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KPTY (AM)
KPTY (1330 kHz, "107.3 Hank FM") is an AM radio station serving the Waterloo/Cedar Falls metropolitan area with a classic country format. It is under ownership of NRG Media. HistoryOn June 12, 1947, the Federal Communications Commission granted a construction permit to Black Hawk Broadcasting Company for a radio station in Waterloo, Iowa. Less than five months later, Black Hawk president R.J. McElroy made the launch of KWWL a reality. The station began broadcasting on 1320 kHz, operating with 1,000 watts of power in studio space once occupied by WMT in the Hotel Russell-Lamson. The frequency changed to 1330 a short time later, operating with 5,000 watts. McElroy formed KWWL-TV in 1953, and KWWL-FM (now KFMW) in 1968. KWWL was a very popular top 40 station until the format moved to KFMW in 1982. On February 16, 1981, KWWL became KWLO with the sale of the Black Hawk Broadcasting Company to Forward Communications. KWLO's format moved to adult contemporary and evolved into full service. In the summer of 1993, KWLO switched music formats from lite AC to oldies, adopting "Oldies 1330" as a moniker. The new format maintained existing full service news and talk programming as well as local features like "Buy, Sell, & Trade", a Tradio program. After KWLO and KFMW were purchased by Bahakel Communications in 1996, the adult standards format that was on KXEL moved to KWLO. For a time, it was syndicating a combined oldies/adult standards format courtesy of Citadel Media's "Timeless" satellite feed. With that network's demise on February 13, 2010, KWLO slightly tweaked their format and switched over to Dial Global's Kool Gold oldies network. On July 1, 2012, KWLO's format changed to sports radio. The station was purchased by Woodward Communications, Inc., in April 2012 along with Bahakel's other Waterloo radio stations. Woodward Communications sold KWLO and three sister stations to NRG Radio's NRG License Sub, LLC effective December 1, 2014, at a price of $3.55 million. On June 28, 2015, at midnight, KWLO flipped back to top 40/CHR, branded as "107.3 The Party" (simulcast on translator K297BS 107.3 FM Waterloo).[2] On July 9, 2015, KWLO changed its call sign to KPTY to go with the "Party" branding. On January 31, 2020, after playing “Him & I” by G-Eazy and Halsey, KPTY flipped to classic country, branded as "107.3 Hank FM". The first song on “Hank FM” was “Live Until I Die” by Clay Walker.[3] References
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