KIRS (FM)


KIRS is a radio station licensed to Stockton, Missouri, broadcasting on 107.7 MHz FM. The station is owned by VCY America, Inc.

History

The station signed on January 20, 1999 as KRLK, broadcasting a classic country format branded as "The Lake". Cumulus Media bought the station from Galen Gilbert for $850,000 in 2004. The call letters changed to KRWP on February 2, 2005. The station initially relied on programming from Jones Radio Networks; in later years, KRWP was a full service station, with classic country music being supplemented with a tradio program and high school sports coverage.
Cumulus' acquisition of the station was part of its plan to move KMAJ-FM, a Topeka, Kansas radio station it owned on the same frequency, to the Kansas City market, which would have required KRWP to reduce its power. The KMAJ-FM move was called off in 2006, after Cumulus' purchase of Susquehanna Radio Corporation, as the move would have given it too many FM radio stations in Kansas City.
On January 17, 2018, KRWP went off the air without any notice from Cumulus. Cumulus had earlier indicated that, following the Federal Communications Commission's repeal of rules requiring a local main studio, KRWP would close its local facilities and transfer its operations to Cumulus' Kansas City studios. VCY America agreed to buy the station for $100,000 on September 19, 2018; upon the completion of the sale, the station would convert to noncommercial operation and broadcast VCY's Christian radio programming, with no local content. The sale was consummated on January 10, 2019, at which point VCY America changed the station's call sign to KIRS.