KVSO

On August 13, 1934, The Ardmoreite Publishing Company applied to build a new radio station on 1210 kHz in Ardmore, to operate with 100 watts during daytime hours. The Federal Communications Commission granted the application on February 26, 1935.{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=45288 |title= History Cards for KVSO|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}} (Guide to reading History Cards) The call sign KVSO was selected, for "Voice of Southern Oklahoma".{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/100097458/kvso-to-designate-ardmores-station/|date=April 19, 1935|page=5|title=KVSO To Designate Ardmore's Station|newspaper=Waurika News-Democrat|location=Waurika, Oklahoma|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=April 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420061857/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/100097458/kvso-to-designate-ardmores-station/|url-status=live}} Operating from studios and a transmitter at a converted two-story home north of the city that was once used as a showplace for local merchants,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/100097520/waurike-to-help-in-opening-radio-station/|date=August 2, 1935|page=1|title=Waurike To Help In Opening Radio Station|newspaper=Waurika News-Democrat|location=Waurika, Oklahoma|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=April 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420061902/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/100097520/waurike-to-help-in-opening-radio-station/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ardmorehp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Ardmore-Preservation-Plan-FINAL-October-11-2011.pdf|date=October 11, 2011|title=City of Ardmore Historic Preservation Plan|author=Robison and Associates|page=34|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=April 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420061906/https://www.ardmorehp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Ardmore-Preservation-Plan-FINAL-October-11-2011.pdf|url-status=live}} the station went on the air on August 4, 1935.{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-aug-04-1935-3173188/|pages=1, [https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-aug-04-1935-3173180/ Radio 2]|title=Voice of Southern Oklahoma Goes On Air: Nine Towns Have Part In Inaugural Program|work=The Daily Ardmoreite|date=August 4, 1935|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=April 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420061905/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-aug-04-1935-3173188/|url-status=live}} It was Ardmore's first broadcast outlet since the short-lived WOAA in 1922 and 1923.{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-aug-04-1935-3173188/|page=Radio 2|title=Hardy Station Radio Pioneer: WOAA, Dr. Hardy's Station, Was First to Go on Air In This Section|work=The Daily Ardmoreite|date=August 4, 1935|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=April 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420061905/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-aug-04-1935-3173188/|url-status=live}} While originally a daytime-only station, it was allowed to broadcast at night in 1936, and in January 1938, it increased power to 250 watts.{{r|hc}} In addition to local programs and World Broadcasting System features, the station also had newscasts, which originated from studios at the downtown printing plant and offices of The Ardmoreite.{{cite news|pages=1, [https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-mar-20-1938-3173226/ 7]|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-mar-20-1938-3173224/|date=March 20, 1938|work=The Daily Ardmoreite|title=Fire Sweeps Plant of Sam P. McCullough; Menaces Entire Block|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=April 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420061904/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-mar-20-1938-3173224/|url-status=live}} When an adjacent building burned down in March 1938, newscasters reporting the blaze from the downtown studio had to periodically flee the studios for fresh air because of smoke.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1938/1938-04-01-BC.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=April 1, 1938|page=75|title=Studio Notes|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=November 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151259/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1938/1938-04-01-BC.pdf|url-status=live}}

It was a charter member of the Oklahoma Network, itself affiliated with the Mutual Broadcasting System, when it was formed in 1937.{{cite news|title=New Okla. Network|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Daily/RA-1937/RA-1937-Feb.pdf|accessdate=May 19, 2016|work=Radio Daily|date=February 9, 1937|page=1|archive-date=November 27, 2014|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20141127204335/http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Daily/RA-1937/RA-1937-Feb.pdf|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1937/1937-08-01-BC.pdf|date=August 1, 1937|work=Broadcasting|title=Buryl Lottridge Named Head of Oklahoma Net|page=43|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=November 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151243/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1937/1937-08-01-BC.pdf|url-status=live}} Much of the Oklahoma Network joined NBC's Blue Network on January 1, 1941, resulting in the incorporation of five new Oklahoma outlets including KVSO.{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-dec-27-1940-3173210/|title=Program From New York Is To Be Dedicated to New Members of Blue Network|page=1|work=The Daily Ardmoreite|date=December 27, 1940|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=April 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420061905/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-dec-27-1940-3173210/|url-status=live}} On March 29 of that year, the station moved from 1210 to 1240 kHz as part of the enactment of NARBA.{{r|hc}} Studios moved from the transmitter site to the downtown Hotel Ardmore in 1942.{{r|hc}}

In 1944, KVSO was separated into the personal ownership of John F. Easley, publisher of The Ardmoreite, and it would remain in the Easley and Riesen-Easley family into the 1980s. The station continued to steadily grow. An FM station, KVSO-FM 93.7, operated from 1947 until 1950, when it was closed down due to the expense of repairing its transmitter.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1950/BC-1950-04-03.pdf|date=April 3, 1950|work=Broadcasting|page=69|title=FCC Roundup|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=November 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151617/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1950/BC-1950-04-03.pdf|url-status=live}} The mountaintop site once used by the FM was rehabilitated in 1956 for use by KVSO-TV (channel 12), also an NBC affiliate, which was sold and became KXII in 1958.{{cite news|page=24|first=Mac|last=McGalliard|title=The Way I See It|work=The Daily Ardmoreite|date=May 3, 1956|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-may-03-1956-3173245/|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=April 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420061906/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-may-03-1956-3173245/|url-status=live}}

The Riesen family sold the Ardmoreite to Stauffer Communications in 1983, ending 63 years of family ownership of the newspaper. Stauffer was required to divest the radio stations to meet FCC regulations.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/100099211/daily-ardmoreite-sells-to-stauffer-lee/|date=February 1, 1983|page=7|title=Daily Ardmoreite sells to Stauffer; Lee Porter takes reins as publisher|newspaper=The Oklahoma Times|location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=April 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420061904/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/100099211/daily-ardmoreite-sells-to-stauffer-lee/|url-status=live}} In buying the newspaper, the firm requested an 18-month waiver to take on the station (valued at $750,000), which would have brought it over the limit of AM outlets it could own, until a buyer could be sought.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1983/BC-1983-02-28.pdf|date=February 28, 1983|title=Changing Hands|page=101|work=Broadcasting|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=November 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151454/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1983/BC-1983-02-28.pdf|url-status=live}} The buyer for the station was Harold G. McEwen, who also owned KKAJ (95.7 FM) in town. Both outlets sold together for $1.75 million to Pat Nugent in 1986.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1986/BC-1986-02-17.pdf|date=February 17, 1986|title=Changing Hands|work=Broadcasting|page=71|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=November 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151341/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1986/BC-1986-02-17.pdf|url-status=live}} Under Nugent, KVSO programmed an oldies format.{{r|BC910819}}

The pair was to be sold again in 1991 to Carter County Broadcasting Inc., a company controlled by the First National Bank of Yorktown, Texas,{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1991/BC-1991-08-19.pdf|page=43|work=Broadcasting|date=August 19, 1991|title=Changing Hands|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=November 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151259/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1991/BC-1991-08-19.pdf|url-status=live}} but that sale failed to close. At that time, the AM station changed its call sign to KKAJ and began to simulcast the country music format on KKAJ-FM, replacing what had been a Christian format.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-M-Street/M-Street-Journal/M-Street-1991-06.pdf|work=M Street Journal|page=1|date=June 3, 1991|title=Format Changes|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=September 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930001656/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-M-Street/M-Street-Journal/M-Street-1991-06.pdf|url-status=live}} Nugent would try again to sell the pair in 1993, this time to Chuckie Broadcasting, a company led by Lawrence B. Taishoff, the former publisher and chairman of Broadcasting magazine.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1993/BC-1993-03-01.pdf|date=March 1, 1993|work=Broadcasting & Cable|page=41|title=Changing Hands|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=November 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151328/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1993/BC-1993-03-01.pdf|url-status=live}} The KVSO call letters were restored to the AM station in 1995,{{cite web |url=http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=11182&Callsign=KVSO |title=KVSO Call Sign History |work=United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division |access-date=December 21, 2008 |archive-date=April 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420061906/https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=11182&Callsign=KVSO |url-status=live }} though it was not until 1996 that the station dropped the simulcast to broadcast an oldies and talk format.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-M-Street/M-Street-Journal/M-Street-1996-09.pdf|page=2|title=Format Changes|work=M Street Journal|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=January 2, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102201358/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-M-Street/M-Street-Journal/M-Street-1996-09.pdf|url-status=live}} The present sports format was adopted in 2001.{{cite news|page=5|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-M-Street/M-Street-Journal/M-Street-2001-05.pdf#page=21|work=M Street Journal|date=May 16, 2001|access-date=April 19, 2022|via=World Radio History|title=Format Changes and Updates|archive-date=September 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930002434/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-M-Street/M-Street-Journal/M-Street-2001-05.pdf#page=21|url-status=live}} Chuckie Broadcasting was acquired by NextMedia for $5.5 million in 2002.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2002/08/19/daily13.html|work=Denver Business Journal|title=NextMedia buying radio stations in Okla.|date=August 20, 2002|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=February 16, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060216233719/http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2002/08/19/daily13.html|url-status=live}}

LKCM Radio Group purchased the stations from NextMedia in 2006.{{cite news|url=https://www.rbr.com/epaper/issue63-06-hga.html|date=March 30, 2006|title=Ardmore or less? NM out, LKCM in|work=RBR Epaper|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=April 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420061905/https://www.rbr.com/epaper/issue63-06-hga.html|url-status=live}} Stephens Media acquired the LKCM cluster in 2016.{{cite news|url=https://www.rbr.com/lkcm-sells-four-in-oklahoma/|work=Radio and Television Business Report|date=April 7, 2016|title=LKCM Sells Four in Oklahoma|access-date=April 20, 2022|archive-date=January 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126123912/https://www.rbr.com/lkcm-sells-four-in-oklahoma/|url-status=live}}

{{main|WWLS-FM}}

Most of the station's daytime sports talk programming is simulcast from WWLS-FM in Oklahoma City. The station also airs Oklahoma City Thunder basketball and Oklahoma Sooners athletic events.{{Cite web |title=KVSO |url=https://smgexchange.com/products/kvso |access-date=2022-04-20 |website=SMG Exchange |language=en |archive-date=April 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420061905/https://smgexchange.com/products/kvso |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Sooner Sports Radio Network |url=https://soonersports.com/sports/2019/8/9/210185760.aspx |access-date=2022-04-20 |website=University of Oklahoma |language=en |archive-date=March 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324000200/https://soonersports.com/sports/2019/8/9/210185760.aspx |url-status=live }}

In the immediate Ardmore area, KVSO is simulcast on a 250-watt translator on the FM band.

{{RadioTranslators

| callsign = KVSO

| call1 = K298CR

| freq1 = 107.5

| fid1 = 199993

| watts1 = 250

| haat1 = 58

| class1 = D

| city1 = Ardmore, Oklahoma

}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{official website|http://www.kvso.com}}

{{AM station data|11182|KVSO}}

• {{FCC-LMS-Facility|199993|K298CR}}
• {{FXL|K298CR}}

{{Sports Radio Stations in Oklahoma}}

VSO

Category:Sports radio stations in the United States

Category:Radio stations established in 1935

Category:1935 establishments in Oklahoma