WMT was founded by Douglas "Tex" Perham as WJAM on July 30, 1922. In 1928, Harry Shaw purchased WJAM and moved the station from Cedar Rapids to Waterloo, renaming it WMT. Shaw sold the station to the Cowles family, owners of the Des Moines Register, in October 1934. WMT moved back to Cedar Rapids the next year, occupying the studios of the defunct KWCR radio after KWCR's frequency was taken over by KSO in Des Moines, another Cowles station. The Cowleses sold WMT to Delaware-based American Broadcasting Stations in 1944. WMT-TV, the first television station in Cedar Rapids, signed on at channel 2 on September 30, 1953. On February 27, 1963, WMT-FM debuted at 96.5 MHz with the same song, "Don't Send Me Posies When It's Shoesies That I Need," that was played on the AM station's inaugural broadcast 41 years earlier. Ownership of the WMT stations was passed on to Orion Broadcasting of Louisville, Kentucky, in 1968. In 1981, Cosmos Broadcasting of Greenville, South Carolina, purchased WMT-AM and FM; they had also planned to purchase WMT-TV, but the television station was sold to Guy Gannett Communications because of ownership restrictions at the time. An ownership group that included former Iowa governor Robert D. Ray and sportscaster Forrest "Frosty" Mitchell purchased WMT on October 1, 1986. On January 1, 1996, Palmer Communications acquired WMT; WHO and WMT were later sold to Jacor Broadcasting, which was eventually acquired by current owner Clear Channel Communications.
Personalities and programming
Current local talk shows on WMT include "The Morning Show" with Doug Wagner, "Need To Know" with Jeff Angelo, "The Simon Conway Show," and "Ask The Expert." Randy Lee is the Program Director for the station, and serves as a substitute host for programming. A long running weekend show is The Open Line, where listeners have shared recipes since 1963. The current host for that program is Doug Wagner. Also on the weekend, WMT originates and syndicates "The My Car Geek Hour" with Jay Cassill. During the week, WMT simulcasts The Big Show with Bob Quinn and Andy Petersen with sister station WHO. Syndicated talk show hosts include Rush Limbaugh, Dave Ramsey, Jim Bohannon, George Noory's Coast to Coast AM, and The Kim Komando Show. WMT has also been a longtime home for Iowa Hawkeyes football and basketball games. Play-by-play announcers over the years included Lawson "Tait" Cummins, Ron Gonder, Frosty Mitchell, and Gary Dolphin, who has handled the play-by-play duties since Learfield Communications was granted the exclusive broadcast rights to Hawkeye sports in 1997. Saturday programming features "The Iowa Lawn and Garden Show," hosted by Doug Wagner, with guests From Culver's Garden Center.
