One of Omaha’s most storied radio names is coming back. Walnut Media has acquired AM 590, formerly KXSP-AM, and secured FCC approval to restore the WOW call letters to the frequency, with a relaunch as a full-service ESPN Sports Talk station set for July 6.
The frequency has been silent since February, when SummitMedia signed off KXSP after selling the land on which its transmitter was located. KXSP had been running the national ESPN Radio lineup following the departure of its local shows and had lost play-by-play rights to the University of Nebraska the previous July.
Those rights will return to 590 WOW, which will carry Husker Football, Men’s and Women’s Basketball, Volleyball, and Baseball, along with Sports Nightly.
The station held the WOW call letters from 1926 until 1999, when Journal Broadcast Group dropped the call letters for KOMJ and a flip to Adult Standards. Sports followed in 2005, an ESPN affiliation in 2011. Scripps took over the cluster and in 2018 sold the Omaha stations to SummitMedia in a four-market, $47 million deal.
Walnut Media President Patrick Combs said, “This is an incredibly exciting moment for our company and for sports fans across the region. We are proud to add this historic signal to our group and are excited to offer not only top-notch sports content, but also give Husker fans a powerful regional signal.”
Walnut Media Vice Chair Nick Seline remarked, “We are pleased to add one of the largest and most historic stations in the Midwest to our growing media family. This investment will give us added ability to serve both our listeners and our advertisers.”
