Radio This Week Back Then #74: July 6-12
Classic hits KKPT "Point" Little Rock, Alabama CHRs WHHY "Y102" Montgomery and WKMX "KMX" Dothan, and beautiful music outlets KNCT-FM Killeen/Temple and KAHM Flagstaff/Sedona/Prescott.
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:
Little Rock | classic hits KKPT “the Point” (1994), plus some bonus audio from its rock KLPQ “KQ94” days (1980)
Killeen/Temple TX | easy listening KNCT-FM (2019)
Montgomery | CHR WHHY-FM/AM “Y102” (1992)
Flagstaff/Sedona/Prescott AZ | easy listening KAHM “Calm” (2019)
Dothan AL | CHR WKMX “106.7KMX, Max” (1992)
After more than 70 editions, this is the first time with airchecks from easy listening outlets. Both KNCT-FM and KAHM remain in the format today, one of the very few number of stations that still program that format in 2025.
Happy reading and listening!
Related: Little Rock
This first aircheck comes from 1994, several days after AC KHLT “K-Lite” flipped to 1970s oldies KKPT “the Point 94.1.” Circa 1993-1994 saw the emergence of the all-1970s format around the country, particularly with CBS launching its “Arrow” (for “All Rock & Roll Oldies”) outlets in Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, and so on. “Arrow” and the other 1970s-based outlets fit between classic hits and classic rock. At the time, the typical established classic hits in most markets was still playing hits from the 1960s in their playlists. So, the all-’70s outlets provided an alternative for a slightly younger “oldies” demo.
As was common with others around the country, KKPT fell into that space between classic rock and classic hits. Over time, KKPT evolved to classic rock, retaining the “Point” brand, which it still maintains today.
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Bonus Audio: KLPQ, June 1980
From mid-1970s through 1983, the 94.1 facility had the KLPQ calls. I do not have any unscoped audio from those days — only this brief scoped composite from June 1980 when it was rock “KQ94.”
KNCT-FM is a non-commercial outlet owned by Central Texas College. It signed on in 1970, originally with educational programming and later moving to its long-running easy listening format of “simply beautiful” music, which is still maintains today.
Aside from signing on the radio station, Central Texas College also signed on PBS affiliate KNCT 46. KNCT also operated a LPTV satellite in Waco for a time that was later replaced by full power PBS outlet KCTF 34. KCTF was later spun off to Baylor University, which rebranded it as KWBU-TV. Baylor ended up shutting down KWBU-TV in 2010. Central Texas College ended up shutting down KNCT in 2018 rather than go through the expensive effort to move KNCT’s signal as part of the FCC’s digital spectrum repack. Unlike KNCT-FM, which operates on a reserved non-commercial frequency, KNCT’s TV allocation was not reserved as non-commercial. As such, Central Texas College was able to spin KNCT to Gray to create a duopoly with its CBS KWTX-TV 10 Waco. Gray signed KNCT back on in early 2019 as a CW affiliate. Despite no longer being co-owned, both 91.3 and the TV station each share the KNCT calls today.
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The CHR format on WHHY-FM originally started out on WHHY 1440 and migrated to the FM. The top 40 format came to an end on 30 April 1996 when WHHY-FM flipped to country “Cat Country 102” under the WJCC calls. WJCC’s time was relatively brief as the change was reversed in November 1998 when “Y102” returned to the airwaves, which it still remains today.
Note: The FCC call sign database shows — as did their call sign change reports at the time — that WHHY-FM changed calls to WMKK for about a month before the flip to WJCC. I am not sure they actually used those calls. Periodically back then, stations filed to change calls but oped to not use them — but the FCC records showed the call change and then another change later reverting the change even though they were never used on air. The local paper, The Montgomery Advertiser, for example reported the change as WHHY-FM flipping directly to WJCC, with no mention of WMKK…1
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KAHM — “Calm” — has been running a beautiful music format for decades for northern and central Arizona form its base in Sedona. The station was sold several years ago to the Farmworker Educational Radio Network, which operates the La Campesina regional Mexican network. KAHM was been operated since then by its former owner, maintaining the easy listening format.
How long that continues remains to be seen. Farmworker Educational Radio Network operates KNAI 860 and its FM translator K270BZ 101.9 in Phoenix. KAHM has relicensed to Spring Valley AZ and holds a construction permit that allows it to move closer to Phoenix and target it as a rimshot from the same site as current Phoenix rimshots KOAI 95.1 and KKFR 98.3. Presumably, the relocated 102.1 signal can be paired with K270BZ to allow the La Campesina network to better cover the market.
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Outside a stint around the turn of the century as hot AC as “106.7KMX, the Best Mix,” WKMX’s top 40 format’s origin dates back to the late 1970s.
From this week back in 1992, like many other top 40 outlets at the time due to the weak product on the charts, WKMX was also skirting towards an adult top 40 sound.
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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.
“WHHY-FM Let’s The ‘Cat’ Out Of The Bag,” The Montgomery Advertiser, 27 April 1996.