Radio This Week Back Then #72: June 22-28
This week: Dancing with KKDL "106.7KDL" D/FW and KSKS "Kiss 93-7" Fresno, rockin' with CILV-FM "Live 88-5" Ottawa and KTUX "99X" Shreveport, and playing the hits with KZOU "Zoo 98" Little Rock
What was on the radio this week…back then. This is a weekly visit of radio audio from this week in past years for those that enjoy radio history, those working in radio looking for promotional ideas, or stations looking to re-find lost audio of their heritage. If you enjoy these weekly audio rewinds, they take a lot of time to put together, so please do me a favor, subscribe, and share and pass it on. Thank you! A searchable and sortable index of all the audio is located on the Aircheck Index page.
This week:
D/FW | dance KKDL “106.7KDL” (2003)
Ottawa | Modern rock CILV-FM “Live 88-5” (2008)
Fresno | Rhythmic AC KSKS “Kiss 93-7” (1991)
Little Rock | CHR KZOU-FM/AM “Zoo 98” (1990) plus bonus top 40 KLAZ “Z98” (1980) audio
Shreveport | Rock KTUX “99X, the Rebel Rocker” (1994)
Happy reading and listening!
Related: Dallas/Fort Worth
Presently regional Mexican KZZA “La Ranchera 106.7,” the station started out in 1990 as oldies KXGM on 106.5 and as a class A local FM signal serving Gainesville and Cooke County well north of Dallas/Fort Worth along the Texas/Oklahoma border.
At the turn of the century, as part of a massive realignment of FM signals in Texas and Oklahoma, its allocation was amended to allow it to upgrade from 106.5A to 106.7 as a full class C in order to rimshoot Dallas/Fort Worth.
In order to do so, about two dozen stations would be re-allocated, with the FCC approving the allotments in 2000.
As well, University of North Texas’ KNTU 88.1 re-licensed from Denton to McKinney to backfill KRVA-FM since McKinney would have been left with no station licensed to it.
KXGM made its upgrade to 106.7 on 9 August 2002 with rhythmic AC. It took the KKDL calls a few days later and then shifted to dance “106.7KDL” on 23 September. In 2005, it shifted to a bilingual rhythmic top 40 format as KZZA “Casa 106.7.” It then evolved to R&B and reggaeton in the following year. In 2009, it flipped to a gold-based regional Mexican format as “La Bonita 106.7.” The present day “La Ranchera” brand came along in 2016.
Aircheck
This aircheck is from this week in 2003 during the dance KKDL “106.7KDL” era. At this point, then-owner Entravision replicated the “KDL” brand and dance format on its twin 103.1 combo in the Los Angeles market. The dance “103-1KDL” on KDLD and KDLE in that market only ran from the beginning to the end of 2003.
Audio
Aircheck Log
Related: Ottawa
CILV-FM signed on as a new signal at the end of 2005. It has been continuously running alternative rock since then.
Aircheck
This aircheck from 2008 comes two and half years after it signed on. As is the norm for Canadian airchecks, there are some tunes from Canadian artists that never charted or got much airplay in the US that spice up the playlist. Bonus points for the “Live Life Live” slogan.
Audio
Aircheck Log
Related: Fresno
Seeing the KSKS banner, you are probably expecting a county aircheck, particularly since some other places, like the current snapshot in Wikipedia, incorrectly details the history of the station as…
In 1992, KFYE flipped to country music as KSKS.
My hunch is that comes from looking at Broadcasting & Cable’s old Yearbook, which didn’t capture short-lived formats between the printings of its annual directory.
In reality, AC KFYE “Y94, the Best Mix of the 60s, 70s, & 80s” shifted to rhythmic AC KSKS “93-7 Kiss FM” in March 1991. Mariah Carey’s “Someday” was the first song when the station launched on 18 March at 5PM.1 The term “rhythmic AC” wasn’t invented yet, so trades, like Billboard and The M Street Journal used other descriptions like “dance AC” to describe the new format.
The format was basically an interim format. KSKS flipped to country “Kiss Country 93.7” later that year on 1 October. The country market all of a sudden got crowded at that time. Country siblings KNAX 97.9 and KFRE 940 each ran country formats, with KNAX the lone country FM in the market. Crosstown rock AC KMMA 107.5 flipped to country on 24 September and KSKS followed a week later to make three FM country signals competing against each other.2
KSKS has maintained the country format and “Kiss Country” brand ever since.
Aircheck
This aircheck from 1991 is of KSKS’ short-lived rhythmic AC format that pre-dated its present day and much better known country format.
Audio
Aircheck Log
Related: Little Rock, 98.5 Little Rock, KZOU
I previously posted an aircheck of KZOU way back in RTWT #9.
As a bonus, I have audio from an old cassette of a bunch of top 40 and rock outlets from June 1980 that includes about two minute of scoped material from a Sunday morning from that June 1980 time period 25 years ago. Back then, the station was top 40 KLAZ “Z98.”
Bonus Audio of KLAZ
Aircheck
This KZOU aircheck is one I recorded a few months after the last aircheck of KZOU I posted in the link above.
Audio
Aircheck Log
Related: Shreveport, 98.9 Shreveport, KTUX
This is the third visit here to listen to KTUX in this Substack. Presently, KTUX is classic rock “Highway 98.9.”
KTUX originally signed on as a new signal in the Shreveport market in 1985 as top 40 “Tux 99.” In December 1992, it shifted to a mix of rock hits, rock, and classic rock from the previous 20 years as “Tux 99 Rocks.” After 18 months with that mix came an evolution to rock “99X, the Rebel Rocker.”
Aircheck
This aircheck from this week in 1994 comes 10 days after KTUX relaunched as 99X. After stunting with a loop of Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” for a day and half, 99X debuted on 15 June 1994.
All in all, 99X was a pretty good locally staffed and programmed rocker playing “today’s best rock and only the killer classics.”
Audio
Aircheck Log
As always, the logos and other intellectual property belong to the stations. The recordings were made from over the air broadcasts. Similarly, other data (charts, ratings, etc.) belong to their respective owners.
“KFYE Dances Into KSKS,” The Fresno Bee, 19 March 1991.
“Radio Stations Change And Hitch Formats To Country,” The Fresno Bee, 5 October 1991.