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Who remembers listening to WOW radio?

Nebugeater said:
... and KFAB was an Omaha station.......
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And KFAB started in Lincoln (something I remember my parents telling me)

From Google AI:

KFAB began broadcasting on December 4, 1924, in Lincoln, Nebraska, originally owned by the Nebraska Buick Auto Company. The call letters, chosen at the owner's request, reportedly stood for "Keep Following A Buick." The station relocated to Omaha in 1944 KFAB Radio's History and Significance in Nebraska - Facebook and became Nebraska's first 24-hour radio station in 1951 KFAB - Wikipedia. [1, 2]
Throughout its 100+ year legacy, KFAB - Wikipedia has been a cornerstone of Midwest broadcasting, pioneering several major milestones:
  • Husker Football: KFAB was the first radio station to broadcast University of Nebraska football games in 1926 KFAB 1110am radio station in Omaha, Nebraska - Facebook. [1, 2]
  • Power Upgrade: After swapping frequencies to 1110 kHz KFAB - Wikipedia, the station increased its signal power to 50,000 watts, allowing it to cover much of the western half of the continent at night KFAB - Wikipedia. [1, 2]
  • Notable Talent: Famous figures, including legendary talk host Gary Sadlemyer and even the late entertainer Johnny Carson, spent time doing shows on KFAB.
  • Modern Era: Now owned by iHeartMedia, the station broadcasts an established news, weather, sports, and talk format.
 
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BigRedMax said:
Relaunching after two decades and will be the flagship station for the Huskers.

www.wowt.com

"WOW" to return to Omaha airwaves

For decades, WOW Radio and WOWT shared a building at 35th and Farnam.
www.wowt.com www.wowt.com
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I thought I saw a few months back that 590 was going to totally stop broadcasting and was going to liquidation. Wasn't it an ESPN operation? or formerly so? I grew up in Lincoln.

To get back to WOW. Yes, it was on our "short list" of radio keys in our car. Back in the day, often one only had AM in their car. You had five keys that you could program. If you had AM/FM you had five on each "dial". So I got into music around 1973 or so. As a Big Red Fan probably around 1970 was when I started to listen to games on the radio. Also, I went to most home games, so mostly road games were listened to on weekends.

We (me and siblings) in our car had on our five keys WOW (590), KOIL (1290 maybe) and KLMS (1480 IIRC) (Lincoln's Music Station). Those were your choices for Top 40 & youth oriented music (top 40 included some old folk's music if it got enough sales - some pop crossed over). For the oldsters (parents) they got KFAB and either KLIN or KFOR (both Lincoln news stations and older folks' music). So the old folks (my parents were maybe 40) got two of the five (and of course they paid for all of it). Fortunately, KLIN & KFOR were so close on the dial that you could hit one and easily dial to the other. You could do the same with KFAB, too. And KOIL was in that segment, so all four were close together on the dial.

Anyway, we drove my dad nuts. We didn't like a song, you hit the channel key and moved around. Of course when dad wanted to listen to what he wanted, we had to keep our hands off.

I got frustrated with WOW music as I remember - wasn't it Jimmy O'Neil who was top DJ and program director - sped up some of the songs to play them faster (also cut off intros and ends) so I stopped listening there first. I think Kasey Kasem was on both WOW and KLMS. So had your choice. Later, after discovering FM (still pre driving) KFMQ in Lincoln was the only young music on FM (all elevator music). They were totally free form and played anything but Top 40. It was great exposure to albums. Around 1976 or 1977 KGOR came on and they were totally suit run and the Top 40 version of Album Oriented Rock (actually the very meaning of the term). Unfortunately they were very successful and eventually the suits took over KFMQ.

Now to sports. WOW IIRC had Joe Patrick for Play by Play. KFOR had Dick Perry and KLIN Bill Wood, they were their morning personalities also. IIRC, they did a joint Football Broadcast (PBP & color respectively) and I think they were on both stations (that was in Lincoln market). Of course you had KFAB with Bremser and just forgot color guy, like you needed a color guy with Bremser. :Lol: Anyway, I got annoyed with Bremser (as did more people than you think) Joe Patrick was good, a happy go lucky enthusiastic guy. Dick & Bill in Lincoln were slightly more colorful that Joe Friday & Bill Gannon (just the facts, ma'am / man); but they were very factual and accurate (Bremser was anything but that-which is why he was annoying after awhile). Also, in autumn, we often had campouts, so who you listened to might be dictated by reception.
 
