KVDU

Early Years

When 104.1 originally signed on the air on November 15, 1968, it was KHOM, with the call sign reflecting its Houma city of license.^[3] It broadcast from a 350-foot antenna, only targeting the Houma area.

In 1989, it moved its transmitter atop the 2,000-foot tower in Vacherie used by WCKW-FM (now WZRH). That allowed the signal to penetrate into the New Orleans and Baton Rouge markets. The more-powerful signal could also be heard in Lafayette, Louisiana, and even some counties in Mississippi. The station remained licensed to Houma, but dropped its Middle of the Road (MOR) radio format for oldies.

Top 40 KUMX

In late 1994, New Orleans' station B-97 (WEZB) ended its Top 40 programming in favor of Hot Talk. KHOM's owner, Raymond A. Saadi, decided to switch from the under-performing oldies format and fill the vacant Top 40 slot, as "Mix 104.1." The station kept the heritage KHOM call letters for several years, then in 1998, changed them to KUMX to reflect the "Mix" identity. In February 1997, the station was bought by Clear Channel Communications, a forerunner of iHeartMedia. The price tag was $8.75 million.^[4] Clear Channel also acquired other local FM stations so in the New Orleans market it now owned urban contemporary WQUE-FM, urban adult contemporary WYLD-FM, country music WNOE-FM, and alternative rock KKND (now KMEZ). Under Clear Channel ownership, KUMX ran a small play list, stressing repeated airing of the biggest current hits.

The move to Top 40 paid off in the ratings until 2000 when WEZB evolved back to its original Top 40 sound. Meanwhile, the play list on Mix 104.1 had been quite limited for some time. Listeners began returning to B-97's heritage Top 40 format by switching back to 97.1. With the new competition, KUMX's ratings began to fall.

Classic Rock and Adult Top 40

On June 29, 2001, at 6 a.m., "Mix" signed off with "When It's Over" by Sugar Ray. It then began stunting by playing only construction sound effects. At 5 p.m. that day, it debuted a classic rock format as "104-1 The Fox," under the new call sign KFXN-FM. The station kicked off its new sound with an "All Beatles Weekend." The first song played was "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Unfortunately, the new format did not generate the ratings Clear Channel hoped for.

On July 26, 2002, the station returned to Top 40 music as the adult-leaning "104.1 KISS-FM," under the new call sign KSTE-FM. But the Adult Top 40 sound did not catch on in the ratings.^[5]

Rhythmic Hits, Gospel and Active Rock

By November 2003, it shifted to Rhythmic Top 40, but this didn't help the ratings. In July 2005, it flipped to an urban gospel format as "Hallelujah 104.1," under new call letters KHEV.

After 16 months in the gospel format, Clear Channel decided to replace it with active rock on November 13, 2006, and in the process, inherited "The Rock of New Orleans" slogan from sister station WRNO-FM, which on the same day dropped its heritage rock/classic rock format for all-talk. On November 20, 2006, Clear Channel replaced the KHEV call sign with the new call letters KYRK.

Back to Classic Rock

On July 1, 2010, at 3 p.m., after playing "It's The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by R.E.M., KYRK changed its format back to classic rock, this time branded as "104.1 The Brew". The first song on "The Brew" was "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC. The station's former active rock format was moved to its HD2 signal at that time.^[6] On July 19, 2010, KYRK changed call letters to KOBW to go with "The Brew" branding. "The Brew" was positioned as "Classic Rock for a New Generation", which played mostly late 60s, 70s, 80s, and early 90s classic rock tracks. Unfortunately, the ratings for "The Brew" were not as promising.

Voodoo 104

"Voodoo 104" logo (2011-2017)

364 days later, on June 30, 2011, at Noon, after again playing "It's The End of the World As We Know It", KOBW changed its format to a "GenX"-type adult top 40 format as "Voodoo 104," with emphasis on retro-themed hits from the late 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, along with current hits. The station began using the slogan "Retro, Rock, Dance, & Everything In Between". The first song on 'Voodoo" was "Let's Get It Started" by The Black Eyed Peas.^[7] The following day, KOBW changed its call letters to KVDU to go with the "Voodoo 104" branding.

At the beginning of 2012, KVDU has begun shifting towards a conventional Adult Top 40 direction with most of the retro and "Gen X" songs being reduced and more currents being played. The station mixed rhythmic-leaning hits with Hot AC tracks. By early 2014, the station dropped the "Retro, Rock, Dance, & Everything In Between" slogan in favor of the new slogan "90's to Now."

Adult Hits 104.1 The Spot

On August 22, 2017, at 5 p.m., after playing "Say You Won't Let Go" by James Arthur, KVDU flipped to a rock-leaning adult hits format, branded as "104.1 The Spot." The first song on "The Spot" was "I Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty.^[8] The station uses the slogan "We Play Anything."