KFYR (550 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Bismarck, North Dakota. It airs a news-talk radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. Some hours on weekends, the station plays oldies. The studios are on East Rosser Avenue in Bismarck.
KFYR is powered at 5,000 watts with a signal that can be heard in four U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. By day, it is non-directional. But at night, the station uses a directional antenna with a two-tower array. The transmitter is off 158th Street NE in Menoken. Programming is also heard on 250-watt FM translator K259AF at 99.7 MHz in Bismarck.
Signal
KFYR boasts an enormous daytime coverage area. This is due to its location near the bottom of the AM dial; lower frequencies have longer wavelengths that tend to travel farther across terrain . This is especially true for stations that operate at 5,000 watts or more . Additionally, North Dakota's flat landscape provides near-perfect ground conductivity, rated at a relatively high 30 millisiemens per meter, which minimizes signal loss .
Combined with its 5,000-watt, non-directional daytime power, this gives KFYR a daytime footprint equivalent to that of a full-power FM station. It can be heard across almost all of North Dakota during the day, as well as in parts of Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan .
History
Early years
KFYR signed on the air in 1925 . It was founded by Phillip J. Meyer and his wife, Etta Hoskins Meyer, making it Bismarck's oldest radio station .
In its early years, KFYR was a long-time affiliate of the NBC Red Network, airing its dramas, comedies, news, and sports during the "Golden Age of Radio" . Because KFYR radio was an established NBC affiliate, KFYR-TV became western North Dakota's NBC television affiliate, along with its three semi-satellites: KMOT (Minot), KUMV-TV (Williston), and KQCD-TV (Dickinson) . The television network was established by the Meyer family, who owned and operated the cluster for decades The station's call sign was later changed to KYYY.
At one time, the Meyer Broadcasting Company roster also included AM radio stations in Billings and Great Falls, Montana, as well as an FM station in Minot, North Dakota.
Marietta Meyer Ekberg, the daughter of founders Phillip and Etta Meyer, retired in 1998. Her radio holdings, which included KFYR and KYYY, were sold to Jacor Communications for $4.8 million in September 1998. Jacor, in turn, was acquired by Clear Channel Communications in October 1998, a forerunner to today's iHeartMedia.
Top 40 era
Facing stiff competition from more youthful stations, KFYR began to see its dominance and audience decline in the early 1960s . It decided to switch to a Top 40 format . The station had created a remix of the Pointer Sisters' cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Fire" with "K-Fire" dubbed into the chorus where "fire" would be sung
Switch to talk
As younger listeners increasingly tuned to FM for their hits, KFYR switched its music to adult contemporary and oldies . By the 1990s, the station added more talk shows until it had fully switched to a news-talk format . The translator on 99.7 FM (K259CJ) was previously a simulcast of sister station KQDY 94.5 FM before the change in 2011 . Local talk shows are heard in mornings and during afternoon drive time . KFYR is an affiliate of the Fox News Radio Network