WXLP

Early history (1970-1978)

Serving the Quad City-area, 96.9 FM had two early formats before switching to its longtime rock format.

The station signed on in November 1970 as WMDR, a Christian-oriented station that also formatted beautiful music. Studios were co-located with the station's transmitter in Orion, Illinois. The station was a stalwart in the market for nearly five years before being purchased by KSTT Broadcasting, owners of the powerhouse Top 40 station KSTT-AM 1170.

The station moved to Davenport in 1975, changed its call letters to WHTT, and introduced an automated adult contemporary format known as Stereo 97 which it maintained for three years before switching to an automated country music format. WHTT was not able to bill advertising dollars or compete in the ratings with country music rival WHBF-AM, which had adopted the country format a year earlier. For many years WHBF-AM (aka "Country Sunshine Radio") was among the top-rated stations in the Quad Cities market, alongside Top 40 hit music stations KSTT-AM (1170) and KIIK 104FM.

With WHTT underperforming, KSTT Broadcasting decided to make the switch to a live and local album-oriented rock format that would complement but not directly compete with the company's AM station.

The Original 97X (1978-2004)

In July 1978, KSTT-AM program director and future KUUL's DJ Jim O'Hara, along with on-air personality John Keith and music director Rick Fields, put together a brand new rock station for the Quad Cities—based at least in part on WLPX in Milwaukee. Then owner Fred Epstein liked the name X97 but somehow Fred realized that the name 97X was definitely sounded much more better than X97. And when the station took on its current WXLP callsign on August 31, 1978^[1] It became known to a generation of fans and listeners as '"The New 97X, WXLP" or simply The "X". Later program director Gabe Baptiste took the station to its highest ratings in the late 1980s. From 1985 through 1986 The 97X lineup included Phil and Jack (mornings), J.J. Scott (middays), Terry Dugan (afternoons), and Greg Garron (evenings). Terry was replaced by Gene Olson in the afternoon when she became 97X's 1st female program director. Evenings were handled during this period by Steve DeBouvre. J.J. Scott brought his show, "The Electric Lunch" to 97X during his 2-year midday run. Gene Olson brought 97X national attention when he promoted "Shoes for Imelda" gathering thousands of shoes he sent to exiled Imelda Marcos. The station's first newsman was Dave Douglas (Tom Hosmanek) also of KSTT-AM.

Over the years they had many top morning shows including Phil Maicke, Ian Case, and The Coach and Dwyer and Michaels.^[2] Dwyer and Michaels (real names Greg Dwyer and Bill Obenauf), who began working for the station in 1990, left to market competitor KCQQ-FM (Q-106.5) in 1995 after a dispute over a non-compete clause that kept them off the air for six months. They were followed by a short-lived morning show before "Matt and The Homey" took over the morning slot from 1996 until 1999.

Through the years, the station took on more of a classic rock format, although it still played plenty of album cuts. It was 97X's eclectic blend of rock music and offbeat personalities that made it one of the Quad-Cities' highest rated stations for more than 25 years.

97 Rock, The Quad Cities' Rocker (April 2004 - March 2007)

In April 2004, WXLP's format was altered as part of a series of programming changes at two Quad Cities-area Cumulus Broadcasting stations. While it kept elements of the former 97X's classic rock format, the newly christened "97 Rock" took on the hard rock format of the former "93 Rock" (KORB-FM). KORB, meanwhile, began an adult contemporary format as "Star 93.5" and changed its call letters to KQCS.

The All New 97X, Classic Hits (March 2007-March 2014)

In March 2007, the station switched its focus to "Classic Hits," or a softer rock style. playing Elton John, Boston, Chicago and Journey. The active rock format moved to KBOB-FM, which abandoned the country format it had had since 1994.^[3]

97X, Classic Rock That Really Rocks! (March 2014-Present)

On March 3, 2014, 97X shifted its format from classic hits to classic rock.

Experiments with 2000's rock music (Late 2014-Early 2015)

In late 2014, 97x began experimenting with artists from the 2000s on their classic rock playlist although it was mostly hard rock acts such as Jet, Lenny Kravitz's late 90's material (the only song of his that seems to get played on classic rock stations is his 1993 hit Are You Gonna Go My Way), 3 Doors Down's Kryptonite and Green Day's early to mid 2000's material (such as Holiday and Boulevard of Broken Dreams). This experiment stopped in early 2015 when virtually all early to mid 2000's material disappeared from their playlist.