History

On Monday, July 9th, 1934 at 7:00pm, KWYO signed on for the first time, becoming Sheridan, WY's first radio station.

KWYO studio in the 1930's

In fact, it is the second oldest station in the state, behind KTWO in Casper. Headed by R.E. "Bob" Carroll, the station operated in a new state-of-the-art studio on the second floor of the Carroll Furniture Store at 340 N. Main.

KWYO's first tower in Sheridan

KWYO began operation with 2,000 phonograph records, with new music ranging from grand opera to jazz being added every month, and listeners could tune in to the 100 Watt station at 1370KHz. Initially, KWYO operated only at various times of the day, generally closing down in the afternoon from 1pm to 5pm. Between 1934 and 1941, the station increased its air time to a 17 1/2 hour broadcast day, and in 1941, increased its power to 1000 watts and moved to 1410 on the AM dial.

In 1949, KWYO was purchased by Donald E. Tannehill and James W. Carroll (nephew of the previous owner). The studios were moved to the upper floor of the Gillette building at 21 North Main Street.

After the death of Mr. Carroll in 1959, KWYO, under the ownership of Donald Tannehill's Big Horn Broadcasting Company, and the new Cloud Peak Television, made plans to relocate their studios to a new building at 140 East Loucks, where operations began on November 1st, 1961. In 1972, Mr. Tannehill sold the radio station and cable system to Denver-based Daniels Properties, Inc., and the two properties were divided. Donald Hargis became manager of KWYO, and C. L. "Bud" McHolland was named manager of the cable system. In 1975, Daniels Properties sold KWYO to the Laramie based WYCOM Corp., owned by William R. Sims.

KWYO studio in 1991. Click the image for more views.

In 1977, KWYO increased power again to 5,000 watts. The transmitter site was moved a second time to its present

location south of Sheridan next to Highway 14. On September 15, 1978, a sister station of KWYO, KLWD-FM became operational at 96.5MHz on the FM dial. This station would later become KYTI.

In January 1981 both stations were purchased by Community Media, Inc., the pricipals of which were U.S. Senator Malcolm Wallop of Big Horn, WY, Stanley Huckaby of Austin, TX, David Palmerlee of Buffalo, WY and Donald Hargis of Sheridan, WY.

During the early and mid '90s, KWYO was the only Sheridan station with local, live DJs all the time. The station was on the air from 6am to midnight playing a mix of new and classic country music.

KWYO's temporary studio after moving to the Sheridan Media building was a converted TeleType closet

In 1997, KWYO's operations were moved as part of a merger with KROE, creating the new company Sheridan Media. At that time, the station switched to the Westwood One Adult Standards format.

The KWYO studio today. Local talk programs on KROE also originate from this studio.

In the early 2000's, KWYO played a mix of new and past hits, first as the "Unforgettable Favorites" station and then with a revised slogan and slightly revamped format "Today's hits and Yesterday's Favorites." At 1pm on January 29th 2008 the station became "Oldies 1410 KWYO" playing hits from 1964 through 1984. The station is on the air 24 hours a day at 5,000 watts (500 watts at night) and in addition to two decades of music, also carries ABC and Paul Harvey news programs, local news and sports, Wyoming Cowboys football and basketball, Colorado Rockies Baseball, Denver Broncos football and uninterrupted live coverage of Sheridan city council meetings.