KRIB (1490 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Mason City, Iowa. It is owned by Alpha Media and airs a soft oldies radio format. The radio studios and offices are on South Yorktown Pike.

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.^[2] Programming is also heard on 250-watt FM translator K244FA at 96.7 MHz.^[3]

History

Top 40, Oldies and Standards

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.^[4]

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, KRIB flipped its format to oldies. Several years later, it 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, some ESPN Radio programming would be added.

In September 2004, KRIB flipped to country as "Eagle Country", though the prior standards format would continue to be heard in overnights. In April 2005, KRIB's country format would move to sister station KYTC; subsequently, KYTC's oldies format would move to KRIB.

On February 4, 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.

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.^[5] On Saturday mornings, it also airs an hour of oldies from the 1960s.