KWYE
This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(October 2008) |
![]() | |
Broadcast area | Fresno, California |
---|---|
Frequency | 101.1MHz |
Branding | Y101 FM |
Programming | |
Format | Hot adult contemporary |
Ownership | |
Owner |
|
KMGV,KMJ,KMJ-FM,KSKS | |
History | |
First air date | 1962(as KCIB-FM at 94.5) |
Former call signs | KCIB-FM (1962–1968) KFIG (1968–1984) KFIG-FM (1984–1992) KSXY (1992–1994) KRBT (1994–1996) KVSR (1996–2003) |
Former frequencies | 94.5 MHz (1962–1973) |
Call signmeaning | TheWYE(as in the wordWye) is sounded out fromY |
Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 18406 |
Class | B |
ERP | 10,000watts |
HAAT | 328 meters |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Webcast | Listen live |
Website | y101hits |
KWYE(101.1FM,"Y101" ) is aradio stationin theFresno, California,area that airs ahot adult contemporarymusic format.[2]The station is owned byCumulus Media.[3]Its studios are at the Radio City building on Shaw Avenue in North Fresno and its transmitter is northeast ofClovis.
History
[edit]KCIB-FMwent on the air in 1962 on 94.5 MHz. It began as a religious FM station, but when the Universal Broadcasting Company acquired it in 1968, it switched KCIB-FM to middle-of-the-road music using the call letters KFIG. KCIB was co-located in Clovis at a site shared with KXQR-FM and KAIL TV 53. In late 1969, the format was changed to an "underground" album rock format patterned after San Francisco's KMPX. KFIG moved to 101.1 in 1973. This format lasted until the late 1970s, when the format was changed to adult contemporary, "Mellow Music". In 1984, the station adopted the "Yes/No Radio" format, where several times a day KFIG would play a song and invite listeners to call in and vote on whether or not KFIG should continue playing that song. After the "Yes/No Radio" format was retired, the station went back to being a regular adult contemporary station.
In September 1992, the callsign was changed to KSXY. Despite the obvious connotation of "Sexy" implied by that callsign, station management initially insisted that they were NOT meaning to imply "Sexy" by that choice of callsign. For about six months, the airstaff read the call letters as K–S (pause) X-Y. After that time, the station nickname was changed to "Sexy 101.1".
"Sexy" lasted until Headliner Broadcasting sold the station to EBE Broadcasting, who owned KNAX and KFRE. In June 1994, the new owners changed the format of KSXY to country. They heralded the format change by playing nothing butGarth Brooksmusic under the "101.1 K-Garth" name, and then relaunched as "Froggy Country 101.1" KRBT. Froggy Country was a satellite format and did not make much of a ratings impact in the Fresno market.
When the station was sold toInfinity Broadcasting,the owners of KSKS, the format was changed tomodern adult contemporarywith the nickname of "Star 101" in September 1996.[4]The callsign was changed to KVSR at that time. Star 101 was successful until KTHT changed format to "Alice",which gave them some competition. Both stations competed with the format until Star 101 threw in the towel, becoming" Y101 "sometime in 2002. As Y-101, they fired most of their air staff and began a new on-air campaign changing to a top 40 format and branding themselves as" Y101, #1 for All the Hits ", hiring a whole new staff of DJs and starting a new morning show called the" Y101 Morning Zoo. "
On December 13, 2006, new owners Peak Broadcasting pulled the plug on KWYE's Top 40 format and flipped the station to adult contemporary, billing themselves as the place for "Today's Hits, Yesterday Favorites." The reason for this might have to do with Fresno/Hanford/Visalia radio market already being saturated with two other Top 40s, Rhythmic rivalsKBOS-FMandKSEQ.Although KWYE maintained good ratings in the market, it wasn't enough to overtake the Rhythmics, especially in a market with a largeHispanicpopulation.
Recently, KWYE has tweaked its format to include more current hits, dropping the hits from the 1970s from their playlist, and changing their slogan to "80's, 90's, Now." In mid-April 2009, KWYE segued into aModern ACformat.
On August 30, 2013, a deal was announced in whichTownsquare Mediawould purchase Peak Broadcasting, and then immediately swap Peak's Fresno stations, including KWYE, toCumulus Mediain exchange for Cumulus' stations inDubuque, IowaandPoughkeepsie, New York.The deal is part of Cumulus' acquisition ofDial Global;Peak, Townsquare, and Dial Global are all controlled byOaktree Capital Management.[5][6]The sale to Cumulus was completed on November 14, 2013.[7]
References
[edit]- ^"Facility Technical Data for KWYE".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
- ^"Station Information Profile".Arbitron.Archived fromthe originalon March 1, 2010.
- ^"KWYE Facility Record".United StatesFederal Communications Commission,audio division.
- ^https:// americanradiohistory /Archive-RandR/1990s/1996/R&R-1996-09-20.pdf[bare URL PDF]
- ^"Official: Cumulus Buys Dial Global, Spins Some Stations To Townsquare; Peak Stations Sold To Townsquare, Fresno Spun To Cumulus".All Access.August 30, 2013.RetrievedAugust 30,2013.
- ^"Cumulus Makes Dial Global And Townsquare Deals Official".RadioInsight.August 30, 2013.RetrievedAugust 30,2013.
- ^"Cumulus-Townsquare-Peak Deal Closes".All Access.November 15, 2013.RetrievedNovember 16,2013.
External links
[edit]- KWYE website
- Facility details for Facility ID 18406 (KWYE)in theFCCLicensing and Management System
- KWYEinNielsen Audio's FM station database
- FCC History Cards for KWYE