KTKX

KTKX (106.7 The Eagle) is a classic rock radio station serving the San Antonio area. The Cox Communications outlet operates at 106.7 MHz with an ERP of 100 kW and its city of licence is Terrell Hills, Texas. Its studios are located in Northwest San Antonio near the South Texas Medical Center complex, and the transmitter site is in south Bexar County.

History

KTKX first signed on on December 31, 1967 as a sister station to KBUC. Licensed to Terrell Hills, an enclave city inside of San Antonio, Texas, it aired a Country/Western Format. KBUC would stay on 106.3 until July 18, 1979 which would become KTUF at 106.3. KBUC moved up the dial to 107.5 until the station changed owners and became KZVE 107.5 which would air a Contemporary Spanish format. KBUC would later resurface on 98.3 replacing KBOP and simulcast on 103.7, and later shift further down the dial to 95.7 until 01/07/2005 as Border Media Partners acquired 95.7 moving its regional Mexican La Ley format and KLEY call letters which previously aired on 94.1 now KTFM.

During the KTUF days, it was San Antonio's first commercial FM radio station with a Jazz format. The format would change to Album rock KESI and to an Adult Contemporary format known as "Star 106".

In 1986, KESI switched frequencies from 106.3 to 106.7. The next year, KESI evolved into KMMX ("KMix 106.7") but kept its AC format intact until 1992. November 1992 would see KMMX flip to a simulcast of country formatted KKYX leaving San Antonio with 2 Adult Contemporary formatted stations: KSRR 92.9, and KQXT 101.9. The simulcast ended in 1993, and just in time for the 1993 Stock show and Rodeo, a new Contemporary Country station was born, coined the Armadillo and new call letters were applied to match the station's moniker as KDIL ("106.7 The Armadillo"). This programming choice would only last 2 years, however, until KDIL switched formats again, this time to smooth jazz, at Midnight on February 24, 1995.^[1] This was done in order to protect its sister station KCYY Y-100 which was in the middle of a heated race with KAJA. With the change came new call letters, as KCJZ ("Smooth Jazz 106.7").

After four years as smooth jazz, KCJZ again changed formats on July 1, 1999, following the trend of stations around the country to switch to rhythmic oldies (which would begin tapering off in April 2000).^[2] Keeping the KCJZ call letters, the station became known as "106.7 JAMZ". This would evolve into a Rhythmic/Dance Top 40 format by August 2001, with the KCJZ calls and the "106.7 JAMZ" slogan left intact. During this tenure they would enjoy a loyal following and while the ratings weren't spectacular (plus they were in a four-way Top 40 war at the time), it did very well. The station was later helped by the arrival of Hot Herrietta and her Noontime workout from KTFM. However that would all come to an end on October 31, 2003 at 10:00am, when KCJZ would switch directions to Mainstream Top 40 and changed its call letters to KELZ. The last song on 106.7 Jamz was "Thriller" by Michael Jackson, followed after a commercial break by the official launch of the new format as "Z-106.7". The first song played was "Where is the Love?" by the Black Eyed Peas.

This gave the San Antonio market two mainstream Top 40 stations, the other being KXXM. At first, their playlist was broad-based by playing "All The Hits" in an effort to cut into KXXM, whose direction at times tended to border toward Modern rock.

Power 106.7 logo

On October 6, 2006 KELZ began to set their sights on the current market leader KBBT by evolving towards a Rhythmic direction and adopting the "Power 106.7" branding, along with a call letter change to KPWT to match it. The move gave San Antonio its first Rhythmic battle since 2003. With the switch, KPWT became the second station in San Antonio to adopt the "Power" moniker; the last station to use the moniker was KITY from 1987 to 1990.

The format lasted until May 28, 2009, at noon, when, after playing "Love Lockdown" by Kanye West (which had the sound of jingling bells, increasingly getting louder, in the background, followed by just the sound of the bells for about 30 seconds after the song ended), KPWT began stunting with Christmas music as "Santa 106.7". At 5pm on June 1, the station would become identified as "FM Talk 106.7". The lineup included Mancow Muller, Neal Boortz, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, Clark Howard, and others. The move behind this was said to be the release of the Portable People Meter (PPM) in San Antonio to come soon.

But the format wouldn't last a whole year; on April 1, 2010 at 12 p.m. CST, the station began stunting with the sound of a clock ticking with a voice over telling listeners to tune in on April 5 at 5pm to find out the station's new format. At that time, the stunt ended and a classic-based Adult Album Alternative format was launched as "X106.7, World Class Rock," an automated station like local "102.7 Jack FM" but focusing on Adult-leaning Alternative/classic rock hits like KZEP, whose classic rock format tends to focus on harder hits from the rock era. The first song on X was "Take Me to the River" by The Talking Heads. ^[3] Most of KPWT's talk lineup moved to Clear Channel Communications-owned KRPT on April 15. Five days later, on April 20, KPWT changed their call letters to KTKX to go with the "X106.7" branding.

This was not the first time AAA format was tried in San Antonio. The previous AAA formatted station was KMFR "103.7 Mighty Fine Rock" from 2001-2004 (now KAHL, Adult Standards).

On November 15, 2010, KTKX turned to a straight-ahead classic rock format to compete effectively with crosstown KZEP, to re-position itself as "San Antonio's Most Commercial Free Classic Rock".

Throughout the month of June 2014, Cox-owned stations in Orlando (WCFB's HD-2 feed) and Atlanta (WTSH) were heard flipping to alternative using the "X" name (Orlando with "X107.3" and Atlanta with "X107.1" as "Orlando's/Atlanta's New Alternative"). Prior to this, Cox owned "X"-named alternative formats in Tampa Bay (WSUN-FM) and Jacksonville (WXXJ). Because of these stations, rumors spread that San Antonio would be next in line to "Join the Revolution" and switch "X106.7" to what would've been the market's first mainstream alternative station. However, on August 8, competitor KZEP moved its classic rock format to the station's HD-2 feed and 93.3 translator as the main channel flipped to a CHR/Rhythmic format as "Hot 104.5." In response, KTKX dropped the "X" name that same weekend and simply called themselves as "106.7, The Only Classic Rock Station You Can Hear Everywhere in San Antonio."^[4] On August 15th, KTKX then changed its name to "106.7 The Eagle, San Antonio's ONLY classic rock"^[5] (however, alternative would make its San Antonio debut on 103.3 as "The App" which is broadcast on station K277CX and KTFM's HD2 subchannel).

KTKX on-air staff

Fingers - Mornings

Kaedy Kiely - Afternoons

KTKX former on-air staff

• Tom "T-Bone" Scheppke

References

External links

• Query the FCC's FM station database for KTKX
• Radio-Locator information on KTKX
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for KTKX
• Radio Broadcasting Yearbook 1970|

Coordinates: 29°11′02″N 98°30′50″W / 29.184°N 98.514°W / 29.184; -98.514