KMXG

KMXG
City of license Clinton, Iowa
Broadcast area Quad Cities
Branding 96.1 Mix 96
Slogan Today's Hits and All Your Favorites
Frequency 96.1 FM (MHz)
First air date 1947
Format Commercial; Adult contemporary; Soft rock
ERP 100,000 watts
HAAT 299 meters
Class C1
Facility ID 60359
Transmitter coordinates 41°37′58.0″N 90°24′38.0″W / 41.632778°N 90.410556°W
Callsign meaning MIX
Former callsigns KROS-FM (Clinton)
KSAY (Clinton)
KLIO (Quad Cities)
KMJC (Quad Cities, 1989-1993)
Owner iHeartMedia, Inc.
Sister stations KCQQ, KUUL, WFXN, WLLR-FM, WOC, KWQC-TV
Webcast Listen Live
Website mix96online.com

KMXG (96.1 FM, "Mix 96/96.1 Mix 96") is a radio station licensed to Clinton, Iowa, whose format is adult contemporary. The station broadcasts at a power of 100 kW. Its transmitter is located on 225th Street in rural LeClaire in Scott County.

KMXG is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., with studios located in Davenport, Iowa. Other stations located in the same complex are KUUL-FM, WLLR-FM, KCQQ-FM, WFXN and WOC.

History

Early history (1947-1986)

KMXG originally had studios in Clinton and was co-owned with KROS 1340 AM. At that time, 96.1 had the call letters KROS-FM and later KSAY. During its run as KROS-FM, the station acted as a repeater for the AM signal, and later formatted beautiful music, much like other FM stations of the day.

During its years in Clinton, KSAY operated as a religious station serving primarily the Gateway area (Clinton and Jackson counties in Iowa; Whiteside and Carroll in Illinois) from 1974 until 1986. During this time, a February 1985 fire that struck the building where the studios for KSAY and KROS were located knocked the station off the air for several days; when the station returned to the air in a new studio, the first program was a two-hour show devoted to the fire and volunteers that helped get KROS-KSAY back on the air.

Adult contemporary era (1986-present)

Upon 96.1 FM's move to the Quad Cities, the station was known as KLIO-FM (K-Lite) and formatted adult contemporary music. The call letters changed several years later to KMJC ("Magic 96") in November 1989 before adopting the current KMXG ("Mix 96") call sign in July 1993.

Starting in 2008, during the holiday season, Mix 96 switches to an all-holiday music format.

Weekend programming

Sometime during the 2000s decade, KMXG began programming a "retro Saturday" block of music, focusing on hits of the 1980s with some hits from the 1970s and early 1990s mixed in. Syndicated programming added included Backtrax USA (both the 1980s and 1990s versions), Retro Pop Reunion and American Top 40: The 80s. With the demise of KUUL-FM's oldies format in 2012, several of KUUL's former programs were added to KMXG's weekend lineup, including American Top 40: The 70s, Into the 70s with John Landecker and The 70s with Steve Goddard. As such, Saturdays are devoted to 1980s and 1990s music, while Sundays feature music of the 1970s. Other than WYEC-FM, which has a full-time oldies format – KBOB (1170 AM) having switched to sports in May 2014[1] – KMXG's weekend programming is the only regularly scheduled oldies/classic hits radio programming available in the Quad-Cities market.

Continuing on Sundays were two three-hour blocks of smooth jazz music: "Jazz Patio" and "Smooth Jazz Sunday Night," both hosted by Art Monroe. Jazz music has been a staple of 96.1 FM since at least its incarnation as KLIO, with different hosts through the years.

References

  1. ↑ "ESPN Radio coming to your local radio dial on KJOC," Quad-Cities Online, April 30, 2014. Accessed 5-1-2014.

External links