KKOW (AM)

KKOW is a radio station in Pittsburg, Kansas. It broadcasts classic country music.

It began on October 11, 1937 as KOAM, owned by E. Victor Baxter and Lester L. Cox on 790 kc. It later moved to 810 kc.. It traded off 810 kHz with KCMO (AM) in Kansas City, Missouri (now on 710 kHz) for its current location on 860 kHz.

KOAM originally was an NBC affiliate, carrying programming from both the Red and Blue networks. Cox and Baxter also founded KOAM-TV in 1953, an NBC affiliate carrying secondary affiliations with CBS, ABC, and DuMont.

By the end of the 1970s, KOAM adopted a country music format.

It was sold to American Media Investments on May 11, 1981 . Due to the ownership split of KOAM AM-FM from KOAM-TV, its callsign changed from KOAM to KKOW on May 18, 1981.

Bridging KOAM with KKOW, Dan Willis hosted the morning slot 6 days a week from 1964-2004, administering the Community Calendar (reading obituaries and local events), the morning polka (7:30 daily with birthday dedications, sponsored by Grimaldi's Cash Grain feedstore in Pittsburg), farm commodity reports, and "Trading Post", a live call-in show for individual buyers and sellers at 9:00). Willis also oversaw many of the live remote broadcasts and emceed events, and he promoted an annual drive to buy Christmas gifts for developmentally-disabled children that were patients in a local care facility.