July 10, 1925; 99 years ago (July 10, 1925) (original license) December 16, 1976; 48 years ago (1976-12-16) (Interim Operation) January 13, 1983 (relicensed)
KOIL was initially licensed to the Monarch Manufacturing Company of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and signed on the air on July 10, 1925. It was one of the earliest stations in the Omaha area. Its owner was an oil company, hence the "OIL" in the call letters. It originally broadcast at 1080 AM, before moving to 1290 AM.
KOIL was one of the stations that participated in the first CBS network radio broadcast on September 18, 1927.[4] Its affiliation switched to the NBC Blue Network on December 1, 1931.[5] KOIL carried its schedule of dramas, comedies, news and sports during the "Golden Age of Radio."
The station was moved to Omaha in 1937. It was purchased by salesman and promoter Don Burden in 1953. As network programming moved from radio to television, the station adopted a Top 40 format. KOIL was a popular station for Omaha's teens and young adults. It became part of Burden's Star Stations.
License cancelation
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began an investigation into allegations involving Burden and his stations. They included reports of bribes Burden made to officials in charge of renewing the licenses of his stations, supervision of on-air contests, and lack of candor with the FCC.[6]
After KOIL's license was canceled, there were multiple applications filed to continue operations, either temporarily under an Interim Operation authorization, or as a relicensed station.[7] On November 24, the FCC awarded an Interim Operation authorization to Beneficial Broadcasting Inc.[8] Beneficial, headed by Nathan Novak, was the sole applicant to apply for only Interim Operation, and also pledged to donate all profits to charity. On December 16, 1976, the station, still KOIL, resumed broadcasting.[9]
Relicencing
While the Interim Operation of the station was ongoing, the FCC held competitive hearings among the applicants for a permanant relicencing of the station. A May 1981 ruling favored Nebraska-Iowa Broadcasting, but a January 1982 review changed the decision to Omaha Broadcasting.[10] Following a merger of the applicants, the new license was ultimately granted to NewKOIL, Inc., which took over operations on January 13, 1983.[11] Although technically this was a new station, its continued operation as KOIL on 1290 kHz meant that it was considered to be the same station as the original KOIL established in 1925.
In 1993, the KOIL call sign moved to 1180 AM in an exchange with station KKAR (now KZOT). In April 2003, it moved to 1020 AM, replacing KKSC (now KMMQ).[12] The call sign resumed broadcasting on 1180 kHz in January 2009. On June 4, 2012, KOIL was returned to 1290 AM and rebranded as "The Mighty 1290" KOIL.[13]
Other personalities to spend time at KOIL include The Real Don Steele, Gary Owens, Kris Erik Stevens, Lyle Dean, Frank "Coffeehead" Allen, Joe Light, Dave Wingert, Sandy Jackson, and Tom Becka.
