It’s a rare fate, but it does occasionally happen: the full deletion of a broadcast license.
While many radio stations change formats or move into nearby larger markets, this post highlights audio from about completely dead radio stations, those whose licenses no longer exist. (They’re listed by the last callsign used.)
1070 KMOM Monticello, MN: The station just northwest of the Twin Cities was granted in 1981 but was deleted about 15 years later, becoming one of the first to run afoul of a federal law stating that stations automatically forfeit their license if they are off the air for more than a year. Here’s what the station sounded like on a weekend afternoon in 1993, when it carried an Oldies format:
KMOM was also featured in a KARE 11 series on radio stations in 1988.
The frequency was later granted to a new station in Verndale, MN, and the callsign is in use by an unrelated station in South Dakota.
1600 KPNP Watertown, MN: This was a relatively new AM station, having signed on in 1996 as KWOM. It used 5kW directional day and night from a three-tower array near St. Bonifacius and initially carried a Nostalgia format targeting the far western Twin Cities metro area. Unfortunately, I have only a short clip of that format in my archives:
The format changed to Oldies in 2002:
In 2004, the station changed to a Spanish-language format with the callsign KZGX:
Then in 2006, KZGX began carrying Hmong-language programming, calling itself KOOR in this ID, though the official callsign remained KZGX:
The callsign changed to KPNP in 2007. Here is an ID from 2010:
And finally, here’s an ID from 2019. The station left the air at an unknown date sometime thereafter. The FCC canceled its license in 2021 when it did not seek renewal.
Several other Minnesota stations previously covered here:
102.9 KDDI-LP Adair, IA: This was one of several low-power FM stations that were operated by the Iowa Department of Transportation along interstates. The programming consisted of traffic alerts and information about area communities. IDOT returned the LPFM licenses in 2021.
99.9 KUBH-LP Urbana, IA: Another IDOT license that was returned:
104.9 KSDE-LP De Soto, IA: Yet another former IDOT license:
1170 KBOB Davenport, IA: While this frequency was best known for its KSTT Top 40 format in the 1960s and `70s, it went through a variety of formats and callsigns before its license was surrendered in 2025. Here’s an ID from 2004, when it was KJOC:
Here’s how the station sounded in 2014:
And here’s what may have been the station’s final ID, received from afar on Feb. 28, 2025 at 11 p.m.
Previous coverage: 1270 WKBF Rock Island, IL
1320 KOAQ Scottsbluff, NE: This frequency was KOLT for most its broadcast life. The callsign was exchanged with the former KOAQ/690 (Terrytown) months before the 1320 license was formally surrendered in 2020. Here’s a 2016 ID from KOLT:
105.1 KAWK Custer, SD: This audio sample is from 2004, when KAWK was simulcasting with KFCR/1490. The FCC deleted KAWK’s license in 2017 after determining that the station had been using unauthorized facilities.