Tulsa Dial Scan June 2025
Today's Tulsa...June scan of the Green Country's FM dial. KTBT, KRQV, KWEN, KWEN-HD2, KRAV-FM, KMOD-FM, KVOO-FM, KXBL, KTSO, "Eagle" KJSR, KMYZ-FM, KJMM, KTGX, KHTT
Related: Tulsa
I was in Tulsa last weekend for several days, which allowed recording about a dozen stations to do a current scan of much of the Tulsa FM dial.
Market Overview
Tulsa is the 63rd largest radio market.
After years of consolidation of radio stations into clusters owned by one of the large radio groups, one intriguing thing about the Tulsa market is how much of the dial has been reverting back to local ownership. iHeart retains its cluster — conservative talk KAKC 1300/K228BR 93.5, sports KTBZ 1430, top 40 KTBT 92.1, rock KMOD-FM 97.5, regional Mexican KIZS 101.5, and country KTGX 106.1. The other big FM players are owned by — or are pending sale to — smaller Oklahoma-based groups:
News KOTV 1170, classic hits KRQV 92.9, country KVOO-FM 98.5, classic country KXBL 99.5, and top 40 KHTT 106.9 were sold by Scripps to Oklahoma City-based Griffin Media in 2018 to pair with its CBS/CW combo KOTV 6/KQCW 19.
Tulsa-based Stephens Media Group owns conservative talk KCFO 970, market-leading contemporary Christian KXOJ 94.1, soft oldies KTSO 100.9, and modern rock KMYZ-FM 104.5 “Z104.5, the Edge.”
Cox Media Group is selling its Tulsa cluster to a new local group that will see news/talk KRMG-FM/AM 102.3/740, country KWEN 95.5, hot AC KRAV-FM 96.5, and classic rock KJSR 103.3 under local ownership.
OKC-based Perry Publishing and Broadcasting owns adult R&B KGTO 1050/K256CR 99.1 and R&B KJMM 105.3.
Of the stations I recorded, of those who subscribe, here is how they have been trending ratings-wise in Nielsen’s public 6+ numbers.
On to the audio…
Tulsa CHRs
KTBT “92.1 the Beat” is iHeart’s top 40 outpost in Tulsa. On a more limited signal and with out-of-market talent on many shifts, it has perennially lagged behind rival KHTT.
Aircheck
This is from the midday shift last Friday.
Audio
Aircheck Log
Related: 106.9 Tulsa, KHTT
As noted in previous posts, KHTT’s top 40 days date back to the early 1980s when it was upgraded into the Tulsa market and launched as KAYI. Outside an early 1990s shift to hot AC and then a top 40 return rebranded as KHTT “K-Hits,” KAYI/KHTT has been playing the hits for four decades.
Aircheck
This is from PM drive / evening last Thursday. One of the things of being in a local cluster is that evening jock Bryce Hulse doubles as morning traffic reporter on airchecks below on KHTT’s clustermates.
Audio
Aircheck Log
Tulsa Classic Hits Outlets
The classic hits market is fragmented across the three stations broadly in the format. KRQV 92.9 “92-9 the River KRQV” is the more common 1980s/1990s-centered outlet. KTSO 100.9 runs a soft oldies more centered on the 1970s, but also still pulling hits from the 1960s. K289CC 105.7, fed by KWEN-HD2 95.5HD2, is an old school 1960s/1970s oldies outlet.
The 92.9 facility was the longtime home KBEZ, originally an easy listening outlet that evolved to soft AC. In 2010, it changed formats to adult hits “92.9 Bob FM,” that moved to classic hits in 2013. As a classic hits outlet, it rebranded as “92.9 the Drive” in 2017 and to its current “92.9 the River” brand under the KRQV calls in September 2023.
Aircheck
This is an AM drive aircheck from last Friday morning.
Audio
Aircheck Log
Screen Door Broadcasting operates the 1960s/1970s oldies format via KWEN 95.5’s HD2 feeding analog translator K289CC 105.7. The “Groovy 105.7” brand comes from marketing around the translator. The current format has been around just over two years.
Aircheck
This aircheck comes from last Saturday afternoon.
Audio
Aircheck Log
The 100.9 spot was the long-time home of contemporary Christian KXOJ-FM, originally a class A rimshoot that upgraded to a class C3. KTSO was previously on 94.1, and the KXOJ-FM and KTSO calls and intellectual property were switched in 2016, allowing KXOJ-FM to have access to the full market 100 kw 94.1 signal.
