Nebraska Radio History Archive Presentation:
Radio Free Bennington....
For those about to rock, tune to 93.3...if you can pick it up. This is the story of one of those little rim shot stations that created lots of street talk despite a wimpy signal. 3,000 watts (directional toward Omaha) from a tower in Bennington (The city of License) brought hard rock to Omaha.
The story begins with a construction permit issued by the FCC near the end of 1988. Owned and Operated by the same people who owned the "Ranch Bowl", 93 K-Rock broadcast from studios located inside the bowling alley. The station provided a good old fashioned promotional tool for the regular schedule of rock concerts that took place at the venue.
The station with a hearse for a station vehicle didn't last. Lack of advertising support put 93.3 on the block and Triathlon (the Java Man era incarnation of what would evolve into Clear Channel) bought the station. They immediately moved the station to 5010 Underwood with their new aquisitions KFAB and KGOR (and eventually KAT 103). K-Rock became "The Point".
The Point was an experiment of sorts. Triathlon linked KKNB,
(which covered only Lincoln) and 93.3 in Omaha as KTNP. In the beginning,
The Point Music selections and Format were "mirrored" by both stations,
each run from their perspective markets (and therefore not a true simulcast).
Each had their own live local morning show and shared advertising and
promotion. Television commercials advertised both stations ..."In
Omaha, The Point is 93.3...In Lincoln, The Point is 104.1".
In 1998 Journal Broadcast took their low
rated Lite Rock station and reformated it as STAR 104.5, directly
competing with The Point. The station slowly separated their
mirror images with Lincoln to concentrate on their new rival. The
stars continue to shine.
So, back to it's roots. The Point became K-Rock, without their old call letters (KRRK) which were snatched up by another rock station in a market far far away. After some experimentation with strippers, free beer Fridays and lots of loud music, 93K-Rock was given some attention by the people who made the Blaze a success with their rock format in Lincoln. In the meantime, the owners cut deal with a Des Moines Radio station to lower it's power so K-Rock could boost their output to 9600 watts from the tower farm at Crown Point. Eventually A deal was struck to simulcast the Blaze morning shows in Omaha and Tim Sheridan took over the programming reigns.
As corporate competition became more of an issue, K-Rock opted to drop their name in order to prevent any litigation with Infinity Broadcasting over the use of the name "K-Rock". 93.3 KQRC become "93 3 The Dam". As the Dam was holding it's own, commerical Free "89 7 The River" and heritage rock station Z-92 kept the competition tough in Omaha.
In March of 2004, after some repositioning of Sweet 98.5 and 106 9 the City by Waitt Radio, an avalanche of format changes and rumors were rampant in Lincoln and Omaha. As a result, on March 17th, at 10am, Clear Channel chose to flip 93.3 to "Legendary American Country 93.3", a male friendly counterpart to KXKT Kat 103.7.
This site is part of the historical review of Nebraska Radio Stations at NebraskaRadio.com and is not operated by
KISS 104 radio. We cannot answer questions about the station, take requests. Please call their studio line offices for assistance. If you have historical information you would like included on this site, E-MAIL ME!
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