Fans of local rock station may have been surprised to tune their radio and hear contemporary Christian music this week. It’s so far the most obvious result of a change in ownership of three area FM stations, which went from an East Coast corporation to a longtime Powell businesswoman.

April Rodriguez, co-owner of Powell radio station KPOW, said she made the purchase to keep more stations local and serve the area’s communities.

“One of the reasons I really wanted to do this, is because so many times a rich lawyer buys radio stations and doesn't serve the community,” Rodriguez said. “It’s better to have a local ownership when it comes to owning radio stations.”

The stations — 107.1, 101.1 and 103.3 FM — had previously been owned by White Park Broadcasting of New Hampshire. Rodriguez said the owner reached out to see if she wanted to purchase them.

“It wasn’t in my future goals,” she said, “but looking at the three FMs and their current programming, my husband and I just gave it some real thoughts.”

In deciding to buy the stations, Rodriguez said one of her main goals is to bolster KPOW, an AM station that’s served Powell since 1941, and where Rodriguez has worked since 2000.

The FM stations are owned under a new company she formed, Heart Mountain Broadcasting, and KPOW is separately owned by MGR Media. However, all four stations will be run out of the same office south of Powell, off Wyo. Highway 295.

When the other two co-owners of MGR Media retire, Rodriguez hopes to own the whole company and fold it into Heart Mountain Broadcasting.

“An FM-AM combo just makes a great selling unit and just adds variety,” she said. “It made sense to service these three radio stations and make it part of the community.”

Officially, 107.1 (KWHO, The Adventure) is licensed to Lovell, 101.1 (KROW, The One) to Cody and 103.3 (KBEN, The Range) to Cowley, but all three are broadcast throughout the Big Horn Basin via a tower in the McCullough Peaks.

Rodriguez said she plans to include segments with updates about the area communities.

“We want to have a community presence on those radio stations,” she said.

And then there’s the music. 

“We have already done some big changes,” Rodriguez said.

That’s especially true of 101.1, which on Monday morning started broadcasting contemporary Christian music. The One — which was previously known as The Krow — offers a genre that Rodriguez said no other area station is playing.

She said they’ve also boosted 107.1 The Adventure to make it more of a “true classic rock station,” which has meant adding more 80s and 90s rock.

As for 103.3 The Range, she said it’s already a solid station so there were just minor tweaks made, such as adding more 90s country music from the likes of George Strait, Shania Twain and others.

The company will host an open house noon Friday at its 912 Lane 11 1/2 location. The event will include a ribbon cutting and drawings.