Aircheck
This aircheck comes from the end of PM drive last Friday.
Audio
Aircheck Log
Tulsa Rock Outlets
Rock radio is fragmented between AOR KMOD-FM 97.5, classic rock KJSR 103.3, and modern rock KMYZ-FM 104.5.
The KMOD calls on 97.5 date back to the late 1960s. The calls reportedly represent the word “modern.” When I was in high school, new neighbors from Tulsa moved into our neighborhood. Their high school student one day made a comment about Dallas rock stations KZEW 97.9 and KTXQ 102.1 being so much better than the Tulsa stations — and he referred to one Tulsa station as “KMOD the Commode” in the process. Much like a picture you can’t unsee, I can never unlink the KMOD calls representing “commode” every time I see them…
KMOD has been running a rock format now for decades. Its ownership under iHeart dates back to the 1970s under iHeart’s Clear Channel predecessor days.
Aircheck
This aircheck is from PM drive last Friday.
Audio
Aircheck Log
Prior to the KJSR calls, 103.3 was KTFX for about two decades, most of that time as a country outlet. In 1995, after being acquired by Cox, it flipped to classic hits KJSR “Star 103.” The KJSR calls have remained, even after a shift to classic rock and 2012 rebrand to “Rock 103” and a 2014 rebrand to the current “Eagle” identity.
Aircheck
This aircheck winds down AM drive from last Friday morning.
Audio
Aircheck Log
Related: 104.5 Tulsa, KMYZ
As noted in previous articles on KMYZ-FM, the “Z104.5” brand started out in the 1980s as a top 40 outlet. It shifted to a top 40/rock hybrid in the early 1990s and evolved several years later to modern rock, keeping the “Z104.5” name, but also adding “the Edge” branding. The modern rock format has been going now about three decades. All in all, a pretty good sounding station — airplay mix, imaging, on-air staff.
Aircheck
This aircheck is from PM drive last Thursday.
Audio
Aircheck Log
Tulsa Country Outlets
It is a crowded country market on the Tulsa dial — 3 current country outlets and 1 classic country outlet.
KWEN has been playing country now since 1981. When it flipped, it competed against KTFX 103.3 and full-service country KVOO 1170, which was still a major force with its 50,000 watt clear channel signal back then.
Aircheck
This aircheck is from morning drive last Friday.
Audio
Aircheck Log
As full-service country KVOO 1170’s original sister, country came to 98.5 in 1987 as KUSO. The heritage KVOO calls were added in 1988. The rebrand to the present day “98-5 the Bull” brand came in December 2020. The “Bull” brand was previously used in the market on its clustermate KXBL (see KXBL’s entry below).
Aircheck
This airheck comes from last Saturday afternoon, featuring their morning team of Tige Rodgers and Daniel Baker.
Audio
Aircheck Log
99.5’s present country run dates back to 1993 when it became KCKI “Kick 99.” In 2001, it relaunched as KXBL “99-5 the Bull.” KXBL shifted to the present day classic country “Big Country 99.5” format in January 2003. Sister KVOO-FM (above) now uses “the Bull” as its brand, but confusingly the “Bull”ish KXBL calls are still on 99.5… If it were me, the heritage KVOO-FM calls would make more sense on the classic country outlet and the KXBL calls on the “Bull” station.
Aircheck
This aircheck also comes from morning drive last Friday.
Audio
Aircheck Log
KTGX is another station with call letters from a previous format. In 2009, classic hits KQLL relaunched as 1990s oldies KTGX “GenX Radio.” It only lasted a couple of years as it flipped to country “106-1 the Twister” in 2012. Like clustermate KTBT, KTGX has perennially lagged its more locally staffed competitors.
Aircheck
This aircheck comes from last Friday afternoon.
Audio
Aircheck Log
The Rest Of The Dial
KRAV-FM has been running some sort of AC variant now since the 1970s. It shifted from AC to hot AC “Mix 96” in the mid-1990s.
Aircheck
This aircheck comes from midday last Friday, which apparently is not staffed with a DJ.
Audio
Aircheck Log
KJMM signed on in the mid-1990s under owner Perry, which specializes in radio targeting African-American communities.
Aircheck
This aircheck also comes from midday last Friday, and, like KRAV-FM, the shift is unstaffed.
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.