In November 1948, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved a frequency shift for KNOE from 1230 to 1390 kHz, with a concurrent increase in power from 250 watts to 5,000 watts. At that time, the station was an NBC Red Networkaffiliate.[8] On September 27, 1953, the station signed on a TV station, Channel 8 KNOE-TV.[9] On January 9, 1967, 101.9 KNOE-FM (now KMVX) came on the air.
In the early 1960s, KNOE moved to 540 kHz, with a daytime power of 5,000 watts, and a nighttime power of 1,000 watts.
Noe's son, James Albert "Jimmie" Noe Jr., ran KNOE for almost four decades, along with its FM and TV sister stations.[10] When Jimmie Noe died from cancer in 2005, the remaining family members agreed to place the stations up for sale and exit broadcasting.[11]
In November 2006, the Noe family reached an agreement to sell KNOE on 540 kHz to Clay Holladay's Holladay Broadcasting. On March 6, 2007, the station announced extensive programming changes, moving Rush Limbaugh to KNOE and adding new programming. According to the news story, KMLB, then at 1440 AM, would be a "general interest talk" station, while 540 KNOE would become a "political talk" station.[12]
At the time of the 2006 station sale to Holladay, the FCC noted that "The conditional grant... required Holladay to surrender the license for the station that at the time bore call sign KMLB (AM) ('Old KMLB'), Monroe, Louisiana, prior to Holladay consummating its acquisition" of KNOE.[13] Thus, the original KMLB on 1440 AM was taken off the air, with its license surrendered to the FCC on March 4, 2008.[14]
Thirteen days later, the call letters on 540 AM were changed from KNOE to KMLB,[15] and programming previously on 1440 AM was consolidated to the transferred KMLB. The station began operating from a new transmitter site, and switched from a directional to a non-directional antenna, resulting on a daytime power reduction from 5,000 to 4,000 watts, while the nighttime power was decreased from 1,000 to 26 watts, with a corresponding reclassification of KMLB as a "Class D" facility.
^Day, Ralph Edward (1970). A History of Radio Station KNOE, Monroe, Louisiana, with Emphasis on Personnel, Programming and Audience, and Facilities, 1944-1969. Day Press.
^"Monroe TV, radio stations owner James Noe, 77, dies". The Baton Rouge Advocate. July 12, 2005. Jimmie Noe, as he was known, spent nearly four decades running the stations founded by his father, former Louisiana Gov. James A. Noe.
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