KMJK
Encyclopedia
KMJK is an Urban Adult Contemporary
radio station
serving the Kansas City
metropolitan area with studios located in Merriam, Kansas
. Licensed to North Kansas City, Missouri
, the Cumulus Broadcasting outlet operates at 107.3 MHz with an ERP of 100 kW.
KMJK was launched in 2001 as an Urban AC station playing R&B and Old School/Classic Soul in the market. It always maintained the same branding, but it was originally "Majik 107.3" (thus the call meaning) before correcting its spelling to "Magic 107.3" later. Its main competitor is long-standing heritage KPRS
. It is the only Urban AC-formatted station in Kansas City.
KMJK is Kansas City's home to the Tom Joyner Morning Show
.
In 2011, with Cumulus Media
's acquisition of Citadel Media, Cumulus announced the station would be spun off and put into a trust called Volt Media, LLC in order to meet FCC mandates on ownership limitations, despite that Citadel does not own any stations in Kansas City. However, in October of the same year, Cumulus announced plans to reacquire the station.
and a transmitter just north of Odessa, Missouri
. The format was country music
. The station's call letters changed to KBEK-FM in 1976, and relocated to 107.3 in 1981 with a class C signal. The station was locally owned by Lexington Broadcasters until being sold in September 1989. In 1984, the station changed formats to satellite-fed Adult contemporary as KCAC. On December 1, 1988, the station changed formats back to country and changed call letters to KCFM. The station was acquired by KCFM, Inc. in September 1989. KCFM swapped formats and call letters with Capitol Broadcasting's KXXR (a Top 40 station at 106.5 FM, now WDAF-FM
) on February 15, 1992 at Midnight. The first song played after the swap was "I'm Too Sexy
" by Right Said Fred
. On January 25, 1993, the station changed call letters and monikers to KISF, "107.3 Kiss FM". The station was the only Top 40 station in the market until KMXV
flipped from AC to Top 40 in mid-1994. KMXV also had a signal that covered the entire KC metro. Despite the station's coverage area being mainly east of Kansas City, the station received high ratings.
During the mid-1990's, alternative rock
was becoming the popular sound of the decade, as the Top 40 format was starting to die down. Deciding to follow the trend, and to compete against KLZR
, KISF started evolving towards modern rock
with a lean on 1980's new wave
in late 1994. The station's top of the hour ID during this time said "K...I...S...F...Lexington. The coolest F in radio. 107.3". The "Kiss FM" moniker would be dropped in early 1996. Syncom bought the station on June 25, 1996.
The station rebranded as "107-3 The X" on June 25, 1997 and took the new calls KCCX. Classic rock
station KCFX
nearly threatened to sue the station because the call letters were too similar. To remedy this, the call letters were changed to KNRX on March 1, 1998. During this time, the station started leaning towards the active rock
route by playing harder-edged rock acts. The station's airstaff included Mancow Muller
in morning drive, Jason Justice, "The Morning (and later on, Afternoon) Headrush" w/ Jay and Sammye, and Roach and Sumo hosting "The Midnight Moshpit", as well as carrying "Resurrection Sunday" and the syndicated "Out of Order Countdown" w/ Joe the Fish on weekends. Despite the dedicated air personalities and interesting music mix, the station's ratings tanked, most likely because of the station's signal issues and poor management. Mancow's show would later be dropped in Fall of 1998.
At 10:04 AM on January 4, 1999, without warning, the station signed off the air. Jason Justice played the station's final song, which was a live version of "Plush
" by Stone Temple Pilots
and announced a live TOH ID that ended in "Boom". The station then began stunting
with "1999
" by Prince
on a 24 hour loop. The following day at 10:00 AM, the station flipped formats to urban oldies, which was a trend in radio at the time. The station went by the moniker and slogan "K-107, The Rhythm & Soul of Kansas City". K-107's first song was "Celebration
" by Kool and The Gang. The station kept the KNRX call letters. The station also picked up Tom Joyner
for morning drive. The station gained an immediate ratings boost after the flip.
