KZPT

KZPT (99.7 FM, "99-7 The Point") is an American radio station broadcasting a Hot AC format. It is licensed to and serves the Kansas City, Missouri metropolitan area. It first began broadcasting in 1962 under the call sign KMBC-FM. The station is currently owned by Entercom.

History

The station originally signed on in October 1962 with the call sign KMBC-FM, which was changed to KMBR in 1967. On October 16, 1991, the station changed their call sign to KLTH (K-Lite), moving from its longtime MOR format to light rock. Those call letters remained until 1998 when they were changed to KYYS, which had been on cross-town 102.1 FM (now KCKC-FM) since 1974.

KYYS

KYYS originally debuted in 1974 at 102.1 FM and enjoyed a large fanbase. It promoted itself as "KY-102", and featured a sunglasses-wearing-hippo in its logo. The name "KY" was chosen to represent the first and last letter in the spelling of Kansas City.

In September 1997, the station's new owners, American Radio Systems, decided to replace KYYS with a short-lived modern adult contemporary music format, prompting dismayed fans to convince rival company Entercom to bring back the format. And with their adult contemporary station KLTH "Lite 99.7" faring even worse than KOZN's "102.1 The Zone", 99.7 became the new home for KYYS, which, no longer being on 102.1 FM, began promoting itself simply as "99-7 KY" on October 20, 1997. The first song heard on the new KY was "Back in Black" by AC/DC. Former KY-102 personalities Max Floyd, Tanna Guthrie, Larry Moffitt, Doug Medlock, Marty Wall, and Vaughn Mac made the move as well. Later, KY alums Slacker, T.J. Price, Paul Freddrocks, Jon Hart and Frankie also made the switch, some for just short periods of time. The station would gain the KYYS call letters in early 1998, when 102.1 changed to KOZN.

In 2000, KYYS became the sister station of KQRC, which plays a more modern and heavier mix of rock. This caused KY to become a "flanker" station for Entercom, designed to protect KQRC from competition. This worked until 2005, when Union Broadcasting signed on "97-3 Max FM," a rock station directed toward taking down KQRC. When Max FM signed on, it used the slogan "Everything that Rocks." Shortly after its sign on KY changed its slogan to "Everything that Rocks" and altered its playlist to an 80s-based classic hard rock format. This caused many longtime KY listeners to jump ship to rival KCFX. Due to the failure of this change, KY returned to its standard classic rock format in a few months, but never seemed to recover all of its listeners.

In 2005, the station began playing Nights with Alice Cooper, a nationally broadcast radio show hosted by the longtime rocker. The station broadcast the Dr. Demento show at midnight on Monday morning/Sunday nights. KY hosted an annual tribute to Elvis Presley, encouraging Elvis impersonators to parade around Barney Allis Plaza in Downtown Kansas City on his birthday.

In 2007, KYYS started advertising its attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Records world record for Most Guitars Played at Once. The planned song was Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water. Pre-registration was offered on the station's website. In exchange for participating, commemorative t-shirts were offered. Online registration ceased around June 1, 2007. Finally, on Sunday, June 3, 2007, the attempt to break the record (previously held in Vancouver, Canada with 1,322 people) was made. The old record was beaten, with approximately 1,721 people participating in the event.

KBLV

On January 10, 2008, rumors started swirling that a format change at the station could be imminent after the on-air staff was terminated. Entercom management stated that change was necessary because too many stations in the market were playing the same music. These stations included KCFX, KCJK, KCMO (which are owned by Cumulus), and KQRC (owned by Entercom).

On January 11, 2008, the station flipped formats to AAA (Adult Album Alternative) as "99-7 The Boulevard". The last song played as KY was "In the Dark" by Billy Squier. The first song played under the new brand was "The Boulevard" by Jackson Browne. The station launched with 5,000 songs in a row. As of January 18, 2008, the station changed call letters to KBLV. Subterranean Radio, a channel which plays deep album cuts on the HD2 station, on March 13, 2008, switched to "The Delta", which plays blues music.

