KCOL (AM)

KCOL

Wellington, Colorado
Broadcast area	Fort Collins-Greeley-Loveland, Colorado, Boulder-Longmont, Colorado and Cheyenne, Wyoming
Frequency	600 kHz
Branding	600 KCOL
Programming
Format	News/talk
Affiliations	Fox News Radio Compass Media Networks Premiere Networks
Ownership
Owner	iHeartMedia, Inc. (iHM Licenses, LLC)
Sister stations	K235BT, K246CI, KBPI, KIIX, KOLT-FM, KPAW KSME, KXBG
History
First air date	January 12, 1959 (1959-01-12) (as KZIX Fort Collins)
Former call signs	KZIX (1959–1975) KIIX (1975–1999)
Call sign meaning	Colorado
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	68685
Class	B
Power	5,000 watts day 500 watts night
Transmitter coordinates	40°39′0″N 105°02′51″W / 40.65000°N 105.04750°W / 40.65000; -105.04750
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	600kcol.iheart.com

KCOL (600 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Wellington, Colorado, and serving the Fort Collins-Greeley radio market. The station airs a news/talk format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios and offices are on Byrd Drive in Loveland, while the transmitter is off North County Road 13 in Fort Collins.

Weekdays begin with a local news and information show, Mornings with Jimmy Lakey. The rest of the weekday schedule is made up of syndicated talk shows, including Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Clyde Lewis, Coast to Coast AM with George Noory and This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal. Weekends feature shows on health, money, religion, home repair and technology, some of which are paid brokered programming. Weekend hosts include Gary Sullivan, Leo Laporte, Joe Pags and Bill Cunningham. Most hours begin with Fox News Radio.

On January 12, 1959, the station signed on as KZIX, originally licensed to Fort Collins.^[2] It was a 1,000–watt daytimer, required to go off the air at sunset to protect KFSD in San Diego.

In August 1965, KZIX was acquired by Poudre Valley Broadcasting.^[3] The following month, it signed on an FM station, 93.3 KFMF (now KTCL Wheat Ridge). In the 1970s, KZIX broadcast a country music format. It switched its call sign to KIIX. In the 1980s, it increased its power to 5,000 watts and added nighttime service at 500 watts, while also changing its city of license to Wellington, just north of Fort Collins. It continued to air country music in the daytime but also added syndicated talk shows at night from NBC Talknet.

In 1998, Clear Channel Communications, a forerunner of current owner iHeartMedia, paid $6.1 million to acquire KIIX and alternative rock KTCL.^[4] KIIX's format switched to soft oldies and adult standards. On November 5, 1999, Clear Channel flipped the call letters of two of its Fort Collins-area stations. AM 600 KIIX became KCOL.^[5] Meanwhile, the station at AM 1410 that had been KCOL now was called KIIX. KCOL switched to its current talk format, while KIIX began broadcasting a sports radio format.

• Newstalk 600 KCOL Facebook
• KCOL
• Facility details for Facility ID 68685 (KCOL) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• KCOL in Nielsen Audio's AM station database