Our radio sections trace the development of the radio industry in St. Louis and highlights those who have helped to shape it.
KLPH was the original call letter combination requested for the 89.9 FM construction permit. By the time the permit was issued, the call letters had been changed to KBDY.
The station, licensed to the Belleville Junior College, broadcast at 89.7 with a power of 10 watts. Operations began in 1976 and ended in 1979. Staffing was a problem, as the junior college student volunteers often did not show up for their air shifts.
Cahokia School District held the license and the studio was in the high school. Broadcasts were on 89.5 and consisted of kids playing Top 40 records and broadcasts of sporting events.
Operated by the Mehlville School District at a frequency of 89.3, the station featured student disc jockeys broadcasting from Mehlville Senior High. They began broadcasting in 1974. A newspaper article told of a major problem of theft of the station’s records from its library.
Evergreen Media gave birth to all-sports KASP in January of 1992, dropping the oldies format on the former KGLD. By November of that year, KASP’s operation had been leased to the Frischlings’ Legend Broadcasting. The company laid off a majority of the employees and negotiations began immediately to sell the station to the man who had been managing it for Evergreen. Within months, however, the station was sold to Zimmer Broadcasting, which killed off the format and renamed the station WKBQ (AM).