WHO (1040 kHz "Newsradio 1040") is a commercial AM radio station in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The station is owned by iHeartMedia and carries a news/talk radio format. The radio studios are on Grand Avenue in Des Moines. WHO broadcasts with 50,000 watts, the maximum power permitted for commercial AM stations. It uses a non-directional antenna from a transmitter site on 148th Street South in Mitchellville, Iowa. WHO dates back to the early days of broadcasting and is a Class A clear-channel station. During daytime hours, its high power and Iowa's excellent soil conductivity gives it at least secondary coverage of most of Iowa, as well as parts of Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota. With a good radio, it can be heard at night across much of North America, but is strongest in the Central United States. WHO is also heard on the HD Radio digital subchannel of co-owned KDRB 100.3 FM and is Iowa's primary entry point station in the Emergency Alert System. History Early years WHO first began broadcasting on . While most radio stations in Iowa today begin their call signs with a K, WHO begins with a W, because the original dividing line was the western border of Iowa. WHO dates back to the early years of radio, when call signs were often only three letters long. The call letters were not chosen because they spell out the question "Who?" The government handed out call signs sequentially. The studios were on the top floor of the Liberty Building in downtown Des Moines. The station was originally owned by Bankers Life, which is now the Principal Financial Group. After the FRC's General Order 40 reallocated frequencies in 1928, WHO ended up sharing time on the same frequency with WOC in Davenport. In 1930, B. J. Palmer, owner of WOC, bought WHO, and the two stations operated together as WOC-WHO until a new 50,000-watt transmitter near Mitchellville began operating on November 11, 1933. (WOC ceased broadcasting that day but returned on another frequency a year later.) Through most of its early years, WHO was a network affiliate of the NBC Red Network, broadcasting comedies, dramas, game shows, soap operas, sports and big bands. WHO moved from 1000 AM to the current 1040 on March 29, 1941, as a result of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement. Today WHO is one of only two