KQWB (AM)

On March 17, 1997 the FCC announced that eighty-eight stations had been given permission to move to newly available "Expanded Band" transmitting frequencies, ranging from 1610 to 1700 kHz, with KQWB authorized to move from 1550 to 1660 kHz.[2]

A construction permit for the expanded band station on 1660 kHz was assigned the call letters KQJD on February 9, 1998.[3] The FCC's initial policy was that both the original station and its expanded band counterpart could operate simultaneously for up to five years, after which owners would have to turn in one of the two licenses, depending on whether they preferred the new assignment or elected to remain on the original frequency.[2]

The 1550 kHz night pattern at this point consisted of five towers and was difficult and expensive to maintain, while operation on 1660 kHz was authorized for 10 kW day and 1 kW night, using a single non-directional tower.[4] On September 1, 2000, the two stations swapped call letters, with KQWB moving from 1550 AM to 1660 AM, and KQJD transferred from 1660 AM to 1550 AM.[5][3] The original station on 1550 kHz, now KQJD, ceased broadcasting, yielding the transmitter site to the 1660 kHz operations, and on June 8, 2001 its license was formally cancelled.[6]

The easy listening format was switched to a full-time talk format in 2003 as "Talk Radio 1660", with the lineup made up of mostly syndicated conservative talk programming, and CNN Radio. The Ed Schultz Show was added to the lineup in 2006, after being removed from KFGO.

On April 23, 2007, the station returned to an all-sports format, this time affiliating with ESPN, and adopting the name "1660 ESPN".[7] In addition to ESPN programming the station carried the "Sports Talk with Joe (Soucheray) and Pat (Reusse)", "Garage Logic", and "Saturday Sports Talk" programs from its Twin Cities sister-ESPN affiliate KSTP. When CNN Radio shut down on April 1, 2012, KQWB replaced it with NBC Radio.

On April 20, 2012, at 6 p.m., KQWB dropped ESPN for the True Oldies Channel as "True Oldies 1660", "dedicated to honoring the greatest Rock & Roll music ever recorded." True Oldies 1660 continued to cover Concordia and Moorhead High School football, basketball, and hockey games during the school year. In September 2013, Radio FM Media began to operate KZDR through a JSA with Mediactive, LLC and was launched as "92.7 The Drive" with a classic hits format that, in a way, competed with True Oldies 1660. This was a non-issue, however, as other plans were in store for KQWB.

Logo from Wille 1660, former format

On April 21, 2014, KQWB changed to a Classic Country format under the moniker "Willie 1660". The first song on "Willie" was "Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys" by Willie Nelson. The station was jukebox style, with core artists including George Strait, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, Garth Brooks, and Kenny Rogers.

On July 23, 2015, at 9 p.m., after playing "All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down)" by Hank Williams, Jr., KQWB switched back to sports, this time affiliating with Fox Sports Radio. The station ran 100% of the Fox Sports Radio schedule, as well as local games from Moorhead High School and Concorida College (Moorhead) as they had been.

On March 29, 2016, Radio FM Media and North Dakota State University announced that the radio rights for NDSU Bison Athletics would move to Radio FM Media; sister KPFX would become the flagship station for Football and Men's Basketball, and KQWB the flagship for Women's Basketball. It was also announced that KQWB would re-brand as Bison 1660 and would focus on NDSU oriented sports programming.[8] On May 18, 2016, it was announced that Jeff Culhane would become the next radio voice of the Bison and would be the program director of the station.[9][10]

On August 1, 2016, Radio FM Media launched the Bison 1660 format, carrying exclusive NDSU Bison Athletics content including the re-air of games and Bison-based talk shows. It has also become a platform to air other North Dakota State University Bison sports, airing 24 NDSU Baseball games in 2017, as well as select Softball, Soccer, and Volleyball games.[11][12][13] An FM translator on 92.7 was added in September 2016.

In the 1980s KQWB added AM Stereo to the station, becoming the only station in the Fargo market to ever do so. After a studio move in 1997, KQWB was forced to turn off AM Stereo because the station was unable to get two audio channels to the transmitter. The capability to broadcast in AM Stereo was retained when the station moved from 1550 kHz to 1660 kHz in 2000, but was never turned back on because it had one channel audio at the transmitter site.

In October 2014, sister station KBVB became the first commercial station in the market in the market to broadcast in HD. A few weeks later after the launch of HD1 and HD2 on KBVB, HD3 began simulcasting KQWB. A few weeks later in November 2014, KQWB began broadcasting in AM Stereo again, with the AM signal being fed by KBVB-HD3. KQWB's programming has since moved to KPFX-HD3. As of 2016 KQWB still broadcasts in AM Stereo, however most of the talk programming on KQWB is produced in mono.