On August 13, 1934, The Ardmoreite Publishing Company applied to build a new radio station on 1210 kHz in Ardmore, to operate with 100 watts during daytime hours. The Federal Communications Commission granted the application on February 26, 1935.[5] The call sign KVSO was selected, for "Voice of Southern Oklahoma".[1] Operating from studios and a transmitter at a converted two-story home north of the city that was once used as a showplace for local merchants,[6][7] the station went on the air on August 4, 1935.[8] It was Ardmore's first broadcast outlet since the short-lived WOAA in 1922 and 1923.[9] While originally a daytime-only station, it was allowed to broadcast at night in 1936, and in January 1938, it increased power to 250 watts.[5] In addition to local programs and World Broadcasting System features, the station also had newscasts, which originated from studios at the downtown printing plant and offices of The Ardmoreite.[10] When an adjacent building burned down in March 1938, newscasters reporting the blaze from the downtown studio had to periodically flee the studios for fresh air because of smoke.[11]
It was a charter member of the Oklahoma Network, itself affiliated with the Mutual Broadcasting System, when it was formed in 1937.[12][13] Much of the Oklahoma Network joined NBC's Blue Network on January 1, 1941, resulting in the incorporation of five new Oklahoma outlets including KVSO.[14] On March 29 of that year, the station moved from 1210 to 1240 kHz as part of the enactment of NARBA.[5] Studios moved from the transmitter site to the downtown Hotel Ardmore in 1942.[5]
In 1944, KVSO was separated into the personal ownership of John F. Easley, publisher of The Ardmoreite, and it would remain in the Easley and Riesen-Easley family into the 1980s. The station continued to steadily grow. An FM station, KVSO-FM 93.7, operated from 1947 until 1950, when it was closed down due to the expense of repairing its transmitter.[15] The mountaintop site once used by the FM was rehabilitated in 1956 for use by KVSO-TV (channel 12), also an NBC affiliate, which was sold and became KXII in 1958.[16]
The Riesen family sold the ArdmoreitetoStauffer Communications in 1983, ending 63 years of family ownership of the newspaper. Stauffer was required to divest the radio stations to meet FCC regulations.[17] In buying the newspaper, the firm requested an 18-month waiver to take on the station (valued at $750,000), which would have brought it over the limit of AM outlets it could own, until a buyer could be sought.[18] The buyer for the station was Harold G. McEwen, who also owned KKAJ (95.7 FM) in town. Both outlets sold together for $1.75 million to Pat Nugent in 1986.[19] Under Nugent, KVSO programmed an oldies format.[20]
The pair was to be sold again in 1991 to Carter County Broadcasting Inc., a company controlled by the First National Bank of Yorktown, Texas,[20] but that sale failed to close. At that time, the AM station changed its call sign to KKAJ and began to simulcast the country music format on KKAJ-FM, replacing what had been a Christian format.[21] Nugent would try again to sell the pair in 1993, this time to Chuckie Broadcasting, a company led by Lawrence B. Taishoff, the former publisher and chairman of Broadcasting magazine.[22] The KVSO call letters were restored to the AM station in 1995,[23] though it was not until 1996 that the station dropped the simulcast to broadcast an oldies and talk format.[24] The present sports format was adopted in 2001.[25] Chuckie Broadcasting was acquired by NextMedia for $5.5 million in 2002.[26]
LKCM Radio Group purchased the stations from NextMedia in 2006.[27] Stephens Media acquired the LKCM cluster in 2016.[28]
^ ab"KVSO To Designate Ardmore's Station". Waurika News-Democrat. Waurika, Oklahoma. April 19, 1935. p. 5. Archived from the original on April 20, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^"FCC Roundup"(PDF). Broadcasting. April 3, 1950. p. 69. Archived(PDF) from the original on November 8, 2021. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
^McGalliard, Mac (May 3, 1956). "The Way I See It". The Daily Ardmoreite. p. 24. Archived from the original on April 20, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
^"Format Changes"(PDF). M Street Journal. p. 2. Archived(PDF) from the original on January 2, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
^"Format Changes and Updates"(PDF). M Street Journal. May 16, 2001. p. 5. Archived(PDF) from the original on September 30, 2021. Retrieved April 19, 2022 – via World Radio History.
^"LKCM Sells Four in Oklahoma". Radio and Television Business Report. April 7, 2016. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
^"KVSO". SMG Exchange. Archived from the original on April 20, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
