KLLT (FM)

KLLT
City Columbia, Illinois
Broadcast area Greater St. Louis
Branding ALT 104.9
Slogan St. Louis' Alternative Rock
Frequency 104.9 MHz FM (also on HD Radio) 104.9-2 FM-"The Beat" (Urban Contemporary)
First air date February 15, 1964 (as WCBW)
Format Alternative rock
ERP 7,800 watts (CP: 8,400 watts)
HAAT 175 meters
Class C3
Facility ID 13793
Callsign meaning "Alt" with second L replacing A
Former callsigns WCBW (1964-1997)
WIMJ (1997)
KMJM-FM (1997-2012)
KBWX (2012-2016)
Owner iHeartMedia
(Citicasters Licenses, Inc.)
Sister stations KATZ, KLOU, KMJM-FM, KSD, KSLZ
Webcast Listen Live
HD2: Listen Live
Website Alt1049fm.com

KLLT (104.9 FM) is an FM radio station licensed to Columbia, Illinois, better known as "ALT 104.9". Owned and operated by iHeartMedia, the station airs an alternative rock format for the greater St. Louis, Missouri Metropolitan Area. Its transmitter is located in the Resurrection Cemetery in Shrewsbury, and operates from studios in St. Louis just south of Forest Park.

KLLT is licensed by the FCC to broadcast in the HD digital format.[1]

History

The 104.9 frequency originally went on the air February 15, 1964 from the basement of station owner Joseph Lepp as WCBW in Columbia, and was a typical small town radio station. In 1980, the station was sold to Continental Broadcasting, and the station became the first station in the St. Louis area with a format of Contemporary Christian Music, still with a weak 3,000 watt signal based in Columbia, but it could be heard in much of the St. Louis area. The station was called "104.9 The Bridge" at the time.

In 1993, the station was granted a major power upgrade, allowing it to move to the St. Louis Master antenna site in Shrewsbury, and upgrade from 3,000 watts to 25,000 watts, making the 104.9 frequency a full market St. Louis signal. That made the station much more valuable, as did deregulation allowing operators to own several different FM stations in a market in 1996.

In 1997, the station was sold to Jacor Broadcasting, who also owned urban powerhouse KMJM, which was then at 107.7 FM. Instead of installing a new format on the 104.9 frequency, KMJM was relocated to the weaker 104.9 MHz frequency on October 20 of that year to allow its new CHR station KSLZ a better signal into the suburbs on the full 100,000-watt class C 107.7 frequency.[2]

By 1999, KMJM became owned by Clear Channel Communications (now known as iHeartMedia as of September 16, 2014), who also owned KATZ AM & FM. KATZ-FM aired an Urban Adult Contemporary format playing mostly slower R&B, while Majic played a format consisting mostly of Hip Hop/Rap and current R&B Hits. The formats on the two stations would swap on April 1 of that year, with Majic adopting the Urban Adult Contemporary format from 100.3, while maintaining most of the same staff, and 100.3 was rechristened as "The Beat" with a mainstream urban format that would last until October 2009, when it flipped to Modern AC.

On November 7, 2012, at 9 AM, KMJM and its urban AC format moved to 100.3 FM (ironically, KATZ-FM's former frequency), replacing classic rock-formatted KBWX ("The Brew"). Simultaneously, the 104.9 frequency changed its format to Rhythmic CHR, branded as "Wild 104.9." KMJM and KBWX also swapped call letters, which were approved on November 15.[3] "Wild" never really caught on in the Nielsen ratings for the St. Louis market, barely ever getting above a 2.0 share during its nearly 4-year existence (the last ratings under the format had KBWX with a mere 1.6 in the September 2016 books).

On October 11, 2016, KBWX began running liners in between songs redirecting Wild listeners to KSLZ. On October 18, at Noon, after playing "2 On" by Tinashe, KBWX flipped to alternative rock as "ALT 104.9." The first song on "ALT" was "Everlong" by the Foo Fighters. The flip gives St. Louis its second Alternative outlet, as the station is now competing against KPNT. The flip also occurred in order to eliminate the format overlap with KMJM, which flipped from classic hip hop back to urban a little over two weeks prior. With the move, KBWX added "The Woody Show" syndicated from sister station KYSR in Los Angeles for morning drive, marking a return for the show, which was on KPNT from 2009 to 2014.[4][5] On October 25, 2016, KBWX changed call letters to KLLT to match the "ALT" branding.

Former logo

References

  1. ↑ http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=19 HD Radio Guide for St. Louis
  2. ↑ Majic 108 Becomes Majic 105
  3. ↑ Clear Channel Performs Double Flip in St. Louis
  4. ↑ "ALT 104.9 St. Louis Debuts With Woody Show In Syndication" from Radio Insight (October 18, 2016)
  5. ↑ KBWX Becomes ALT 104.9

External links

Coordinates: 38°34′23″N 90°19′30″W / 38.573°N 90.325°W / 38.573; -90.325

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/8/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.