KCRO airs national religious leaders such as Jim Daly, Chuck Swindoll and David Jeremiah as well as local preachers. On weekends, KCRO 660 airs Southern Gospel music. KCRO is a brokered time radio station, where hosts pay Hickory Radio for 15 to 30 minute blocks of time, and may use their shows to seek donations to their ministries. Most hours begin with world and national news from SRN News.
History
The station signed on the air on April 19, 1922, making it among the oldest radio stations in Nebraska. By the 1930s, it was operating on AM 660 at 500 watts. But it was originally a daytimer required to gooff the air at sunset. The station's call sign was WAAW and it was owned by the Omaha Grain Exchange, broadcasting agricultural reports and crop prices. In 1939, the call letters were switched to KOWH. In 1946, KOWH put one of the first FM stations on the air in Omaha, now 92.9 KTGL. The original call letters were KOAD. By the 1950s, the owner was Mid Continent Broadcasting. In an advertisement in the 1950 edition of Broadcasting Yearbook, KCRO said it was "The Toast of The Midwest." It claimed a broadcast area of 215 miles in diameter, and offered advertisers "more coverage." It said that 660 AM was a "clear channel frequency," but neglected to say that a New York City station had clear channel status on 660, while KOWH had to sign off at night. KOWH played an important role in U.S. radio history. In the late 1950s, the station became what many consider the first Top 40 station. It was owned and operated by radio pioneer Todd Storz. Storz used KOWH to craft a radio format that played the top hits every couple of hours, using high-energy disc jockeys, aimed at young listeners. KOWH's success helped lead to Top 40 stations being established across the country. As contemporary music listening switched to the FM band, KOWH carried a country music format, and later an urban adult contemporary format. It became a Christian radio station in September 1979. It switched its call sign to KCRO, which stands for Christian Radio in Omaha. In 2005, the station was bought for $3.1 million by the Salem Media Group. Salem is the largest owner of Christian radio stations in the U.S. In July 2018, Hickory Radio agreed to purchase KCRO, co-owned talk radio station KOTK, and two translators from Salem Media. The purchase was consummated on October 31, 2018, at a price of $1.375 million.
