Note, as with last week, this post originally appeared on the Radio crytic on August 4, 2021. I may do updates of this series of posts sometime in the next year, but that will be a low priority as I have some other content planned for this site.
As promised last week, this week we’re taking a look at stations that were among my favorites in their former formats, but have changed since then.
Q Country 96 KORQ Abilene, TX
I discovered this in September 2012, after reading the Wikipedia article on radio happenings around the country, which had mentioned a frequency swap that moved the CHR format from 95.1 to 96.1. For some reason, I didn’t start listening to it until January 2013. I found the imaging a bit awkward, but I liked it musically. Gradually though, like most stations of that era, I moved on. Formerly known as Channel 9-6-Q, this station went country in June 2020. I’m not a country fan to begin with, and even if I was, this isn’t a station I’d be listening to regularly. I actually didn’t expect to know any of the songs I heard here, but I actually knew a couple. That being said though, I don’t think this is going to remain a preset. I definitely think farm stations, which is actually what this is, are an
interesting concept and listen. Country would be the logical fit, but having always grown up in the city, I don’t think this is a station I’d have any use for. The agriculture market report however did make me think of a friend of mine who did grow up in an agricultural area and is still interested in that stuff.
Pure Oldies 106.9 WRXS Milwaukee, WI
This was also discovered as a result of a format flip around the same time, September 2012 but I didn’t listen until the new year. I think this station would have been removed from my presets anyway, as I had grown bored with the previous rhythmic CHR Energy 106.9 format in the years since 2016. It flipped to Oldies using Saga’s Pure Oldies brand just a couple of months ago. I was initially quite bored by the presentation of this station, and still think it cold segues between songs too much. However, listening today, I was enjoying a lot of the music. Another added touch not heard in my earlier listen was the classic commercials from the era. I think I’ll have to give this another listen, as well as Saga’s other Pure Oldies stations to see what I think.
107.3 WKAZ Charleston, WV
This was one of the coolest stations in the country when it flipped from Classic Rock to party hits as Tailgate 107.3. Unfortunately, after about a year, there was a day I tuned in and found it quite boring, not sure really what changed. The playlist was the same, but the imaging didn’t have the same punch as it did at launch. In April 2020, the station flipped to country, going by the name 107.3 KAZ. Country was a major component of the previous format, but that also had lots of other styles of music. Not being a big country fan, I don’t think I’m going to keep this station on any of my lists, but if I had to listen to country, I’d take this station over the previously reviewed KORQ. Note, an aircheck of the previous Tailgate format will eventually be posted here.
Lift Radio KCMS-HD2 Seattle, WA
I’m not sure whether my HD radio broke or the software quit supporting the app after an update, but I had an HD tuner that plugged into my phone that only worked for about nine months, purchased with some of the money I got when I graduated high school in 2012. In that time though, I found KCMS-HD2, and would listen sometimes. I thought it was an interesting concept, playing a mix of Christian and secular music as Pure Music Radio, positioned as “where faith meets rock.” When my radio quit working, I forgot about the station for almost two years, but set it again in the spring of 2015, then forgot about it again. I don’t know when it changed, but sometime between then and mid-March of this year, the channel changed to contemporary worship as Lift Radio. I understand what they’re trying to do here, just have a music station with encouraging words and verses here and there. That doesn’t really make for good radio though. If I’m going to listen to contemporary worship music, I think I’ll take Air1 over this.
100.9 The Eagle KRRY Quinsey, IL
This station only had to hang on two more weeks before I sampled it before it changed formats, and I’m still not happy about it. This was the previously reviewed Y101. My in-depth thoughts on the previous station were written here just a couple posts back. Now with the new Classic Rock format in place as of the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, I gave it a sample two weeks after launch. Not only is the imaging on this thing a bit on the bland side, but it was quite jarring to hear Jen Austin, who I had just heard two days before on KXLT, which I think is where she’s based. This is another station that’s for sure going from my presets, kind of sad since it was one of my favorite stations. Note, the review of this mentioned above will be posted here in a couple of weeks.
Totally 93.9 WMIA Miami, FL
Formerly Rhythmic AC 93.9 MIA, this is one station that I think I’m going to keep despite a format change. What I liked about this station as a Rhythmic AC, this wasn’t your typical station. The station was rhythmic pop, rather than rap-based as most rhythmic AC stations are. While now completely 90s based, this station maintains many of the elements of the previous format. Those that know me know I like the 90s pop rock, but even being rhythmic-based, this is still a good station.
Jamn’ 107.5 KXJM Portland, OR
Of the stations that have changed formats since I set them, this is probably the one that’s been in its current format the longest, as it was this way when I spent a school year in the market in 2014-15, and I got a legal from it in March of 2014, I think having flipped to the current format about a month before. Back then, the station was more of a Rhythmic Hot AC, having a significant gold component but still playing a good amount of current product. That would change in 2016 when the station went entirely throwbacks, though it’s still listed as Rhythmic CHR for some reason. Since then, they’ve gone in a harder direction, and I’m not liking what I’m hearing as much. When they first went entirely throwbacks, they were extremely similar to Seattle’s KHTP which had done so about a year prior, but now the playlist leans quite heavily on hip-hop, possibly to go after the extremely Urban We 102.9. Given the size of the black population in the market I now call home, I’m really surprised there’s no
pop-leaning rhythmic outlet when larger Seattle has a broader throwback station and a station that is slightly more current-based than KXJM was when it first launched the current format. Given that it didn’t even make it into my radio’s presets when I was living here five years ago, I think it’s fairly obvious that it’s being removed from my iHeart Radio presets, as stations I’ll set if I lived in the market are far more in number than those I’ll set on an app where I can access stations from all over the country. Take Seattle for instance, where I have a large number of stations still programmed into the G8 as it has 100 memories. Of those, only KPLZ, KQMV, and KSWD may get a spot on an app. KJR-FM may also get an app spot even though they were never set in the radio itself. I almost forgot to mention the reason I set this station, it had been running iHeart’s Premium Choice Wild format as Wild 107.5. That was a format I liked at the time. While not reviewed in these reviews, that format is still set in my presets.
Magic 104.9 KMJM St. Lewis, MO
In November 2012, iHeart made the decision to swap formats on two of its signals. KMJM’s Urban AC format moved from 104.9 to 100.3 replacing Classic Rock 100.3 The Brew. The Classic Rock format did not move to 104.9 however, instead the KBWX calls moved but a Rhythmic CHR format was launched as Wild 104.9. I still have the aircheck I downloaded from Aircheck Downloads from when that launched. I listened to the new station quite a lot for the first several months of its launch, then like all stations I’m profiling, I moved on. Meanwhile, the station flipped to Alternative in 2016, and then the Urban AC format returned a couple years later. I have no idea what a good Urban AC is supposed to sound like. To me the format overall sounds too laid back for the music it plays. I’ve never been a fan of the format, but this is actually one of the better stations I’ve heard. That being said, it’s probably not a station I’ll listen to again.
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