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KVOO-FM (98.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The station is owned by Griffin Communications and it airs a country music radio format. In 1988, the FM station picked up the heritage call sign and country format from its AM sister station (now KOTV). The studios are on North Boston Avenue in downtown Tulsa.

KVOO-FM has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts, the maximum for most stations in the U.S. The transmitter is on Oklahoma State Highway 97 in the Osage Reservation, north of Sand Springs, Oklahoma. KVOO-FM is licensed by the FCC to broadcast in the HD Radio format.

History

The station first signed on the air on November 16, 1973. Its call letters were KBJH, and it aired a Christian radio format. The station was started by evangelist Billy James Hargis and his initials were part of the call sign. The station's license was held by the American Christian College, founded by Hargis.

In 1976, the call letters were changed to KCFO-FM. The station called itself "Love 98 FM" and it played Contemporary Christian music. Salem Communications owned KCFO AM-FM at that time. It decided to focus on large and major markets and sold KCFO-FM to the Stuart family in 1987. The Stuarts also owned KVOO 1170 AM, which was a full service country station, with personalities, news and sports. KCFO-FM flipped to a more-music country sound, first as KUSO "US-98.5" and later as "Country 98" KVOO-FM, using the same call letters as the heritage AM station. The Stuart family sold the stations to Great Empire Broadcasting in 1990.

Journal Communications (KVOO-FM's former owner) and The E.W. Scripps Company (owner of Tulsa's NBC network affiliate KJRH-TV) announced on July 30, 2014, that the two companies would merge to create a new broadcast company under the E.W. Scripps Company name. The new firm would own the two companies' broadcast properties, including KVOO-FM.

On June 26, 2018, parent company E.W. Scripps announced that it would sell KVOO, along with its sister stations, KBEZ, KFAQ, KHTT, and KXBL, to Griffin Communications. Griffin began operating the stations under a local marketing agreement (LMA) on July 30, and completed the purchase October 1. The company already owned CBS affiliate KOTV-DT and CW affiliate KQCW-DT.

On December 7, 2020, at Noon, KVOO-FM rebranded as "98.5 The Bull".

References

1. "Facility Technical Data for KVOO-FM". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
2. FCC.gov/KVOO-FM
3. Radio-Locator.com/KVOO
4. "Station Search Details".
5. http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=64 Archived October 2, 2015, at the Wayback Machine HD Radio Guide for Tulsa
6. Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 pg. C-170
7. "E.W. Scripps, Journal Merging Broadcast Ops". TVNewsCheck. July 30, 2014. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
8. "Scripps Sells Tulsa Cluster To Griffin Communications - RadioInsight". RadioInsight. June 25, 2018. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
9. "Scripps Closes First Of Four Radio Spinoff Deals". Inside Radio. October 2, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
10. KVOO Tulsa Relaunches As 98.5 The Bull Radioinsight - December 7, 2020

External links

• 98.5 The Bull Website
• Journal Broadcast Group
• Facility details for Facility ID 68330 (KVOO-FM) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• KVOO-FM in Nielsen Audio's FM station database

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• HD Radio stations
• Country radio stations in the United States
• Radio stations in Tulsa, Oklahoma
• Radio stations established in 1973
• 1973 establishments in Oklahoma
• Griffin Media
• Oklahoma radio station stubs