KOIL

KOIL
Omaha, Nebraska;
Broadcast area	Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area
Frequency	1290 kHz
Branding	News Talk 1290 KOIL
Programming
Format	Talk
Network	ABC News Radio
Affiliations	Fox News Talk; Compass Media Networks; Premiere Networks; Salem Radio Network; Westwood One; Kansas City Chiefs Radio Network; Omaha Lancers Hockey
Ownership
Owner	NRG Media; (NRG License Sub, LLC);
Sister stations	KOZN, KZOT, KMMQ, KQKQ-FM, KOOO, KOPW
History
First air date	July 10, 1925; 99 years ago (original license); December 16, 1976; 48 years ago (Interim Operation); January 13, 1983 (relicensed)
Former call signs	KOIL (1925–1993); KKAR (1993–2012)
Call sign meaning	K-OIL (original owner was the Mona Oil Company of Council Bluffs, Iowa.)
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	542
Class	B
Power	5,000 watts
Links
Public license information	Public file; LMS;
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	newstalk1290koil.com

KOIL (1290 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station, licensed to Omaha, Nebraska. It airs a talk radio format and is owned by NRG Media, headquartered in Cedar Rapids. The studios are on Dodge Street at 50th Avenue in Midtown Omaha.

KOIL is a Class B station powered at 5,000 watts. At night, it uses a directional antenna with a three-tower array to protect other stations on 1290 AM. The transmitter is off Harrison Street, near Big Papillion Creek in Bellevue, Nebraska.^[2]

Programming

KOIL's schedule is mostly nationally syndicated talk shows. Weekdays begin with two news magazines, America in the Morning with John Trout and This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal. The rest of the weekday schedule includes Brian Kilmeade and Friends, The Sean Hannity Show, The Mark Levin Show, The Chris Plante Show, Ground Zero with Clyde Lewis and America at Night with Rich Valdés.

Weekends feature shows on money, health, the law, technology, guns and home repair. Syndicated weekend programs include The Kim Komando Show, Bill Handel on The Law and At Home with Gary Sullivan. KOIL airs live sports including Kansas City Chiefs football and Omaha Lancers junior ice hockey.^[3] Most hours begin with an update from ABC News Radio.

History

Establishment

KOIL was initially licensed to the Monarch Manufacturing Company of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and signed on the air on July 10, 1925. It was one of the earliest stations in the Omaha area. Its owner was an oil company, hence the "OIL" in the call letters. It originally broadcast at 1080 AM, before moving to 1290 AM.

KOIL was one of the stations that participated in the first CBS network radio broadcast on September 18, 1927.^[4] Its affiliation switched to the NBC Blue Network on December 1, 1931.^[5] KOIL carried its schedule of dramas, comedies, news and sports during the "Golden Age of Radio."

The station was moved to Omaha in 1937. It was purchased by salesman and promoter Don Burden in 1953. As network programming moved from radio to television, the station adopted a Top 40 format. KOIL was a popular station for Omaha's teens and young adults. It became part of Burden's Star Stations.

License cancelation

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began an investigation into allegations involving Burden and his stations. They included reports of bribes Burden made to officials in charge of renewing the licenses of his stations, supervision of on-air contests, and lack of candor with the FCC.^[6]

Star Stations was forced to surrender its radio licenses, and KOIL was ordered to go off the air as of 12:01 a.m. September 2, 1976.^[7] The last two songs played by DJ Gene Shaw were Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye) by Gladys Knight & The Pips. This was followed by the very last song, Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence." The engineer on duty who turned off the transmitter after 51 years was Don Eliason. On Tom Becka's last segment, he also played the song as he signed off.

