City Springfield, Missouri Branding AM 560 Frequency AM: 560 kHz | Broadcast area Springfield, Missouri Slogan News Talk Radio First air date Christmas 1933 | |
KWTO (A.M. 560) is a radio station licensed to Springfield, Missouri, United States. It operates on 560 kHz, where it airs a news-talk format.
The station is owned by Meyer Communications, making it, KWFC, and KTXR the only radio stations in the Springfield market to be locally owned and operated.
History
KWTO was founded by Ralph D. Foster and began broadcasting on December 25, 1933. Foster applied for and got the call letters KWTO, which stood for "Keep Watching The Ozarks." Since the Federal Radio Commission prohibited playing recorded music on the air, the station had its own live bands.
From the 1930s through the 1950s, KWTO's staff musicians included Slim Wilson and the Tall Timber Trio, Chet Atkins, The Carter Family, Wynn Stewart, Les Paul, The Haden Family and The Goodwill Family. KWTO'S Korn's-A-Krackin', a weekly "hillbilly variety" program, was carried nationally by the Mutual Broadcasting System. During the late 1940s and 1950s, the station played a key role in launching the careers of stars such as Porter Wagoner and The Browns. In 1954, the station began carrying Ozark Jubilee, which became an ABC-TV and radio show. In 1959, KWTO broke with its live music tradition and began playing country records, and for the next 30 years was known as "56 Country."
On October 22, 1990, KWTO ended its long-standing country format and became the Ozarks' first full-time news-talk radio station, which carries the programs of talk-show hosts including Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Jim Bohannon (who once worked at the station), and computer guru Kim Komando.
With his 2008 album Rambling Boy, Charlie Haden acknowledged KWTO's country roots by featuring the station's transmission tower on the album's cover. On December 10, 2008, Rep. Roy Blunt recognized the station's 75th anniversary with remarks from the floor of United States House of Representatives.
The station's 5,000-watt signal reaches large parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma. It provides at least secondary coverage as far north as Kansas City and Topeka, as far south as Fort Smith and as far west as the Tulsa suburbs.