Our radio sections trace the development of the radio industry in St. Louis and highlights those who have helped to shape it.
KCWA was a low power non-commercial station assigned to 89.9 mHz with facilities in Arnold, MO. In 1999 the station was sold by the Arnold Educational Broadcasting Foundation to Missouri River Christian Broadcasting, Inc., and the call letters were changed to KGNA.
After a long birthing process, community radio KDHX finally received a construction permit in March of 1982, but did not actually go on the air until 1987. Licensed to the non-profit Double Helix Corporation, the station broadcast at 88.1 mHz.
The original application for the 89.9 mHz frequency by the Montgomery-Hyde Park neighborhood association listed the requested call letters as KLPH. That request was soon changed to KDNY, but before the station signed on, the request was again changed and the call letters awarded to the station were KBDY.
Adams Communications, holder of the license for the 590 kHz AM frequency, pulled the plug on its 24-hour business format in early 1991 and renamed the station KEZK, in conjunction with its other St. Louis station, KEZK-FM. After the AM station was sold to Compass Radio Group in 1993, the calls were changed to KFNS.
Missouri Sports Radio, which owned KFNS(AM) in 1998, purchased KZMM, which was licensed to Troy, MO., in 1998. Call letters were changed to KFNS-FM. The purpose of the purchase was to give KFNS, with its relatively weak AM signal, better coverage in St. Charles County and west St. Louis County. The FM station was spun off by a subsequent owner of the sports station combo at a financial loss in 2009, and the new owners, Westplex Broadcasting, retained the call letters..