City Russellville, Arkansas Frequency 610 kHz Class B | Branding Newsradio 610 Format News radio | |
Power 1,000 watts day
500 watts night | ||
KARV (610 AM) is a radio station licensed to Russellville, Arkansas, United States. The station is currently owned by Bobby Caldwell's EAB of Russellville, LLC.
The radio station first took the airwaves in 1947 as station KXRJ, on the campus of Arkansas Tech University. The facilities originally had the station operating with 250 watts on 1490 AM. The original owners were Russ Horne and Jerrell Shepherd, who were brothers-in-law.
In the early 1950s, Shepherd sold his interests in the station and moved on to start a very successful broadcast company based out of Moberly, Missouri. The Horne family would go on to operate the radio station for a number of years, as it would become one of the most successful small market stations in America.
In 1968, the radio station would change call letters from KXRJ to KARV, which stood for (K)ey to the (A)rkansas (R)iver (Valley). The stations were sold during this time from Russ Horne to his son Mike. The family also owned KWCK-KSER in Searcy, Arkansas. During the 1960s and 1970s, the stations were managed by L.L. "Doc" Bryan, who would go on to serve the Russellville area as state representative, and was later Arkansas' Speaker of the House. After Bryan departed the stations, Kermit Womack would become the General Manager of the station.
In 1981, KARV made the move from 1490 AM to a much more powerful frequency of 610 AM, which with the low spot on the dial, covered much of the state of Arkansas. A new four tower directional array was built outside of Arkansas Tech's campus, which became a landmark in the community. The same year, Womack departed KARV to operate his own station in Rogers, Arkansas.
During the 1980s, the Horne family continued to operate successful radio stations. In addition to KARV, Mike Horne operated stations in Texas, Kansas, and would later acquire KMUS and KKWK in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Beset by financial problems that came with his acquisitions in Oklahoma, Horne sold all of his stations. By 1992, KARV was sold to former manager Kermit Womack for $250,000.
In 1998, KARV signed a FM signal on at 101.3 FM, licensed to Ola. In 2001, the Womack family would sign on KYEL 105.5 FM in Danville.
In 1998, longtime personalities Johnny Story and Tom Kamerling, along with several key sales and administrative employees would move to the crosstown River Valley Radio group consisting of KCJC, KWKK, KCAB, and KVLD.
In 2016, the three stations were sold to EAB of Russellville, LLC, owners of the four competing radio stations. Much of the news/talk programming airing on former competitor KCAB-AM is now airing on KARV as of November 2016. Many of the former personalities such as Story, Jarrett Jackson, and Aaron Thomas who had staffed the station in the 1990s have since returned to the airwaves.
A number of notable broadcasters worked at KARV through the years including: