KATZ-FM

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KATZ

Broadcast area	Greater St. Louis
Branding	100.3 The Beat
Slogan	#1 For Hip Hop and R&B
Frequency	100.3 (MHz)
Format	Urban Contemporary Hits Radio
ERP	50,000 watts
Callsign meaning	K A T Z
Owner	ClearChannel
Website	Official Website

KATZ-FM, 100.3 The Beat is a hit-driven R&B/Hip-Hop station serving the area of St. Louis, Missouri. The Clear Channel Communications outlet broadcasts at 100.3 MHz with a ERP of 50 kW and is licensed to Alton, Illinois. Its current slogan is #1 for Hip Hop and R&B.

[edit] History

KATZ, which signed on in the late 1960s, originally inhereited the R&B format and its call letters from its AM sister in the 1980s. But under its original owners it was never successful and was always behind KMJM in terms of ratings and audience, which dates back to their days as rival Disco music outlets. After KMJM's owners bought KATZ and became its sister station in the 1990s they would go through a flux of formats, including Smooth Jazz and Adult R&B. But that all came to an end on April 1, 1999, when it picked up the R&B/Hip-Hop format from the relocated KMJM-FM. It has done successfully under Clear Channel ever since and has proven to be a good compliment to Rhythmic-leaning Top 40 sister KSLZ. Its current competitors are newcoming Rhythmic station WHHL and current Urban AC stations KMJM and WFUN.

KATZ-FM picked up the Steve Harvey Morning Show, which is syndicated through Premiere Radio Networks, owned by KATZ-FM parent Clear Channel Communications on November 27th 2006. At first it seemed that KMJM should have gotten the show because it plays music on an Urban AC format due to Steve's history of not playing songs with "questionable" content - primarily rap. But KATZ was chosen because Clear Channel did not see it fit to replace Tony Scott who does the AM drive at KMJM. At first it was odd, but KATZ is now among many Urban Hip Hop stations with a free pass to air the Black-adult aimed Steve Harvey Morning Show along with others such as KPRS in Kansas City, WKKV in Milwaukee, KDAY in Los Angeles, and WJHM in Orlando for example.