# KRIB

KRIB (1490 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Mason City, Iowa. It is owned by Alpha Media and airs an oldies radio format. The radio studios and offices are on South Yorktown Pike in eastern Mason City.
KRIB is a Class C AM station, powered at 1,000 watts. It uses a non-directional antenna. The transmitter is located behind its former studios on 19th Street Southwest, near Monroe Avenue, in Mason City. Programming is also heard on 250-watt FM translator K244FA at 96.7 MHz, with a transmitter located atop the Cartersville Grain Elevator on South Eisenhower Avenue, also in Mason City.

## History

The station signed on the air in April 1948; 76 years ago (1948-04). It was assigned the KRIB call sign by the Federal Communications Commission.
Through the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, KRIB was the dominant Top 40 station for the Mason City market. This lasted until 1985, when the station made the transition to full-service adult contemporary, competing against AC stations KLSS-FM and KGLO. This didn't last long, and in May 1987, after being sold to Boyd Communications, KRIB flipped its format to oldies. However, in 1989, prior owners Chesterman Company regained control of the station after suing Boyd for failing to make payments beyond the initial down payment to purchase the station. In April 1990, Hedberg Broadcasting, the owner of KLSS-AM/FM, bought the station, with KLSS-AM being subsequently sold to the University of Northern Iowa. In the early 1990s, KRIB began playing a mix of soft oldies and adult standards, using the syndicated service "America's Best Music" supplied by Westwood One for a time, before it was dropped in favor of local programming. In addition, ESPN Radio programming would later be added in evenings for a time.
In March 1997, Three Eagles Broadcasting bought the station.
On September 6, 2004, KRIB flipped to country as "Eagle Country", though the prior standards format would continue to be heard in overnights. On April 1, 2005, KRIB's country format would move to sister station KYTC; subsequently, KYTC's oldies format would move to KRIB.
On February 3, 2012, KRIB shifted to adult standards, initially carrying programming from the syndicated "Music of Your Life" service. The station later reverted to being locally programmed, and shifted back to a soft oldies format.
Digity, LLC purchased the station on September 12, 2014. Two years later, Alpha Media acquired Digity, LLC, including KRIB, for $264 million.
In June 2024, due to staffing cuts across many of Alpha Media's stations nationwide, which included the dismissal of operations manager and program director Jared Allen, KRIB began airing Westwood One's "Good Time Oldies" format.

### The Winter Dance Party

KRIB was one of the first radio stations in Iowa to play Rock and Roll and Top 40 hits, thus attracting a young audience. In February 1959, the station was one of the sponsors of the Winter Dance Party at the Surf Ballroom in nearby Clear Lake. The show's master of ceremonies was KRIB disc jockey Bob Hale. The show featured The Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly. Infamously, all three perished in a plane crash just north of the Mason City Municipal Airport that night. The event would later be described as "The Day the Music Died."
Over sixty years later, KRIB still changes its music format during the week of the anniversary of the Winter Dance Party, playing hit songs of the late 1950s and early 1960s, with an emphasis on tunes from February 1959. On Saturday mornings, it also airs an hour of oldies from the 1960s.