KIOS-FM

KIOS-FM (91.5 MHz) is a non-commercial, listener-supported public radio station in Omaha, Nebraska. It is owned and operated by Omaha Public Schools (OPS), airing programming from National Public Radio (NPR) and other public radio producers. KIOS-FM has an annual budget of $1.2 million and employs 15 people. Studios and offices are in the OPS complex on Burt Street, northwest of Downtown Omaha.

KIOS-FM is a Class C1 station. It has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 55,000 watts. The transmitter tower is behind Benson High School at 52nd and Maple Streets in Omaha.

Programming
On weekdays, KIOS has a news-talk format. Programs from NPR and other public radio networks include Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Fresh Air, 1A and Marketplace. The KIOS staff supplies news updates during the shows. On weekday evenings, KIOS plays jazz music and the BBC World Service is heard overnight.

Weekend talk programs include Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, On The Media, The Splendid Table, This American Life and Travel with Rick Steves. Weekend music shows include The Thistle & Shamrock, Afropop Worldwide, American Routes, World Cafe and Hearts of Space.

Construction
KIOS-FM is the second oldest non-commercial station in Omaha. (KGBI 100.7 FM went on the air in 1966, three years before the debut of KIOS.)  KIOS was primarily intended as a teaching tool for students in Omaha high school broadcasting courses. After becoming a charter member of NPR in 1971, KIOS shifted its emphasis toward news and information programming.

On October 4, 1967, Omaha Public Schools applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a new radio station to serve the Omaha area. It initially proposed to build a commercial radio station on 104.5 MHz. It felt an assignment low on the FM dial would cause interference with Channel 6 WOW-TV (now WOWT). In analog television days, the audio from Channel 6 was heard at bottom of the FM band.

Instead, the FCC granted a construction permit for a non-commercial outlet on 91.5 MHz, on March 27, 1968. KIOS-FM signed on the air on. Concerns about audio interference with WOW-TV proved unfounded.

Educational programs
The original KIOS format primarily consisted of daytime educational programs for use as classroom instruction in Omaha city schools. Classical music and variety programming aired in the evening. The studios and transmitter were originally at Central High School, and most of the students taking broadcasting classes utilizing KIOS attended that school.

In 1974, KIOS-FM began subcarrier broadcasts of a regional radio reading service for the blind. "Radio Talking Book" was the sixth such service in the United States.

In 1975, the KIOS transmitter was moved to its present location at Benson High School. It used the highest parcel of land that OPS owned. The higher elevation allowed the station increased coverage. That same year, KIOS's studios moved to Technical High School, now the headquarters of OPS. The move was part of a centralization of the radio and television production programs in the district.

NPR programming
With the start of National Public Radio in 1971, KIOS became a charter member. It shifted from classroom instruction to provide mostly public radio programming. For hands-on experience, student training switched to a new carrier current station inside Technical High School in 1977.

Before NPR started offering Morning Edition, KIOS aired a local classical music wake-up program hosted by longtime Omaha broadcaster Frank Bramhall. In his career, Bramhall had served as a Top 40 disc jockey and as a television meteorologist. He moved to University of Nebraska-owned KVNO 90.7 FM in 1979. Another popular personality on KIOS was Omaha musician Preston Love. He hosed a jazz show known as Love Notes.

KIOS-FM began soliciting donations from its listeners in 1982. The move was made in the face of declining allocations from OPS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

In the early 1980s, general manager Frank Coopersmith proposed changes in programming that included big band music as KIOS saw a decline in its ratings. Coopersmith had been hired by OPS in part because 90.7 KVNO had surpassed KIOS in the ratings. Listeners and members of the station's community advisory board protested the reshuffle as moving KIOS-FM away from its information and education mission. Coopersmith was fired in 1984 in what he alleged was a political move to replace employees seen as close to the recently dismissed superintendent of Omaha schools.

The station began 24-hour broadcasting for the first time in 1985. But this was curtailed five years later due to school board budget cuts. A few years after that, KIOS returned to a round-the-clock schedule.

In 1985, an agreement was made among the three NPR-aligned stations serving Omaha and Council Bluffs: KIOS-FM, KVNO and 89.7 KIWR, owned by Iowa Western Community College. The pact resulted in KIOS adopting its current news and information schedule. KVNO became a classical music station and KIWR concentrated on alternative rock.