On February 1, 2001, the station's call letters changed to the current KMJK. During the summer of that year, the station moved towards its current Urban AC format with the new moniker "Majik 107.3". In October 2003, the station, along with Radio 2000-owned KCHZ
, was purchased by Susquehanna Broadcasting and in the Summer of 2004, the station altered its moniker to "Magic 107.3". In 2008, the station changed it's city of license to North Kansas City, Missouri
. The station also had a construction permit to move its transmitter to a site near Levasy, Missouri
.
Other uses of KMJK
Urban Adult Contemporary
Urban adult contemporary is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have rap music on their playlists. The format was designed by Barry Mayo when he, Lee S. Simonson and Bill Pearson organized Broadcast...
radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
serving the Kansas City
Kansas City Metropolitan Area
The Kansas City Metropolitan Area is a fifteen-county metropolitan area that is anchored by Kansas City, Missouri and is bisected by the border between the states of Missouri and Kansas. As of the 2010 Census, the metropolitan area has a population of 2,035,334. The metropolitan area is the...
metropolitan area with studios located in Merriam, Kansas
Merriam, Kansas
Merriam is a city in the northeastern part of Johnson County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 11,003. As a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, it is included in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area...
. Licensed to North Kansas City, Missouri
North Kansas City, Missouri
North Kansas City is a city in Clay County, Missouri, United States and is an independent municipality that is a part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The population was 4,714 as of the 2000 census but a large business/industrial base swells the daytime population by thousands more...
, the Cumulus Broadcasting outlet operates at 107.3 MHz with an ERP of 100 kW.
KMJK was launched in 2001 as an Urban AC station playing R&B and Old School/Classic Soul in the market. It always maintained the same branding, but it was originally "Majik 107.3" (thus the call meaning) before correcting its spelling to "Magic 107.3" later. Its main competitor is long-standing heritage KPRS
KPRS
KPRS is an Urban contemporary radio station that broadcasts on the 103.3 MHz frequency licensed to Kansas City. The station's playlist consists of hip-hop, R&B, soul, jazz, and gospel music...
. It is the only Urban AC-formatted station in Kansas City.
KMJK is Kansas City's home to the Tom Joyner Morning Show
Tom Joyner
Thomas "Tom" Joyner is an American radio host, host of the nationally syndicated The Tom Joyner Morning Show, and also founder of REACH Media Inc., the Tom Joyner Foundation, and BlackAmericaWeb.com.-Early life:...
.
In 2011, with Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is the second largest Owner and Operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States, behind Clear Channel Communications, operating 570 stations in 150 markets as of September 16, 2011. The company also owns Cumulus Media Networks...
's acquisition of Citadel Media, Cumulus announced the station would be spun off and put into a trust called Volt Media, LLC in order to meet FCC mandates on ownership limitations, despite that Citadel does not own any stations in Kansas City. However, in October of the same year, Cumulus announced plans to reacquire the station.
History
What is now KMJK started broadcasting on September 11, 1969 at 106.3 FM as 'KLEX-FM', as the station's city of license was Lexington, MissouriLexington, Missouri
Lexington is a city in Lafayette County, Missouri, United States. The population was 4,453 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Lafayette County. Located in western Missouri, Lexington lies about 40 miles east of Kansas City and is part of the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan Area...
and a transmitter just north of Odessa, Missouri
Odessa, Missouri
Odessa is a city in Lafayette County, Missouri, United States. The population was 4,818 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Odessa is located at ....
. The format was country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
. The station's call letters changed to KBEK-FM in 1976, and relocated to 107.3 in 1981 with a class C signal. The station was locally owned by Lexington Broadcasters until being sold in September 1989. In 1984, the station changed formats to satellite-fed Adult contemporary as KCAC. On December 1, 1988, the station changed formats back to country and changed call letters to KCFM. The station was acquired by KCFM, Inc. in September 1989. KCFM swapped formats and call letters with Capitol Broadcasting's KXXR (a Top 40 station at 106.5 FM, now WDAF-FM
WDAF-FM
WDAF-FM is a country music radio station based in Kansas City, Missouri, in the United States. Its current assignment to Entercom's 100,000 Watt facility licensed to Liberty, Missouri, combines the history of both the frequency and the WDAF call letters.- The Early Days :WDAF was one of the first...
) on February 15, 1992 at Midnight. The first song played after the swap was "I'm Too Sexy
I'm Too Sexy
"I'm Too Sexy" is a song by English trio Right Said Fred from their album Up. The single topped the American charts for three weeks in early 1992, after having peaked at number two in Britain less than six months earlier....
" by Right Said Fred
Right Said Fred
Right Said Fred is an English pop band, formed in 1989 by brothers Richard Fairbrass and Fred Fairbrass, later joined by their friend Rob Manzoli. The group is named after a song of the same name which was a hit for Bernard Cribbins in 1962...
. On January 25, 1993, the station changed call letters and monikers to KISF, "107.3 Kiss FM". The station was the only Top 40 station in the market until KMXV
KMXV
KMXV Mix 93.3 is a Top 40 station based in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. The Wilks Broadcasting outlet operates at 93.3 MHz with an ERP of 100 kW. Its current slogan is "Kansas City's #1 Hit Music Station"...
flipped from AC to Top 40 in mid-1994. KMXV also had a signal that covered the entire KC metro. Despite the station's coverage area being mainly east of Kansas City, the station received high ratings.
During the mid-1990's, alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
was becoming the popular sound of the decade, as the Top 40 format was starting to die down. Deciding to follow the trend, and to compete against KLZR
KLZR
KLZR is a radio station in Lawrence, Kansas, broadcasting to the Topeka and Kansas City areas on 105.9 FM.KLZR-FM airs a hot adult contemporary music format branded as "Lazer 105.9".-History:...
, KISF started evolving towards modern rock
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
with a lean on 1980's new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
in late 1994. The station's top of the hour ID during this time said "K...I...S...F...Lexington. The coolest F in radio. 107.3". The "Kiss FM" moniker would be dropped in early 1996. Syncom bought the station on June 25, 1996.
The station rebranded as "107-3 The X" on June 25, 1997 and took the new calls KCCX. Classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
station KCFX
KCFX
KCFX is a radio station broadcasting a classic rock format. Licensed to the suburb of Harrisonville, Missouri, it serves the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. It first began broadcasting under the call sign KRYP...
nearly threatened to sue the station because the call letters were too similar. To remedy this, the call letters were changed to KNRX on March 1, 1998. During this time, the station started leaning towards the active rock
Active rock
Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock plays contemporary rock artists with a mix of songs common in the classic rock radio format.-Format background:...
route by playing harder-edged rock acts. The station's airstaff included Mancow Muller
Mancow Muller
Matthew Erich "Mancow" Muller is an American radio and television personality. He is best known for Mancow's Morning Madhouse, formerly on Rock 103.5 and WKQX-FM , both Chicago-based radio shows that have been nationally syndicated mostly in small markets by Talk Radio Network...
in morning drive, Jason Justice, "The Morning (and later on, Afternoon) Headrush" w/ Jay and Sammye, and Roach and Sumo hosting "The Midnight Moshpit", as well as carrying "Resurrection Sunday" and the syndicated "Out of Order Countdown" w/ Joe the Fish on weekends. Despite the dedicated air personalities and interesting music mix, the station's ratings tanked, most likely because of the station's signal issues and poor management. Mancow's show would later be dropped in Fall of 1998.
At 10:04 AM on January 4, 1999, without warning, the station signed off the air. Jason Justice played the station's final song, which was a live version of "Plush
Plush (song)
"Plush" is a song by American rock band Stone Temple Pilots. It is one of the band's biggest hits, and was released as the second single from the band's debut studio album, Core .-Composition and inspiration:...
" by Stone Temple Pilots
Stone Temple Pilots
Stone Temple Pilots is an American rock band from San Diego, California that consists of Scott Weiland , brothers Robert DeLeo and Dean DeLeo , and Eric Kretz ....
and announced a live TOH ID that ended in "Boom". The station then began stunting
Stunting (broadcasting)
In radio broadcasting, stunting occurs when a station abruptly airs programming that is seemingly uncharacteristic compared to what they normally play...
with "1999
1999 (song)
"1999" is a song by Prince, the title track from his 1982 album of the same name. The song is one of Prince's best-known, and a defining moment in his rise to superstar status....
