Happy Birthday to KMAM-1530AM

KMAM-1530AM was established in 1962 by two brothers, Bill and Jerry Thornton. Bill Thornton began his career as a DJ and continued his career in the United States Navy as an engineer, then graduated from Arkansas State with a degree in Journalism and a dream to build his own radio station.

On May 11, 1962, the first broadcast from KMAM AM 1530 began at 6 AM.

The Bates County Broadcasting Company, located at 800 East Nursery Street in Butler, may be the last radio station in the country of its age, still under its original ownership.

(DID YOU KNOW: Antique radio items and equipment can be viewed at The Bates County Museum)

The FM frequency was added on January 15, 1975 and KMAM/KMOE became two stations, simulcasting in FM and AM.

In the beginning, the radio station could only broadcast during daylight hours and KMAM is still considered a "Daytimer" station.

The station has gone from a room sized reel-to-reel tape machine, to cartridge tapes, then cassettes, CD's, and now there is full computer automation and no tapes required.

Local broadcasters had to come to the radio station in person to perform and be on air. Music was on vinyl. Now programs can be recorded anywhere at any time and brought to the station to be aired at a scheduled time.

(DID YOU KNOW: The tones your hear weekly and monthly are called EAS Emergency Alert System and replaced the old EBS Emergency Broadcast System)

From noisy teletype in a soundproof room, to satellites receiving programs from 24,000 miles in the sky, KMAM/KMOE-FM 92.1 brings the Kansas City Chiefs, ABC World News, Farm Market Reports and a variety of other shows to listeners.

KMAM/KMOE is still operated by the Thornton family and is one of the only stations remaining that continues to be operated by its original owners.

Melody Thornton is the General Manager and has been announcing since 1980 and has made positive changes to the format and programing at the station.

Recently our small studio has been featured on the History tv series of God, Guns, and Automobiles, we also aid and receive information from Kansas City TV stations.

The station continues to move forward into a competitive and up-to-date venue of music, news, and entertainment for the ever expanding broadcasting area.

Now KMAM-KMOE continue to broadcast with this years addition to World-Wide streaming on the internet, smart phones, and tablets. Also in 2014 we implemented a newly customized news site that allows us to keep our supporters, fans, customers, and general public more informed.

KMAM-KMOE & 921News.com may be your small town radio station and news outlet covering 8 counties, but we are proud to be a small market station and proud to have entertained 3+ generations of fans.