– Why Would You Kill a Format That Was Still Competing –
There are format changes you can understand even when you don’t particularly like them, and then there are format changes that make you stare at the radio and ask one simple question over and over again: Why? Today, that question is hanging over Omaha as Usher Media Group pulls the plug on Power 106.9 KOPW, replacing the market’s longtime Hip Hop and Rhythmic voice with Country One 106.9. As somebody who was personally part of the radio lineage that ultimately helped lead to Power 106.9, this one hits differently. This isn’t simply another frequency changing music. This is the disappearance of a station whose roots reach back to an experiment that proved Omaha had an audience for Hip Hop and R&B before some people in the market were willing to believe it.
And I have to say it.
What a sad day for Omaha radio.
Not because Country doesn’t deserve another station.
Not because Country One cannot succeed.
Not because new ownership doesn’t have every right to establish its own strategy.
But because when you look at what Power represented, who it served and — perhaps most puzzlingly — how it was actually performing, this deserves a much deeper conversation.
Before Power There Was Hot
This is personal for me.
I was part of what eventually became Power 106.9.
To understand why today’s decision matters, you have to go farther back than the Power name itself.
The roots of the format can be traced to the early 2000s, when Omaha radio began testing something that wasn’t exactly considered the safest programming bet in Nebraska.
Hip Hop.
R&B.
Urban music.
The format emerged on the signals that became Hot 107.7 and 97.3, despite those facilities having significant coverage limitations.
And something happened that radio people should remember.
People listened.
Historical accounts of the station indicate that Hot became Nebraska’s first commercial full-time Hip Hop and R&B outlet and generated the strongest ratings and revenue those signals had produced despite their technical limitations.
Think about that.
The audience was essentially telling Omaha radio:
Give us this music on a real signal.
Eventually somebody listened.
In December 2006, the format migrated to 106.9.
The call letters became KOPW.
The name became Power 106.9.
And what began as something of an Omaha radio experiment became a brand that survived for nearly twenty years.
That’s not a failed format.
That’s a legacy.
And That’s Why This One Hurts Me
I’ve been fortunate to work in a lot of places and be involved with a lot of radio stations.
But when you’ve actually been part of something’s lineage, you look at it differently.
You remember when the audience wasn’t guaranteed.
You remember when somebody had to convince management that the format deserved a chance.
You remember building something before anybody knew whether it would work.
Then you watch that little idea grow up.
It gets a better signal.
A real identity.
Personalities.
Concerts.
Promotions.
Listeners.
Years become decades.
Eventually, people entering the target demographic weren’t even alive when the original experiment began.
That’s when you realize you didn’t simply help build a format.
You helped create an institution.
So forgive me if I don’t look at today’s move as simply another format flip.
I remember the road that helped get us here.
Here Is the Part I Really Don’t Understand
Power wasn’t sitting at the bottom of the Omaha ratings.
The June 2026 Nielsen Audio 12+ numbers show KOPW with a 4.8 share.
Yes, that was down from 5.6 in May.
But look at the board.
KOPW was fifth in the market in June.
Fifth.
Not fifteenth.
Not twentieth.
Not showing up with an asterisk and a prayer.
Fifth.
It was ahead of numerous established Omaha brands in the publicly reported 12+ rankings.
And in March and April?
5.3.
May?
5.6.
June?
4.8.
Those numbers don’t tell us everything — 12+ shares never do. Revenue, demos, expenses and sales performance matter tremendously.
But they certainly make the question legitimate:
Why Power
That’s the alternative perspective I can’t get away from.
If you’re going to blow up a nearly twenty-year-old brand with a distinctive position in the market, you’d expect to discover a station gasping for oxygen.
Publicly available audience numbers don’t show that.
They show a station that was still very much in the game.
Omaha Just Lost Its Exclusive Rhythmic Voice
This is bigger than one logo.
Power’s own public materials described KOPW as Omaha’s exclusive Rhythmic CHR outlet, targeting primarily adults 18-49 with an 18-34 core.
Its more recent programming included The Breakfast Club, local music programming and personalities, with artists such as SZA, Drake, Doja Cat and Kendrick Lamar representative of the musical universe the station occupied.
