ROGERS, Ark. — KURM radio station in Rogers is shutting down for good after filling both AM and FM airwaves in Northwest Arkansas for 45 years, according to its owner Kermit Womack.
"Health issues here lately, having an artificial heart valve put in, has certainly given me the indication of the need to terminate the broadcasting activities," Kermit said.
Kermit has owned the station in Rogers since 1979, and he said the business will officially cease operations on July 1.
He said he received a job offer to work for a station at Arkansas Tech in Russellville in 1952 and has been on the radio ever since.
Known to his audience as "The Colonel," Womack used his platform to focus on the issues affecting Northwest Arkansas.
"If it's important to a region, he wanted to be a reflection of those activities," Congressman Steve Womack, Kermit’s son, said. "He grew up on a farm, so he's got a special interest for production agriculture. Because AG in this region is one of the most important economic drivers for the Northwest Arkansas economy, he wanted to give special attention to agriculture."
The radio programs often focused on a variety of local matters including education, politics, and sports. Kermit also said that he has owned a couple of farms in his life and enjoyed going to county fairs and reporting on cattle prices.
On the show’s "Party Line," listeners had the chance to voice their concerns on any issues they wanted.
KURM radio is one of the few remaining, independently-owned stations in the state. Congressman Womack said his father is part of a dying breed in the business.
"His style of radio is kind of vanishing now from the marketplace," he said. "It's hard to cover. It's people intensive. [It's] problematic to find the kind of staff necessary to deliver those kinds of things, and when most radio stations today are heavily automated and heavily syndicated, he kind of swims upstream."
At 89 years old, Kermit said doing what he loved has rarely felt like work.
"If you have a job that you really enjoy doing, then it's really not work," Kermit said. "I can't tell you how much I enjoy the things that we do here at the radio station. I just enjoy the role that the radio station has had, and it's a job that I look forward to every day."
A notable voice in Northwest Arkansas is finally getting the chance to rest.
"I am hopeful that this change of pace and this decision that he's made to retire, and to retire the station with him, will add a few more years to his life so that we can continue to enjoy our father," Womack said.
Kermit said the station is currently up for sale and hopes the buyers continue the type of coverage KURM has done over the years.
Congressman Womack plans to host a reception to honor his and KURM's final show on July 1. The public is welcomed to join as they will talk with visitors and take calls live.
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