KOTA (AM)

Last updated

KOTA
Broadcast area Black Hills
Frequency 1380 kHz
BrandingNews Radio KOTA
Programming
Format News/talk
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerRiverfront Broadcasting, LLC
KQRQ, KZZI, KDDX, KZLK, KDSJ
History
First air date
January 19, 1937 (as KOBH) [1]
Former call signs
KOBH (1936–1945)
Call sign meaning
Dakota
Technical information [2]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID 17678
Class B
Power 5,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates
 44°1′59.96″N103°11′16.65″W / 44.0333222°N 103.1879583°W / 44.0333222; -103.1879583
Translator 100.7 K264CP (Rapid City)
Links
Public license information
Webcast Listen Live
Website kotaradio.com

KOTA (1380 kHz, "NewsRadio 1380 KOTA") is an AM radio station licensed to serve Rapid City, South Dakota. The station is owned by Riverfront Broadcasting, LLC. It airs a news/talk radio format. [3]

Contents

The station was assigned these call letters by the Federal Communications Commission. [4]

Weekday programming includes the Rapid City Morning News and Straight Up With Matt Smith, as well as nationally syndicated programming including The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, Sean Hannity, and Dave Ramsey.

Weekend programming includes syndicated programming from Kim Komando and a variety of lifestyle programming. During the NFL football season, select Sunday games are aired from Westwood One Radio Networks as well as every Monday and Thursday night game. The station also airs all Denver Broncos game through the Denver Broncos Radio Network. All playoff and Super Bowl games are carried as well.

KOTA is the radio home of South Dakota Mines Hardrockers football and basketball, and features the yearly Homestake Trophy game.

History

The station first hit the airwaves on November 26, 1936, as KOBH ("Kall of the Black Hills"), a Thanksgiving Day present to western South Dakota. It was owned by Black Hills Broadcasting, and operated from studios in the Hotel Alex Johnson in downtown Rapid City. [5]

Originally broadcasting with a very limited licensed power of 150 watts, in 1944 KOBH sought approval from the Federal Communications Commission to move up to 5000 watts, which would dramatically improve its ability to reach this mountainous area. Asked to help, Congressman Francis H. Case sought military support. He discovered that U.S. Army Air Corps airplanes based at the recently established Rapid City Army Air Base (later renamed Ellsworth Air Force Base) used KOBH as a navigation beacon while training for European strategic bombing during World War II. With Pentagon backing, Case convinced the FCC to grant the power increase. On New Year's Day 1945, the station signed on from its new, more powerful tower under new call letters, KOTA. [6] In the same year, it secured an affiliation with CBS Radio that continues to this day.

In 1954, Rapid City businesswoman Helen Duhamel, a minority owner since 1943, bought full control of the station, changing its corporate name to Duhamel Broadcasting Enterprises. Since the 1990s, it has been a news and talk station.

In May 2017, the station signed on a new FM signal in Rapid City. The FM translator has an assigned frequency of 100.7 FM and an effective radiated power of 250-watts. The licensed translator uses the FCC assigned call sign K264CP. This was done as part of the FCC’s AM Revitalization program. [7]

Notable alumni of the station include B-movie producer Arch Hall Sr.

On January 1, 2019, the Duhamel family sold KOTA to Riverfront Broadcasting for $3.6 million. [8] The sale was completed on May 1. [9]

The station's name is closely associated with its television counterpart, KOTA-TV, and the shared news operation is frequently referred to locally as KOTA Territory News [10]

KOTA-TV (channel 3) went on the air in 1955 as the first television station in western South Dakota. It was explicitly owned by Duhamel, who also owned KOTA radio, creating a unified broadcasting entity under Duhamel Broadcasting Enterprises. [11]

The two stations remained under common ownership by the Duhamel family for nearly 60 years until the television properties were sold to Schurz Communications in 2014. This sale separated KOTA-TV from the long-time sister radio stations (which the Duhamels retained until 2019). [12]

Translator

Broadcast translator for KOTA
Call sign Frequency City of license FID ERP (W) HAAT Class Transmitter coordinatesFCC info
K264CP100.7 FM Rapid City, South Dakota 14301625094  m (308  ft)D 44°4′7″N103°15′3.7″W / 44.06861°N 103.251028°W / 44.06861; -103.251028 (K264CP) LMS

References

  1. ↑ FCC Document
  2. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for KOTA". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ↑ "Winter 2008 Station Information Profile". Arbitron.
  4. ↑ "Call Sign History". FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database.
  5. ↑ "Tribute to KOTA Radio in Rapid City, South Dakota". U.S. Government Publishing Office (Congressional Record). September 19, 2011. Retrieved December 14, 2025.
  6. ↑ Switzer, Mary Kay (2004). Sterling, Christopher H. (ed.). The Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Radio Vol 1: Entries A-E. Fitzroy Dearborn. p. 813. ISBN   978-1-57958-431-3.
  7. ↑ "KOTA Signs on New FM Signal". DakotaWire. May 4, 2017. Retrieved June 27, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Duhamel Broadcasting sale 'bittersweet' after 75-year history in the Black Hills", Rapid City Journal, 10 January 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  9. ↑ "Consummation Notice", CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, 31 May 2019, Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  10. ↑ "NEWS RADIO KOTA-AM 1380AM/100.7FM". NEWS RADIO KOTA-AM 1380AM/100.7FM. Retrieved December 14, 2025.
  11. ↑ "Duhamel Family Exits Broadcasting with Sale of Rapid City Radio Group". NorthPine. January 4, 2019. Retrieved December 14, 2025.
  12. ↑ "Mishawaka Company to Acquire TV Station". Inside INdiana Business. August 18, 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2025.
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