That’s a distinctive lane.
Now consider what replaces it.
Country.
And Omaha already has a very successful Country station.
KAT 103.7 isn’t merely occupying the format.
It is winning.
KXKT posted an 8.9 share in June, making it the market leader in the published 12+ numbers.
So we’re eliminating a differentiated format that had a 4.8 share to enter a format where the incumbent has an 8.9.
That is certainly a strategy.
It may ultimately work.
But from the outside looking in, it’s also one hell of a gamble.
Apparently Country One Wants the Giant
Country One isn’t sneaking into town quietly.
The new positioning is designed to challenge KAT 103.7 directly.
Okay.
Game on.
Radio competition is fun.
Frankly, we need more of it.
But understand the assignment.
KAT isn’t some sleepy Country station somebody forgot to wake up.
Its current lineup includes established personalities, and the station identifies itself as Omaha’s home for New Country.
And again:
8.9.
Country One isn’t walking into an empty room.
It’s walking into somebody else’s house and announcing that it would like the master bedroom.
Good luck.
Seriously.
Competition can make both stations better.
But that’s why I keep returning to the same question.
Was destroying Power necessary to take that shot?
Maybe the Answer Is Money
We need to be fair.
Ratings aren’t revenue.
Anybody who has worked inside radio understands that.
A 4.8 does not automatically equal a profitable station.
Country can be extremely attractive commercially.
Advertiser compatibility can be strong.
Concert opportunities are substantial.
Country audiences can be exceptionally loyal.
There may be demographic or sales data inside the building that we cannot see.
Usher Media also recently acquired the Omaha properties, and new ownership frequently arrives with a different strategic vision. Usher’s own website now lists KOPW among its five Omaha-area stations.
Maybe management believes the revenue upside in Country substantially exceeds what Power could produce.
Maybe research identified an opening against KAT.
Maybe there are cost considerations.
Maybe the company has a broader portfolio strategy we haven’t seen yet.
Those are legitimate possibilities.
But here’s the thing.
Sometimes what makes financial sense on a spreadsheet still costs a market something culturally.
And Omaha lost something today.
Power Was More Than Drake Records
This is the part corporate radio has historically struggled to quantify.
Formats can become gathering places.
Power gave Hip Hop culture a commercial FM home in Omaha.
And that mattered in a city with its own Hip Hop community.
Even Omaha Public Schools’ historical project on African American history specifically discusses Power 106.9’s importance to Hip Hop in Omaha and notes the station’s role in exposing listeners to local independent artists.
That’s remarkable.
Think about what that means.
A radio station became significant enough to the city’s cultural story that it appears in educational material documenting Omaha’s African American and Hip Hop history.
That’s not merely another quarter-hour.
That’s impact.
There Is Also an Representation Question Here
It deserves to be said carefully but clearly.
When a market loses a Hip Hop or Urban-oriented station, the conversation shouldn’t stop at format labels.
Who loses a microphone?
Who loses a platform?
Which artists lose exposure?
Which community events lose an amplifier?
Which local voices no longer have the same natural radio home?
Which younger listeners look across the FM dial tomorrow and discover there is one fewer station built specifically around music and culture that speaks directly to them?
Those questions matter.
This doesn’t mean Country One shouldn’t exist.
It means Power’s disappearance has consequences beyond music scheduling.
And Power Survived a Long Time
Almost twenty years under one identity in modern radio is nothing to dismiss.
Think about how many stations have changed formats three times since 2006.
Power endured.
Management changed.
Music changed.
Hip Hop changed dramatically.
The way young audiences consume music changed beyond recognition.
Spotify arrived.
Streaming exploded.
TikTok happened.
Podcasts exploded.
Smartphones transformed entertainment.
Yet Power remained.
A format born from the earlier Hot experiment survived all of it.
That’s worth honoring.
New Ownership Has Every Right to Make Its Move
Usher Media bought the stations.
It gets to make the decisions.
That’s how broadcasting works.
And I’m not going to pretend Country One is destined to fail simply because I’m disappointed Power disappeared.
Maybe it works spectacularly.
Maybe research is right.
Maybe Omaha has enough Country appetite to support another aggressive contemporary competitor.
