| KFOW | |
| City: | Waseca, Minnesota |
| Area: | South Central Minnesota |
| Branding: | The Fan Owatonna |
| Frequency: | 1170 kHz |
| Airdate: | (as KOWO) |
| Format: | Sports |
| Power: | 2,500 watts day 1,000 watts critical hours 5 watts night |
| Class: | D |
| Facility Id: | 70931 |
| Coordinates: | 44.0458°N -93.3856°W |
| Callsign Meaning: | Faribault, and OWatonna |
| Former Callsigns: | KOWO (1971–2003) KOWZ (2003–2012) KRUE (2012–2015) KOWZ (2015–2020) |
| Affiliations: | KFXN-FM Minnesota Vikings Minnesota Wild |
| Owner: | Linder Radio Group |
| Licensee: | Main Street Broadcasting, Inc. |
| Sister Stations: | KRUE, KOWZ |
| Webcast: | Listen Live |
| Website: | thefanowatonna.com |
| Licensing Authority: | FCC |
KFOW (1170 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Waseca, Minnesota and serving South Central Minnesota. The station is owned by the Linder Radio Group and broadcasts a sports radio format. The radio studios and offices are on Cedardale Drive in Owatonna, Minnesota.
By day, KFOW is powered at 2,500 watts non-directional. Because 1170 AM is a clear channel frequency reserved for Class A stations KOTV in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and WWVA in Wheeling, West Virginia, KFOW must reduce power at night to only five watts to avoid interference. During critical hours, the station is powered at 1,000 watts.[1] Programming is also heard on 250 watt FM translator K292GU at 106.3 MHz.[2]
Until May 1, 2023 KFOW largely broadcast nationally syndicated conservative talk shows. Weekdays began with Hugh Hewitt, followed by Brian Kilmeade, Ben Shapiro, Dave Ramsey, Dan Bongino, "Our American Stories with Lee Habeeb" and "Red Eye Radio." Local news and agriculture reports were featured during the day with local high school sports on some evenings.
On weekends, the schedule featured shows on money, health, real estate, home repair, the military, guns, barbecuing, wine, farming, the outdoors, pets, travel and old time radio shows, as well as repeats of weekday shows and NASCAR racing. Most hours began with national news from Fox News Radio.
On, the station signed on the air as KOWO. Originally it was a daytimer, powered at 1,000 watts and required to go off the air at night. In later years, it increased its power and added limited nighttime service.
On October 7, 2020, KFOW dropped its classic hits format and began stunting with "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" by Rolf Harris, a common practice on stations owned by Linder when switching formats.[3] [4] On October 12, KFOW debuted a new talk radio format. As part of the flip, the station affiliated with Fox News Radio.[5] [6]
On May 1, 2023 KFOW changed their format from talk to sports, branded as "The Fan Owatonna".[7]