KKMS (AM)

The People's Broadcasting Company, founded by former WCCO announcer Bill Stewart and his wife Becky Ann, obtained the construction permit for a new radio station at 980 kHz in Minneapolis on May 18, 1949,[1] which launched five months later on October 18.[2] An independent station, WPBC played a variety of middle-of-the-road pop music and standards, and was even considered an innovator in the concept of singing jingles.

The Stewarts took a rather conservative approach in programming the station. They shied away from the likes of Elvis Presley and most early rock and roll music, which they described as "junky music with morally degrading lyrics." Their philosophy extended to commercials as well, to the point that they rejected advertising from beer and tobacco companies. Allegedly, the Stewarts would go so far as to use the sharp end of a compass to scratch away the grooves of tracks on albums that didn't meet their standards of "nice" music, in order to prevent rebellious DJs from playing them.

The daytime-only station expanded to FM when WPBC-FM 101.3 began broadcasting July 18, 1960,[3] simulcasting the AM station and broadcast at night.[4] Four years later, the Stewarts were approved to move both stations from Minneapolis to Richfield, increase the AM's power to 5 kW, and begin broadcasting at night.[1] In 1969, the AM and FM stopped simulcasting; the FM retained the "good music" format, while the AM shifted even further to middle-of-the-road.[5]

The Stewarts, citing increased competition from larger companies, sold WPBC-AM-FM in 1972 to Fairchild Industries for $1.5 million. Fairchild subsequently dismissed the entire staff and overhauled both stations. On November 3, 1972, WPBC became WYOO, airing an oldies format, while WPBC-FM went off the air for technical adjustments, to emerge as album-oriented rock station WRAH.[6][7] One unusual program feature was newscasts that consisted of four and a half minutes of sports and a handful of news headlines—the opposite of most radio newscasts.[8]

After debuting to middling ratings that then continually declined, WYOO went in a new direction in April 1974, spearheaded by new general manager Mike Sigelman, the former sales manager of Top 40 outlet KDWB.[9] A shift to adult contemporary was met with even lower ratings, and with management seeing a gap for a Top 40 station on FM, both stations flipped[10] on August 26, 1974, during the Minnesota State Fair.[11] The new "U100"—intended to be "Y100", only for WHYI in Miami to order them to cease and desist—quickly became a competitive station in the market.

WAYL logo as it appeared in 1989

In early 1976, Fairchild Industries decided to put both stations on the market, and the pair were broken up. In February, KDWB purchased the FM facility for $850,000.[12] The AM station was then sold to WAYL (93.7 FM), a beautiful music outlet owned by Entertainment Communications, Inc.—today's Entercom—for $625,000.[13] It was WAYL's interest in the AM frequency—sewn up first, but announced second—that led to a search for a buyer for the FM facility.[11] WYOO-FM became KDWB-FM on September 16, 1976, and WYOO AM became WAYL on September 20.[14]

WAYL (whose mascot was a whale) simulcast easy listening music on both 93.7 FM and 980 AM until March 1982, when the AM broke off and flipped to adult contemporary as KKSS.[15] The format change caused the cancellation of a talk show only on the AM frequency hosted by Bob Allard; Allard committed suicide in late May.[16] In August 1984, the station changed formats again, this time to adult standards, as KMFY. Ratings so low they could not be measured in the station's final months prompted Entercom to return the AM to a simulcast of WAYL in 1987 and lay off its nine separate staff.[17]

As the 1980s progressed, the easy listening format was fading rapidly in popularity. While it had long been a strong ratings draw across the country, advertisers began to shun the older demographics of its listeners. In July 1988, WAYL-FM finally dropped easy listening and switched to classic hits as KLXK. WAYL's call letters and format initially remained on 980 AM,[18] which also became the new radio home of Minnesota North Stars hockey.[19] before completely giving up on beautiful music and switching to a simulcast of the FM station.

In December 1990, the AM station branched off from its FM sister. The station picked up the Z-Rock satellite-delivered network, previously aired on KZOW (950 AM). The new call letters became KMZZ and the music full-time hard rock and heavy metal. As the Z-Rock network itself later shifted to a more mainstream rock presentation, KMZZ dropped them on January 1, 1993 and began programming an in-house automated hard rock format as "Mega Rock". Mega Rock did not last long, and the following May, 980 AM returned to simulcasting their FM sister station, now active rock KRXX (93X).

When Entercom sold 93X to Capital Cities/ABC in 1994, the AM station was not part of the deal. As a buyer was being sought, 980 was still owned by Entercom (though programmed by local ABC station KQRS-FM through a local marketing agreement) and continued to simulcast 93.7 FM until a buyer could be found. Upon taking control of KRXX in February, ABC immediately changed the format of KRXX-FM to modern rock as KEGE ("The Edge"). AM 980's call letters would remain KRXX until finally picking up the KEGE call letters later that year.

After more than two years on the market, the AM station was finally sold in December 1996 to current owner Salem Communications, and adopted a Christian preaching format. The call letters switched to the current KKMS on December 6, 1996. Today, Salem, which programs both Christian and secular formats, is one of the biggest radio station owners in the industry, and they currently own two other AM stations in the Twin Cities market. All three stations are based at the same Eagan studios that housed 980 AM and its broadcast facilities through its many incarnations.

On January 18, 2015, KKMS rebranded as "The Mission".[20]