KMXV

KMXV
City Kansas City, Missouri
Broadcast area Kansas City, Missouri
Branding Mix 93.3
Slogan Kansas City's #1 Hit Music Station
Frequency 93.3 MHz
First air date 1958 (as KCMK)
Format Top 40 (CHR)
ERP 100,000 watts
HAAT 325 meters
Class C0
Facility ID 2446
Callsign meaning K MiX, Variety
Former callsigns KCMK (1958-1971)
KWKI (1971-1982)
KLSI (1982-1990)
Owner Steel City Media
(MGTF Media Company, LLC)
Webcast Listen Live
Website mix93.com

KMXV ("Mix 93.3") is a Top 40 (CHR) station based in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. The Steel City Media outlet operates at 93.3 MHz with an ERP of 100 kW. Its current slogan is "Kansas City's #1 Hit Music Station". It is also one of two Top 40's competing in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the other being KCHZ. The station's studios are located at Westport Center in Midtown Kansas City, and the transmitter site is in the city's East Side.

History

The station began in 1958 as KCMK-FM (Kansas City, Missouri/Kansas), a classical station, but had several format changes (primarily country) over the next sixteen years. County DJ Jack Wesley "Cactus Jack" Call was at the station (from KCKN) for one week when he was killed on January 25, 1963 in a car crash. Singer Patsy Cline sang at a benefit for him at Memorial Hall (Kansas City, Kansas) on March 3, 1963. She was unable to leave Kansas City the next day because the airport was fogged in and was killed in a plane crash on March 5, 1963 en route from Fairfax Airport to Nashville.[1]

In 1974, KWKI-FM (call letters which began in 1971) became "The Rock of Kansas City." With this format, it became the first true mainstream FM rock station in Kansas City. After a short period of religious programming beginning in 1978, the station achieved its strongest ratings to date with a switch to soft adult contemporary as KLSI-FM ("Classy 93") on May 20, 1982. The first song on "Classy" was "Kansas City Lights" by Steve Wariner. Following the purchase of the station by Apollo Broadcasting in April 1990, the station rebranded as "Mix 93" in July of that year. In addition, their call letters were changed to KMXV (which were adopted on November 15 of that year), and the station shifted towards the growing Hot AC format, though the station's playlist largely remained the same (the Hot AC format was very similar to the Mainstream AC format at the time).

Due to the lack of a full-signaled Top 40 outlet in the market (KISF's signal was mostly East of the city), KMXV began a slow transition to the format in late 1993 and early 1994, shifting the AC format and personalities over to then-sister KUDL. On March 28, 1994, the change to "Mix 93.3" was complete.[2] In the beginning, KMXV offered a heavily dance-leaning rhythmic Top 40 direction, but by 1996, under the direction of new program director Jon Zellner, it had evolved to a more broad-based mainstream Top 40 approach that, at times, leaned towards adult/modern product. By the Spring of 1997, Zellner led KMXV from 14th (a year earlier) to the #1 ranked radio station in Kansas City, a position it held three other times throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Regent Broadcasting bought the station in 1995, with Jacor purchasing it in 1997. Jacor then spun the station off (as well as newly acquired sister stations KBEQ, KFKF, KOWW and KYYS) to American Radio Systems. Infinity Broadcasting bought ARS on September 19, 1997, with Infinity changing its name to CBS Radio in December 2005. KMXV was sold off by CBS to Wilks Broadcasting in November 2006 as part of a nationwide reduction of radio stations by CBS. On June 12, 2014, Wilks announced that it was selling its Kansas City cluster (of which KMXV is part of) to Pittsburgh-based Steel City Media.[3] The sale was approved on September 26, 2014, and was consummated on September 30.

Despite being in competition with top 40 station KKSW and rival KCHZ offering more rhythmic content than KMXV (and, to a lesser extent, urban contemporary KPRS), Mix has maintained high ratings for years. However, this changed in late 2010, when KCHZ began overtaking them in the ratings, as that station was ranked #2 with a 6.2 share, while Mix had a 5.6 share and ranked #5 in the market. To combat this, the station began leaning more towards rhythmic content, while slightly edging away from its long-time adult lean, and with sister station KCKC having relaunched its AC format with an upbeat approach in 2014, KMXV has moved more towards a current-based presentation in line with other Top 40/CHRs in the United States.

Red, White, And Boom Annual Show

KMXV produces an annual, day-long concert every year with the title "RED WHITE & BOOM". Artists such as Ashlee Simpson, Def Leppard, Melissa Etheridge, Maroon 5, Kelly Clarkson, Jesse McCartney, Destiny's Child, Daughtry, Pink, Nick Lachey, Bon Jovi, Jordin Sparks, and Lifehouse have performed. It has been running since 1996 when it starred the Spin Doctors, Dog's Eye View and Lisa Loeb. The concert was staged at the Sandstone Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, Kansas, although in 2011, the venue was changed to Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Missouri. In 2012, "Red White & Boom" was held at Starlight Theatre on June 23. The following year, it was also held at Starlight Theatre on July 5, where the show was headlined by Carly Rae Jepsen. In 2014 Fall Out Boy lead another successful year for Red White and Boom.

References

  1. ↑ Patsy: the life and times of Patsy Cline - Margaret Jones - Google Books. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
  2. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1994/RR-1994-04-01.pdf
  3. ↑ "Steel City Media Aqcuires Wilks' Kansas City" from Radio Insight (June 12, 2014)

Coordinates: 39°00′58″N 94°30′25″W / 39.016°N 94.507°W / 39.016; -94.507

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