City of license | Fort Worth, Texas |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex |
Branding | 97.1 The Eagle |
Slogan | The Eagle Rocks! |
Frequency |
97.1 HD-2 for Limited commercial interruption version of "The Eagle" |
First air date | June 7, 1959 as KFJZ |
Format | Mainstream Rock |
ERP | 100,000 watts |
HAAT | 508 meters |
Class | C |
Facility ID | 18114 |
Callsign meaning | The EaGLe |
Former callsigns | KWXI (1969-1976) KFJZ (1957-1969 and 1976-1981) |
Owner | Clear Channel Communications (Citicasters Licenses, Inc.) |
Sister stations | KDGE, KDMX, KFXR, KHKS, KZPS |
Webcast | Listen Live |
Website | kegl.com |
KEGL (97.1 FM, "The Eagle") is a radio station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, USA. The station broadcasts a mainstream rock music format to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. KEGL is owned and operated by Clear Channel Communications.
Its 97.1 HD-2 subchannel (HD Radio needed), also branded as "The Eagle", plays the same format with limited commercial interruptions.
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Formerly KFJZ, KWXI ("Quicksie," using the longtime moniker of WQXI in Atlanta) and again as KFJZ of Fort Worth (as "Z-97" and later "The Texas Star" and "FM-97,") KEGL was one of three rock and roll stations in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex throughout most of the 1980s. In 1980, Randy Brown, known as "Christopher Haze" on the air, became the program director of 97.1 in August, 1980, and changed the call letters and imaging of the station. "Eagle 97" under the new calls KEGL was created and implemented on January 20, 1981. Within a short period of time, the station possessed a hybrid rock and top 40 format known as Rock/40. The original morning show was "The Rude Awakening," consisting of Billy Hayes, Rose Wright and "The Rude Moose" (a character voiced by Hayes.) "Stevens and Pruett" was the next morning show, from February 1982 to March 28, 1986. Thereafter, (Paul) Robbins, (Paul) Kinney & (Phil) Cowan replaced Stevens and Prewitt. Moby was added to the lineup as the afternoon drive jock on September 1, 1986. Jocks from the earlier era of KEGL included Drew Pierce, Doc Morgan, Danny Owen, Jonathan Doll, Dave Cooley, Jimmy Steal, Tony "Paraquat" Johnson, Jim White (1980–84; hosted an afternoon talk show on the station, "Relationships," during 1981-82,) Sharon Wilson (née Golihar, hosted the evening show, "The Party,"), Lisa Traxler (who went on to work at Boston's WBCN) and Russ Martin (jocked and hosted a late Sunday night talk program.) Martha Martinez reported news during Stevens and Pruett's program.
Kidd Kraddick, now at 106.1 Kiss FM, started his career as the night disc jockey in 1984, then moved to afternoon drive October 20, 1986, when Moby in the Morning (James Smith Carney is "Moby") replaced RKC, who left to do mornings in Sacramento. (Kraddick used his real first name, Dave, for a time between 1989-1991. He was also known for a regular segment, "Burn Your Buns," where a fake threatening telephone call was placed to a specific unsuspecting person, by a listener's request.) Moby in the Morning was later removed from KEGL on April 8, 1988, because of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) alleged violations of content. Kraddick was then moved to mornings, starting April 11, 1988. Rusty Humphries was briefly a personality for KEGL in the 1990s, known for his attempt to "smuggle" toy weapons into the DFW Airport as an on-air stunt.[1]
Through most of the 1980s, the station was owned by Sandusky, a newspaper company. The studios were located in the Xerox Tower, 222 W. Las Colinas Blvd, in Las Colinas, a commercial district in the Dallas suburb of Irving. (The station had been located at 4801 West Freeway in Fort Worth under the original KFJZ and KWXI tenures, then to 5915 W. Pioneer Pkwy. in Arlington during the second incarnation of KFJZ.)
Audio from the 80s era of KEGL can be found here: http://radiowavesokc.dyndns.org/DISK%201/airchecks/KEGL/
Responding to KTKS-FM (former inhabitant of 106.1, coincidentally called "Kiss-FM" as today's occupant does)'s format change to CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio) from oldies in September, 1984, Eagle 97 changed its format to CHR on September 12, 1984 and its moniker to "The Eagle." By the late 1980s and early 1990s, The Eagle began playing more dance/top 40 songs (and even pop country tunes, particularly by Garth Brooks) under the direction of PD and former KEGL jock, Joel Folger; later, in June 1992, the format flipped to more rock-based music, and after being jockless for most of the summer (and stunting with weeks of Eagles songs,) hired Madd Maxx Hammer (former Z Rock jock) for afternoons.