At the same time the call letters KBLV took effect, Entercom successfully assigned the KYYS letters to their Hispanic music station at 1250 AM.

The station, unfortunately, had low ratings, as it was generally at the bottom of the Kansas City Arbitron ratings.

KKSN

At 3 p.m. on January 13, 2009, just two days after the one-year anniversary of The Boulevard's debut, the format of the station was again changed to Hot AC as "99-7 Kiss FM", playing "hits of the 90s through today." The Boulevard's final song was "Touch Me" by The Doors, while Kiss FM's first song was "Light On" by Blue Springs-native and American Idol winner David Cook. It competed on a head-to-head basis with both Top-40 outlets KMXV, and as of October 2009, KCHZ, as well as adult contemporary outlet KCKC. The station adopted the call sign KKSN on January 20, 2009. The station carried syndicated programming most of the day, including Kidd Kraddick mornings, Ryan Seacrest middays (formerly afternoons), and Kim Iverson at night. The station had the same hot AC format as KLZR, which was once the only hot AC station in Kansas City since 2003. John Cook was brought in to be the program director for the station and local country station WDAF (106.5 the Wolf). Cook was fired from his last job programming WYSP & WPHT/Philadelphia in May 2009, along with morning guy Kidd Chris, following repeated airings of the racist song "Schwoogies" by Lady Gash.^[1] Cook wouldn't last long in Kansas City, as he returned to Philadelphia a few months later.

In October 2009, KKSN named Kelly Urich its new (and only) live and local afternoon host. Urich spent many years at rival KMXV, before taking a year off to explore internet broadcasting. With this move, Ryan Seacrest's show moved to middays.

With the change to Kiss, the station's ratings went up slightly, most likely due to the addition of Kelly Urich, who is a well known on-air personality for many years in Kansas City radio. However, ratings were still staggering, usually peaking at a 2.0 share.

KGEX

Gen X Radio

On April 16, 2010, at 10 AM, immediately after Kidd Kraddick's show, the station quietly segued into an 80s-90s hits format, similar to the former KFME "e105" (now KCJK). The final song under the Hot AC format was "Just Dance" by Lady Gaga, while the first song on the 80s/90s hits format was "To Be With You" by Mr. Big. While still using the "Kiss FM" moniker, they emphasized the slogan "Kansas City's Gen X Radio." With this change, syndicated personalities Kidd Kraddick and Kim Iverson were dropped.

On May 28, 2010, KKSN changed their call letters to KGEX to go with their "Gen X Radio" branding. They also dropped any references to "Kiss FM" at this time. Tony Lorino joined the stations as Assistant PD and morning drive host from Entercom's Milwaukee cluster on August 23, 2010.

Despite adding local talent (save for Ryan Seacrest), ratings went down to a 1.9 share, making them the lowest ranked commercial station in the market.

KZPT

99.7 The Point

On March 23, 2011, at Noon, after less than a year as "Gen X", the station changed to adult contemporary and repositioned as "99-7 The Point". The final two songs on "Gen X Radio" were "Bye Bye Bye" by NSync and "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" by Green Day, while the Point's first two songs were "Get The Party Started" by P!nk and "Firework" by Katy Perry. Ryan Seacrest's show was dropped with the change.

The station changed its call letters to KZPT on March 30, 2011.

Before the launch of "The Point," there was some speculation that the station would overlap with sister station KUDL. However, an hour after the launch, it was revealed that the station was actually designed to replace KUDL, as that station announced on Facebook that it would terminate its 34 year old adult contemporary format to become a simulcast of KMBZ, with some of its on-air staff being transferred to either "The Point" or WDAF-FM. In August 2011, KZPT shifted back to a Hot AC format, though with less emphasis on older music as compared to when it was "Kiss FM".

References

External links

• 99-7 The Point official website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for KZPT
• Radio-Locator information on KZPT
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for KZPT