WHO, Des Moines, signed on the air on April 10, 1924. WHO was the child of the President of Banker's Life, the Des Moines-based insurance company now known as, The Principal. George Kuhns was an avid fan of radio. Kuhns was a DXer, meaning that he searched for radio signals, especially at night when AM signals can travel great distances.
During the time that Banker's Life owned the station, it was identified as, "This is W-H-O. Who? Banker's Life, Des Moines." The song, Who, from the musical "Sunny" was also used to identify the station.
The original WHO studios were on the top floor of the Liberty Building in downtown Des Moines. Two towers on the roof of the building supported a wire Marconi antenna. WHO started with 500 watts of power on the frequency of 570 Khz (at the time, the term megacycles was used). It was allowed to increase power to 5,000 watts in 1925. In 1928, the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) ordered WHO to move to 1000 Khz and to share the frequency with WOC, Davenport. This arrangement resulted in B.J. Palmer and his associates, who owned WOC, purchasing WHO from Banker's Life in 1930. Attempts were made to continue the shared time operation under common ownership.
On April 23, 1933, WHO-WOC put into operation a 50,000 watt transmitter on the clear channel frequency of 1000 Khz. All operations were consolidated in Des Moines in May 1933. A "new" WOC would be created operated by the Palmer interests with the acquisition of another station and its move to Davenport. WHO moved to its current frequency of 1040 Khz in 1941 as part of a reorganization of the AM frequencies ordered by the Federal Communications Commission.
WHO was, and still is, identified as the 50,000 watt clear channel voice of the middle west.
To mark the 85th Anniversary, WHO, in cooperation with the Archives of Iowa Broadcasting and Wartburg College, is streaming special programming marking the station's 50th Anniversary. The link to the audio stream can be found on the WHO Radio web site.
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