KWPN (AM)

KWPN (640 kHz, "ESPN Radio 640") is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Moore, Oklahoma, and serving the Oklahoma City Metroplex. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a sports radio format. While Cumulus owns three sports stations in Oklahoma City, 98.1 WWLS-FM and AM 930 WKY have mostly local shows on weekdays while 640 KWPN carries mostly syndicated programming from ESPN Radio. The studios and offices are on NW 64th Street in Northwest Oklahoma City.
KWPN's transmitter is off West Indian Hills Road in Norman. It broadcasts at 5,000 watts by day. But because AM 640 is a clear channel frequency, reserved for Class A KFI Los Angeles, KWPN must reduce power to 1,000 watts at night to avoid interference. A directional antenna is used at all times.
History.
University of Oklahoma.
On September 26, 1922, the station signed on as WNAD in Norman, Oklahoma. It was owned by the University of Oklahoma, with its studios located in Science Hall. In the early days of broadcasting, several universities put non-commercial radio stations on the air as a service to students, faculty and the local community. From 1929 to 1941, WNAD broadcast on 1010 kilocycles and was required to go off the air at sunset.
In 1941, when the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) was enacted, the station moved to 640 kHz. Being lower on the dial gave WNAD a wider coverage area. But the station was still required to be off the air at night, to protect 50,000 watt clear channel KFI Los Angeles. (AM radio waves travel further at night.)
Changes in Ownership.
In 1973, after the university put an FM station on the air, 106.3 KGOU, it decided to sell the AM station. WNAD was acquired by Oklahoma Communications, Inc. WNAD became a Mutual Broadcasting System network affiliate.
The station was acquired by Norman Broadcasting in 1981. It switched its call sign to WWLS. It is unusual for stations in Oklahoma to have call letters beginning with a "W." Nearly all start with a "K." But because the station traces its history back to 1922, when Oklahoma was in W territory, the station was granted new call letters beginning with a W from the Federal Communications Commission.
Sports Radio.
In 1989, WWLS was acquired by Fox Broadcasting. It was not associated with the Fox Television Network, but owned by local businessman John Fox. A sports radio format was started. The new management changed the station's city of license with the FCC, to Moore, Oklahoma. This was coupled with permission to broadcast around the clock at 1,000 watts. A few years later, daytime power was boosted to 5,000 watts.
In 1999, WWLS was acquired by Citadel Broadcasting, the forerunner to today's Cumulus Broadcasting. It flipped to a sports radio format, calling itself "The Sports Animal." It later got an FM simulcast on 98.1, which became WWLS-FM. On April 2, 2012, WWLS AM 640 split from its "Sports Animal" simulcast with WWLS-FM 98.1 and switched to mostly programming from ESPN Radio under new call letters, KWPN. WWLS-FM continued with mostly local sports programming on weekdays, later getting simulcast on co-owned AM 930 WKY. Nights and weekends, all three stations often carry the same ESPN Radio programming.