After nearly four months of radio silence, Grinnell’s KGRN 1410 AM is preparing to return to the airwaves under new ownership, bringing back local news, sports and familiar voices.
Riverfront Broadcasting, a South Dakota-based company, acquired KGRN and three associated Newton stations in early September after their previous owner, Connoisseur Media, abruptly shut down operations earlier this year on June 9.
Carolyn Becker, who co-owns Riverfront Broadcasting with her husband, said the company hopes to restore broadcasting during the second week of October, although technical work at KGRN’s new studio could delay its reopening.
“Moving a radio station is more complicated than moving a house,” Becker said.
The station is relocating from its longtime location at 909 Main St. to 812 Commercial St. in downtown Grinnell. Becker said the move requires reconnecting equipment and ensuring that the studio can transmit its signal to the broadcasting tower.
The KCOB AM, KCOB FM and Energy 106.7 FM station, Becker said, are further along in their preparations as they are not relocating buildings. She said KGRN requires additional technical work because of its relocation.
The reopening follows an unexpected shutdown that left employees and listeners without warning.
“Connoisseur management showed up on June 9 and informed us that we were being severed,” said Ron McCarthy, KGRN’s general manager. “By the time that meeting ended, our email addresses had been eliminated and our website was suspended.”
McCarthy said he was then instructed to visit the stations’ transmission towers and turn off their transmitters.
“The staff, listeners and advertisers were all abandoned … left with only disbelief and radio silence,” he said.
For McCarthy, he said, the shutdown reflected a broader transformation of the radio industry, where locally owned stations have increasingly been acquired by larger corporations.
“When a return on the investment isn’t satisfactory, cuts are made, employees are eliminated and worst of all, as in our case, radio stations are turned off,” McCarthy said.
The shutdown was not the first disruption to KGRN’s operations.
In May 2024, the station’s previous owner, Alpha Media, fired its on-air personalities as part of a workforce reduction.
McCarthy said the new ownership represents an opportunity to restore the local programming that disappeared more than two years ago.
“KGRN will return with full-form local news, sports and information,” he said.
The station will also welcome back longtime broadcaster John Martenson, who will host the morning show and provide play-by-play sports coverage.
Becker said the decision to acquire the stations came after McCarthy contacted Riverfront Broadcasting through a former colleague.
The Beckers then visited Grinnell and Newton to explore the possibility of purchasing the stations.
Becker said the communities’ strong local identities and support for their businesses helped convince her the stations would fit Riverfront’s approach to broadcasting.
“There’s a lot of pride in Grinnell, Iowa,” Becker said. “People are happy with the community and their businesses and [are] proud to be there.”
Since announcing the acquisition, Becker said she has received messages from residents who missed having a reliable source of local information.
“I had many people email me or contact me saying that they haven’t known what’s been going on in the community because there’s nowhere to listen to get the news, the information or the sports,” she said.
Rather than introducing sweeping programming changes, Riverfront plans to prioritize familiar content, including local news, weather, music and sporting events.
Becker said the company also hopes to rehire former employees while giving local managers flexibility to tailor programming to the community’s preferences.
“We aren’t the type of company that says, ‘This is how we do it everywhere else,’” Becker said, explaining that the company recognizes the different needs of the communities it serves.
McCarthy said that local radio does more than broadcast information.
“It’s important for Grinnell to have a radio station that provides what residents want and need to know about,” he said. “Listeners consider us a trusted friend behind a microphone.”
For Riverfront, rebuilding that connection will be central to the stations’ long-term success, Becker said.
“Our goal is to get on the air and we’re not going anywhere,” she added.