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KleinTxHusker said:
I thought I saw a few months back that 590 was going to totally stop broadcasting and was going to liquidation. Wasn't it an ESPN operation? or formerly so? I grew up in Lincoln.

To get back to WOW. Yes, it was on our "short list" of radio keys in our car. Back in the day, often one only had AM in their car. You had five keys that you could program. If you had AM/FM you had five on each "dial". So I got into music around 1973 or so. As a Big Red Fan probably around 1970 was when I started to listen to games on the radio. Also, I went to most home games, so mostly road games were listened to on weekends.

We (me and siblings) in our car had on our five keys WOW (590), KOIL (1290 maybe) and KLMS (1480 IIRC) (Lincoln's Music Station). Those were your choices for Top 40 & youth oriented music (top 40 included some old folk's music if it got enough sales - some pop crossed over). For the oldsters (parents) they got KFAB and either KLIN or KFOR (both Lincoln news stations and older folk music). So the old folks (my parents were maybe 40) got two of the five (and of course they paid for all of it). Fortunately, KLIN & KFOR were so close on the dial that you could hit one and easily dial to the other. You could do the same with KFAB, too. And KOIL was in that segment, so all four were close together on the dial.

Anyway, we drove my dad nuts. We didn't like a song, you hit the channel key and moved around. Of course when dad wanted to listen to what he wanted, we had to keep our hands off.

I got frustrated with WOW music as I remember - wasn't it Jimmy O'Neil who was top DJ and program director - sped up some of the songs to play them faster (also cut off intros and ends) so I stopped listening there first. I think Kasey Kasem was on both WOW and KLMS. So had your choice. Later, after discovering FM (still pre driving) KFMQ in Lincoln was the only young music on FM (all elevator music). They were totally free form and played anything but Top 40. It was great exposure to albums. Around 1976 or 1977 KGOR came on and they were totally suit run and the Top 40 version of Album Oriented Rock (actually the very meaning of the term). Unfortunately they were very successful and eventually the suits took over KFMQ.

Now to sports. WOW IIRC had Joe Patrick for Play by Play. KFOR had Dick Perry and KLIN Bill Wood, they were their morning personalities also. IIRC, they did a joint Football Broadcast (PBP & color respectively) and I think they were on both stations (that was in Lincoln market). Of course you had KFAB with Bremser and just forgot color guy, like you needed a color guy with Bremser. :Lol: Anyway, I got annoyed with Bremser (as did more people than you think) Joe Patrick was good, a happy go lucky enthusiastic guy. Dick & Bill in Lincoln were slightly more colorful that Joe Friday & Bill Gannon (just the facts, ma'am / man); but they were very factual and accurate (Bremser was anything but that-which is why he was annoying after awhile). Also, in autumn, we often had campouts, so who you listened to might be dictated by reception.
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Most of what you stated sounds correct. Jimmy O'Neill sped a 45 RPM up to 48 RPM. He said it made the music sound "Happier". I think it was legal at the time, but I could tell the difference. It took awhile to understand what was being done.

I liked KGOR, when we got access to an FM radio. We had very limited access to any of the Lincoln stations.

I also liked Lyell Bremser, Dave Blackwell, and Jack Payne for game day. When Blackwell moved on, Kent Pavelka took his place in the booth and then he took over Bremser's seat when Lyell retired. Since I rarely watched a game on TV (let alone being in the stadium), I had to take Bremser's word on what was taking place on the field. After I moved to Lincoln, I was surprised to hear so many complaints about him. He was God's voice of Nebraska football for many years for me.

You also brought back some memories of changing the radio stations, and not putting it back to Dad's station before we got out of the vehicle. Got chewed out for that on more than one occasion.
 
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