KEGL was a Howard Stern affiliate from September 8, 1992, to July 26, 1997, until he verbally attacked the new ownership, Nationwide, an insurance company, on the air. Another controversial show that aired on KEGL in the 1990s was Kramer and Twitch at night. In 2001, a prank was aired on the show stating that Britney Spears was dead in an accident, to the horror of her fans. The phony report also falsely stated that her then-boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, was critically injured in the wreck. Trouble followed, including hundreds of calls to local law enforcement agencies,[2] and Kramer and Twitch were fired from The Eagle.
One week later, motorists in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex were outraged over a billboard promoting the station that was entitled "Highway to Hell", a reference to the AC/DC song of the same name. The billboard, which was erected on a major Dallas thoroughfare, featured Satan giving a lethal injection to Oklahoma City bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh, who was executed just days before the billboard went up.[3] Under Nationwide, KEGL's ratings slowly stagnated. Later under Clear Channel, the ratings and revenue fell.
Jocks during the later KEGL era include Michael Blake, Pamela Steele (who quit the station on May 28, 1993, over a Howard Stern promotion the station participated in, where Steele was asked by PD Donna Fadal to appear alongside other KEGL female personalities donning sports bras,) Nancy Johnson, Marc Richards, "Fast" Eddie Coyle, Andre Gardner, Tracy Barnes, Leigh Ann Adam, Cindy Scull, "Dangerous Darren" Silva, Brad Baxter, Mike Esparza (host of "The Mikey Morning Show,") Robert Miguel, Chris Ryan and J. D. Ryan.
A decision was made to eliminate the rock format on KEGL as CC also owned similarly-formatted The Edge. The Eagle was flipped on May 18, 2004, to make way for "Sunny 97.1", a 1960s to 1980s-based AC format. The last song that played on the frequency as 97.1 the Eagle was "Eagles Fly" by Sammy Hagar. The first song for "Sunny" 97.1 was "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles. Competing head-on with KVIL-FM and sharing audience with KLUV-FM, "Sunny" lasted until August 2005. (From 1992-1996, the "Sunny" branding was once used on KSNN-FM (now KWRD-FM) as a Classic country station.) Mornings were hosted by former rock-formatted KEGL jock "Fast" Eddie Coyle; he was later teamed with Anna deHaro on March 22, 2005. Other jocks included Stacey James, Jeff Thomas, Dave Mason and Steve Knoll. On August 25, 2005, KEGL became "La Preciosa", a Spanish language oldies music station, not to be confused with KDFT's La Poderosa station. "Sunny" morning show co-host Anna deHaro was held over for the new format.
"La Preciosa" dropped its Spanish format and started playing commercial-free Christmas music on December 1, 2007. Clear Channel announced that KEGL would return to an English format after the holiday season, and opted to bring the mainstream rock format back to the air the morning of December 18, 2007. The station has reverted to its original branding of The Eagle by running a brief history of the 97.1 frequency from 2004 to that date, and completing the transition by saying "The Eagle...Rocks...Again."[4]. On January 7, 2008, through January 8, 2008, The Eagle simulcasted The Lex and Terry Show from KDGE-FM "The Edge". On January 9, 2008, The Lex and Terry Show moved its flagship from "The Edge" to KEGL. Former mid-day host Chris Ryan was brought on as afternoon drive host and program director. Former KEGL jock (1994–2004) Cindy Scull was rehired in 2008 to host a live weekend shift.
KEGL lost a competitor when Cumulus Media's KDBN (now KLIF-FM) flipped to adult album alternative on April 27, 2009. In response to the flip of KDBN, KEGL become a mainstream rock station. There are no competitors for KEGL now, since the other Dallas rock stations, KZPS and KDGE are both owned by Clear Channel, owner of the station. As of today, Dallas is America's largest market where the rock stations (excluding classic rock station KZPS, which goes up against CBS Radio classic hits station KLUV & sister adult hits station KJKK) do not compete.
On January 8, 2010, KEGL changed their name to "97.1 The Bird" replacing the Eagle name. The change was made just before the Dallas Cowboys hosted the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Wild Card playoffs and the station did not want to be associated with the Eagles in any way. They changed their name back to "97.1 The Eagle" the next day.
On January 20, 2010, station management announced that morning show hosts Lex & Terry would be replaced beginning January 21. Cindy Scull, who had held the evening shift on the station, was moved to mornings "on an interim basis" while the morning show undergoes retooling that will "involve playing more music".[5] The Eagle also added Saturday morning programming with John Clay Wolfe at this time.
On July 1, 2010 97.1FM KEGL ran a promo announcing the return of The Russ Martin Show. The show began airing on July 12, 2010 in the 6am-10am time slot.[6]
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