talk-radio-finds-niche-in-lincoln-elsewhere/article_2d26fec8-d533-5802-8b66-232af52c3004.html |access-date=March 26, 2021}}

Three Eagles was purchased by Digity in 2014 in a $66.5 million transaction encompassing 48 stations.{{Cite news |last=Venta |first=Lance |date=May 14, 2014 |title=Digity Acquires Three Eagles |language=en-US |work=RadioInsight |url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/88556/digity-acquires-three-eagles/ |access-date=March 26, 2021}} Two years later, Digity and its 116 stations were acquired by Alpha Media for $264 million.{{Cite news |last=Venta |first=Lance |date=February 25, 2016 |title=Alpha Closes On Digity Purchase |language=en-US |work=RadioInsight |url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/105145/alpha-to-close-on-digity-purchase-tonight/ |access-date=March 27, 2021}}

At midnight on February 15, 2023, KLMS dropped the sports format and began simulcasting KFOR; on the same date, KFOR began simulcasting on KLMS's FM translator K268DF (101.5 FM).{{Cite news|url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/248707/alpha-preps-lincoln-signal-shuffle/|title=Alpha Preps Lincoln Signal Shuffle|work=RadioInsight|first=Lance|last=Venta|date=February 15, 2023}} The next day, KLMS flipped to adult hits, branded as "Mix 103.3", and began simulcasting on translator K277CA (103.3 FM), which formerly relayed KFOR.{{Cite news|url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/248778/alpha-launches-mix-103-3-lincoln/|title=Alpha Launches Mix 103.3 Lincoln|date=February 16, 2023|first=Lance|last=Venta|work=RadioInsight}} The station suffered storm damage and was at reduced power for a month, but on December 10, 2024, KLMS left the air, with Alpha citing "loss of its antenna site" as the reason. Mix continued on air, fed by the second HD Radio subchannel of KFRX.{{cite news|work=Northpine|first=Jon|last=Ellis|title=Lincoln AM Station Goes Silent, Format Moves to HD2/Translator|date=December 12, 2024|url=https://northpine.com/2024/12/12/lincoln-am-station-goes-silent-format-moves-to-hd2-translator/|access-date=December 15, 2024}}

{{Reflist}}

{{AM station data|54708|KLMS}}

• {{FCC-LMS-Facility|138615|K277CA}}
• {{FXL|K277CA}}
• {{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=43092 |title= History Cards for KLMS|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}} (Guide to reading History Cards)

{{Lincoln Radio}}

{{Alpha Media}}

LMS

Category:Adult hits radio stations in the United States

Category:Radio stations established in 1949

Category:1949 establishments in Nebraska

Category:Alpha Media radio stations