" by Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
on a 24 hour loop. The following day at 10:00 AM, the station flipped formats to urban oldies, which was a trend in radio at the time. The station went by the moniker and slogan "K-107, The Rhythm & Soul of Kansas City". K-107's first song was "Celebration
Celebration (song)
"Celebration" is a song released in 1980 by Kool & the Gang from their album Celebrate!. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on February 7, 1981 and held that position until February 20, 1981. Late in 1980, the song had also reached number one on both the Billboard Dance and R&B...
" by Kool and The Gang. The station kept the KNRX call letters. The station also picked up Tom Joyner
Tom Joyner
Thomas "Tom" Joyner is an American radio host, host of the nationally syndicated The Tom Joyner Morning Show, and also founder of REACH Media Inc., the Tom Joyner Foundation, and BlackAmericaWeb.com.-Early life:...
for morning drive. The station gained an immediate ratings boost after the flip.
On February 1, 2001, the station's call letters changed to the current KMJK. During the summer of that year, the station moved towards its current Urban AC format with the new moniker "Majik 107.3". In October 2003, the station, along with Radio 2000-owned KCHZ
KCHZ
KCHZ , known as "95.7 The Vibe", is a Contemporary Hit Radio radio station serving the Kansas City metropolitan area from Ottawa, Kansas. The Cumulus Broadcasting outlet operates at 95.7 MHz with an ERP of 96 kW. Its transmitter is located near Linwood, Kansas.-History:KCHZ began...
, was purchased by Susquehanna Broadcasting and in the Summer of 2004, the station altered its moniker to "Magic 107.3". In 2008, the station changed it's city of license to North Kansas City, Missouri
North Kansas City, Missouri
North Kansas City is a city in Clay County, Missouri, United States and is an independent municipality that is a part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The population was 4,714 as of the 2000 census but a large business/industrial base swells the daytime population by thousands more...
. The station also had a construction permit to move its transmitter to a site near Levasy, Missouri
Levasy, Missouri
Levasy is a city in Jackson County, Missouri, United States. The population was 108 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Levasy is located at ....
.
Other uses of KMJK
- KMJK was originally located in Phoenix, Arizona and was moved after the Phoenix station was purchased in December 2000. Like the current format, the Phoenix station of the same call letters, was also Urban Adult Contemporary and carried Tom Joyner in the morning. KMJK Majik 107 (106.9) in Phoenix accepted the spelling of MaJiK as the original Arabic phonetic spelling of the word. The Phoenix station provided a progressive urban radio format with music, news, features and talk. The Phoenix station was partially owned by Syncom.
- In 1977, KMJK Magic 107 first went on the air from Lake Oswego, Oregon on 106.7 MHz (now KLTHKLTHKLTH is an Oldies/Classic Hits formatted radio station located in the Portland, Oregon, area and broadcasts at 106.7 FM. KLTH's studios are located in downtown Portland and its transmitter is located in Portland's west hills...
, another set of call letters used by a Kansas City radio station (KZPTKZPTKQTH is a news/talk radio station in Tucson, Arizona. 104-1, as it is known by listeners, is branded as "The Truth". KQTH is owned by Journal Broadcast Group....
)). The station was owned by Communico Northwest Corp. (Frederic W. Constant and partners) with studios located in "Magic Manor" (the historic 1905 "Tug Master's House" at 107 Burnham Road). The Magic 107 format was an early version of what has evolved into AAA (Triple-A), Adult-Album-Alternative. Programmed by morning host Archer, the Progressive, Soft-Album Rock station developed a small but solid 18-34 year old audience. KMJK enjoyed moderate, low-budget success while competing with then-KVAN 1480 AM (The Mono Maniacs) and dominant market leaders KINK and KGON. In 1979, after formally adopting dual city of license (Lake Oswego-Portland), Magic 107 was purchased by Harte-Hanks Southern Communications, Inc. and became The Magic FM. The format changed to Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) with a semi-highbrow, semi-comedic air staff of successful, medium/major market programmers and veteran air personalities. The debut air staff included: Beau Rafferty (6-10a); John Shomby, Program Director (10a-Noon); Dave McKay (Noon-3p); Pat Clarke (3-6p); "Dancin'" Danny Wright (6-10p); Chaz Kelly (10p-2a); "Allen Wesley" Archer (2-6a). Archer, along with News Director John David Lloyd, transitioned to the new ownership and format along with Randy Scott and "Spacey" Dave Vincent.