Maybe KAT suddenly finds itself in the most interesting Country battle Omaha has seen in years.
If so, we’ll cover it.
Fairly.
We’ll watch Country One.
We’ll watch KAT.
We’ll watch the ratings.
We’ll watch the talent.
We’ll watch the execution.
And if Usher knocks it out of the park, On The Dial will say so.
But today isn’t about pretending the new station doesn’t deserve a chance.
Today is about recognizing what Omaha just lost.
Somewhere an Old Hot Listener Understands Exactly What I’m Saying
Maybe you remember Hot 107.7 and 97.3.
Maybe you remember when Omaha finally had commercial radio playing this music.
Maybe you remember the signal limitations.
Maybe you remember when everything moved to 106.9.
Maybe you remember hearing Power 106.9 for the first time.
Maybe Power was playing when you graduated.
When you got your first car.
When you went to your first concert.
When you met your spouse.
When you were driving around Omaha on Friday night with absolutely nowhere to go and somehow that was the entire point.
That’s radio.
People who only look at radio through spreadsheets will never completely understand it.
Stations become timestamps in people’s lives.
And today another timestamp stopped.
I Helped With What Eventually Became Power
So I’m allowing myself to be sentimental about this one.
Long before On The Dial, before I was writing stories about other people’s stations, I was part of the history that helped lead to what became Power 106.9.
That’s why this isn’t merely KOPW changing format to me.
I watched the idea prove itself.
I watched the audience prove itself.
And years later, I watched Power become something much larger than those beginnings.
So today I don’t want to immediately rush past the ending and start handicapping the Country battle.
I want to say something to everybody who touched that station along the way.
You built something.
To every programmer.
Every personality.
Every mixer.
Every promotions person.
Every salesperson.
Every intern.
Every engineer.
Every artist.
Every listener.
Everybody who carried that brand through nearly twenty years.
You mattered.
Country One Gets Tomorrow
Today Belongs to Power
Tomorrow we’ll talk strategy.
We’ll talk about whether Country One can take meaningful audience from KAT.
We’ll talk about music position.
Talent.
Imaging.
Promotion.
Marketing.
Whether Omaha can support another contemporary Country player.
There are plenty of interesting questions coming.
But today?
Turn the music up one more time.
Remember Hot.
Remember Power.
Remember the personalities.
Remember the parties.
Remember the concerts.
Remember the first time Omaha proved that Hip Hop belonged on commercial FM radio in Nebraska.
Because frequencies change.
Call letters survive.
Formats come and go.
But what happened between the speakers and the listener cannot simply be erased.
What a Sad Day for Omaha Radio
Power 106.9 wasn’t perfect.
No station is.
Its ratings moved.
Its personalities changed.
Its musical direction evolved.
But it occupied a lane that mattered.
And when the final numbers show a station sitting fifth in the market with a 4.8 share, it’s completely reasonable to look at the empty space it leaves behind and ask:
Why this one?
Maybe Usher Media will eventually provide the answer through Country One’s performance.
That’s the ultimate scoreboard.
But until then, Omaha has traded something unique for another entrant in a format where the market leader is already pulling nearly twice Power’s most recent 12+ share.
Bold?
Absolutely.
Risky?
I’d say so.
Interesting?
You better believe we’re watching.
But sad?
For those of us who remember where this format came from?
Damn right it is.
Goodbye Power 106.9.
From someone who had the privilege of being part of the long road that eventually helped create you:
I’m proud of what you became.
And Omaha radio sounds a little less diverse today without you.
From the Publisher’s Desk
On The Dial believes format changes deserve to be examined as more than transactions and ratings strategies. Stations become part of communities, and Power 106.9 spent nearly twenty years giving Hip Hop and Rhythmic music a powerful commercial FM platform in Omaha. New ownership has every right to chart a new course, and Country One 106.9 deserves the opportunity to prove its strategy. But Power also deserves its flowers. Steven Mills was personally part of the radio lineage that ultimately evolved into Power 106.9, making today’s change especially meaningful to us. We wish the people behind Power well, and we’ll be watching closely to see whether Country One can turn one of Omaha radio’s boldest format decisions into a winner.
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