Interim operation

After KOIL's license was canceled, there were multiple applications filed to continue operations, either temporarily under an Interim Operation authorization, or as a relicensed station.^[7] On November 24, the FCC awarded an Interim Operation authorization to Beneficial Broadcasting Inc.^[8] Beneficial, headed by Nathan Novak, was the sole applicant to apply for only Interim Operation, and also pledged to donate all profits to charity. On December 16, 1976, the station, still KOIL, resumed broadcasting.^[9]

Relicensing

While the Interim Operation of the station was ongoing, the FCC held competitive hearings among the applicants for a permanant relicencing of the station. A May 1981 ruling favored Nebraska-Iowa Broadcasting, but a January 1982 review changed the decision to Omaha Broadcasting.^[10] Following a merger of the applicants, the new license was ultimately granted to NewKOIL, Inc., which took over operations on January 13, 1983.^[11] Although technically this was a new station, its continued operation as KOIL on 1290 kHz meant that it was considered to be the same station as the original KOIL established in 1925.

In December 1990, KOIL dropped local programming and began airing the "Pure Gold" oldies format from Satellite Music Networks. By May 1993, KOIL was simulcasting FM sister station KXKT, was the Omaha-Council Bluffs affiliate for the Kansas City Royals Radio Network, and aired an evening sports talk show. The station would go off the air for several months due to a lightning strike that caused a fire.^[12] In August, after Valley Broadcasting sold the station to Aegeus, Inc. (which was owned in part by John Mitchell, president and principal owner of Mitchell Broadcasting, the owner of KKAR and KQKQ), the station returned to the air, with KOIL moving to 1180 AM (and flipping to an adult standards format), while 1290 AM became KKAR, and adopted a news/talk format.^[13]^[14]^[15]^[16]

In April 2003, KKAR moved to 1020 AM, replacing KKSC (now KMMQ).^[17] The call sign resumed broadcasting on 1180 kHz in January 2009. On June 4, 2012, KOIL was returned to 1290 AM and rebranded as "The Mighty 1290" KOIL.^[18]

Past personalities

Announcers who once worked for KOIL include Roger W. Morgan, Gene Okerlund, Gary Michael Ross, Dr. Don Rose,^[19] Dick Sainte, and former Shindig! host Jimmy O'Neill.

Other personalities to spend time at KOIL include The Real Don Steele, Gary Owens, Kris Erik Stevens, Lyle Dean, Frank "Coffeehead" Allen, Joe Light, Dave Wingert, Sandy Jackson, and Tom Becka.

References

^ "Facility Technical Data for KOIL". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
^ Radio-Locator.com/KOIL
^ "The Mighty 1290 KOIL". www.newstalk1290koil.com. Archived from the original on 2016-04-04.
^ "CBS Radio News Celebrates 75th Anniversary". Radio Online. September 17, 2002.
^ "KOIL Joins NBC" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 15, 1931. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
^ "The Mighty 1290 KOIL Tribute". Retrieved October 31, 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Burden facilities are much in demand", Broadcasting, September 13, 1976, page 66.
^ "Other Actions", Broadcasting, December 13, 1976, page 80.
^ "KOIL Back On the Air 'For Good'", by Doug Smith, Omaha Herald, December 16, 1976, page 1.
^ "Omaha Broadcasting gets KOIL License", Lincoln (Nebraska) Star, January 12, 1982, page 5.
^ "KOIL Radio Permanent License Won by NewKOIL, Inc." by Steve Millburg, Omaha World-Tribune, January 13, 1983, page 41.
^ Jeff Bahr, "KOIL Still Off the Air," The Omaha World-Herald, May 29, 1993.
^ "KOIL May Leave Mighty 1290," The Omaha World-Herald, May 21, 1993.
^ Jeff Bahr, "'Duopoly' Will Move KKAR," The Omaha World-Herald, August 7, 1993.
^ Jeff Bahr, "KOIL Format Still a Mystery," The Omaha World-Herald, August 28, 1993.
^ Jeff Bahr, "KOIL to Air 'Great Songs'," The Omaha World-Herald, September 8, 1993.
^ "Radio News Search". Radio Online. April 29, 2003.
^ "News Talk 1290 KOIL". Retrieved October 31, 2022.
^ "Legendary Morning Air Personality Dr. Don Rose Dies". Radio Online. March 30, 2005.