KGHM (1340 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Midwest City, Oklahoma, and serving the Oklahoma City Metroplex. It is among a cluster of stations in the market owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. KGHM carries the syndicated Fox Sports Radio Network and also airs local high school and college sports.
KGHM's transmitter is located blocks from the Oklahoma State Capitol. It broadcasts at 1,000 watts around the clock using a non-directional antenna. The studios and offices were located in the 50 Penn Place building on the Northwest side, in early 2022 iHeartMedia Oklahoma City moved KGHM along with sister stations KTOK, KJYO, KTST, KREF-FM, KXXY-FM to new state of the art studios located at 6525 N Meridian Ave further up the road on the Northwest side just a few miles west from their former studio home in the 50 Penn Place building.
History
KGCB/KOCY
The station first signed on the air in 1922, making it among the first radio stations in Oklahoma City. It started as KGCB, a church-owned station. It was purchased in the late 1930s by Matthew Bonebrake - a former OPUBCO and WKY radio sales manager - who changed the call letters to KOCY.
KOCY was a Mutual Broadcasting System network affiliate during the 1940s and early 1950s. It became Oklahoma City's first full-time Top 40 station in the mid-1950s. It was also the first radio station in the country to offer "News Every Hour - On the Hour".
After WKY and KOMA also switched to Top 40, with more powerful transmitters, KOCY management realized the station couldn't compete with the two new Top 40 outlets. KOCY had a "funeral" for its Top 40 format, by giving away records in a coffin. It then switched to a middle of the road (MOR) format of popular adult music.
Urban music
In the mid-1990s, KEBC aired an Urban Contemporary format in the evenings and overnights as "The Groove 1340".
In 2000, Clear Channel Communications went into an agreement with Perry Broadcasting to broadcast KVSP and its Urban format on KEBC from 7 p.m.-7 a.m. as "The Power Jammin' Network" after KVSP signed off at sunset. Between 7 a.m.-7 p.m., KGHM aired Regional Mexican programming directed at Oklahoma City's Mexican-American community.
The agreement between Clear Channel and Perry Broadcasting discontinued when Perry purchased KRPT in Anadarko, Oklahoma and upgraded the station to target Oklahoma City, then moved KVSP's Urban format to the FM dial. The Regional Mexican format was ended as the station switched to a Talk radio format.
"Keeping Everybody Country" KEBC's call letters were previously used for KEBC, later a property also owned by Clear Channel. The station's slogan, "Keeping Everybody Country." Ironically, KEBC's competitor at the time, KXXY-FM, simulcast their FM signal at 1340 AM.
The call letters KEBC stood for Electronic Broadcasting Company which was the original ownership of KEBC. KEBC originally had its offices and transmitter at the "Rambling Ranchstyle studios" in Southeast OKC before moving to 31st and Western to studio space owned by Ralph Tyler.
Mounting debt to Tyler for rent and other financial obligation created a situation where Tyler became controlling owner of KEBC radio. After Ralph Tyler's controlling ownership of KEBC, the slogan "Keep Everybody Country" was formed on a suggestion from a friend of Ralph's.
Sports radio
As a time brokered Spanish (days) and Urban (nights) station in the early to mid 2000s, starting in early 2005, KGHM simulcast some programming of sister station KTOK along with some original shows. In January 2007, Clear Channel flipped the station to "Fox Sports Radio 1340." It later became "1340 The Game," making it the fourth all-sports station in Oklahoma City.
Former Dallas Cowboys and (Oklahoma RedHawks 2003 season only under KEBC.) play-by-play broadcaster David Garrett was KGHM's sports director. Garrett had worked as sports director for co-owned KTOK (and WKY, under lease management to Clear Channel) in the late 1980s. Garrett also hosted an afternoon sports talk show on KGHM from January 2007 to early 2008 and returned to hosting in late spring/early summer of 2008. Garrett was also did play-by-play for some on the Oklahoma City High School Football games that aired on KGHM as well. In the Spring 2013, the KGHM and KTOK's sports director job went to Randy Renner, a former long time field News reporter for Oklahoma City CBS affiliate KWTV-TV.