WHO (AM)

Early Years

WHO first began broadcasting on April 10, 1924.^[1] While most radio stations in Iowa today begin their call signs with a K, WHO begins with a W, because the original dividing line was the western border of Iowa. WHO dates back to the early years of radio, when call signs were often only three letters long. The call letters were not chosen because they spell out the question "Who?" The government handed out call signs sequentially.

The studios were on the top floor of the Liberty Building in downtown Des Moines.^[2] The station was originally owned by Bankers Life, which is now the Principal Financial Group. After the FRC's General Order 40 reallocated frequencies in 1928, WHO ended up sharing time on the same frequency with WOC in Davenport. In 1930, B. J. Palmer, owner of WOC, bought WHO, and the two stations operated together as WOC-WHO until a new 50,000-watt transmitter near Mitchellville began operating on November 11, 1933. (WOC ceased broadcasting that day but returned on another frequency a year later.) Through most of its early years, WHO was a network affiliate of the NBC Red Network, broadcasting comedies, dramas, game shows, soap operas, sports and big bands.

WHO moved from 1000 AM to the current 1040 on March 29, 1941, as a result of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement. Today WHO is one of only two 50,000-watt AM radio stations in Iowa. The other is KXEL in Waterloo. However, WHO was originally a Class I-A, while KXEL was given Class I-B status, requiring a directional antenna at night, to avoid interfering with the other Class I-B station on 1540, ZNS-1 in Nassau, Bahamas.

Ronald Reagan, WHO Sportscaster

Ronald Reagan working for WHO in the mid-1930s

Future United States President Ronald Reagan worked as a sportscaster with WHO from 1932 to 1937. Among his duties were re-creations of Chicago Cubs baseball games. Reagan received details over a teleprinter for each play and would act as if he were in the stadium, reporting on the game while seeing it from the press box. Many radio stations used this re-creation system until sports networks became more common.

WHO-FM and WHO-TV

In 1948, WHO-FM 100.3 signed on the air. Originally WHO-FM simulcast most of the programming heard on 1040 AM. But in 1967, WHO-FM switched to classical music and beautiful music. 100.3 has changed formats and call letters several times since then and now broadcasts as KDRB, "100.3 The Bus." In 1954, WHO-TV began broadcasting on channel 13. Because WHO 1040 was a long-time affiliate of NBC, the TV station also affiliated with NBC.

WHO was continuously owned by the Palmer family for more than 70 years, until Jacor Broadcasting purchased the station in 1997. Jacor merged with Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia) a year later. WHO and the other iHeart radio stations in Des Moines (KDRB, KDXA, KKDM, and KXNO) continued to share a building with WHO-TV until moving into a new facility in 2005.

For many years, WHO has used an owl as its mascot, an apparent play on its call letters, pronounced like an owl's call.