KDMX
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| City of license | Dallas, Texas |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex |
| Branding | 102.9 Now |
| Slogan | Variety from the 2000's to NOW! |
| Frequency | 102.9 (MHz) (also on HD Radio) 102.9 HD-2 for "Delilah" (AC) |
| First air date | 1960 (as KQRO) |
| Format | Hot AC/Adult Top 40 |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 485 meters |
| Class | C |
| Facility ID | 47739 |
| Transmitter coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Callsign meaning | K Dallas' MiX (previous branding) |
| Former callsigns | KQRO (1960-1965) KEIR (1965-1971) KDTX (1971-1977) KMGC (1977-1991) |
| Owner | iHeartMedia, Inc. (Citicaster Licenses, Inc.) |
| Sister stations | KDGE, KEGL, KFXR, KHKS, KZPS |
| Webcast | Listen Live (via iHeartRadio) |
| Website | 1029now.com |
KDMX (102.9 FM), branded as "102.9 Now," is a radio station serving the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in Texas. It is currently owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications until September 2014) and airs a hybrid Hot AC/Adult Top 40 format with a Top 40/CHR lean. The station's studios are located along Dallas Parkway in Farmers Branch (although it has a Dallas address), and the transmitter site is in Cedar Hill.
Contents
History
This station first began its broadcasting activities as KQRO on October 15, 1960 (although license was granted on July 2, 1959). It went dark a year later then returned to the airwaves in 1962. For that time, KQRO's format consisted mostly of classical and orchestral music. In 1965, the callsign was changed to KEIR with an unknown format.
In 1971, the call letters were changed once again to KDTX, this time with a religious format. 6 years later, the callsign was changed to KMGC (the KDTX call letters were later used on a local TV station in 1987, ironically with Christian programming) and the Christian contemporary format continued up until September 1977. It was then changed to an adult contemporary format as Mellow 102.9 and a month later to Magic 102.9. Prior to that, a mass distribution of door-hanger flyers announced the station is coming. The station enjoyed a loyal following until May 9, 1991, when KMGC began stunting with a series of formats ranging from rock oldies (as "Cool 102.9" on May 9) to country (as "Kickin' Country" on May 10) to an all-Beatles format (also on May 10), and then party cocktail noise on May 11 and May 12, before changing to its current callsign and settling on its long-running Hot adult contemporary format as "Mix 102.9." In 1991, Nationwide Communications bought the station.
In 2009, parent company Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia) laid off over 2,000 employees to lower costs and forced its "Mix" branded stations to voice track most of their airtime, leaving very few live personalities across the nation.[1] Among laying off in Dallas, the voices of midday personality Lisa Thomas was replaced with fellow Clear Channel station KUSS's midday personality, Cindy Spicer. Late night personality Joe Kelley was replaced with voicetracking. Morning co-host Tony Zazza was replaced with weeknight personality Jen Austin and Program Director Rick. Zazza then became the morning host at competing station CBS Radio-owned 103.7 KVIL, which flipped full-time to Hot AC/Adult Top 40 in early 2014. Later that year, Jen Austin was laid off as well. With afternoons, shortly hosted by PD Rick, but was later replaced by the satellite-fed On Air with Ryan Seacrest.
In 2011, in response to changing listener habits, KDMX began playing more hip hop titles in its Hot AC format.[2]
On May 18, 2012, KDMX rebranded as 102.9 Now,[3] dropping most modern AC artists, and shifted to an adult top 40 format. However, as of October 2012, KDMX returned to Hot AC. Some of the Modern AC artists have returned to the station's playlist, and dropped some hip hop tracks. The switch back to Hot AC was likely due to low ratings, as well as playlist overlap with sister Top 40 KHKS.
It is noted that both KDMX and Seattle-based sister station KYNW (which flipped to Adult Top 40 themselves in June 2013) share the same branding and logo.
KDMX-HD2
KDMX originally launched a secondary HD Radio (HD-2) subchannel known as "The Music Summit", broadcasting an AAA format. It has since then moved to KZPS 92.5 HD-2 to make way for Pride Radio (previously on KHKS HD-2) with a format intended for the LGBT community. On March 28, 2011, 102.9 HD-2 was broadcasting a Soft Oldies/AC Gold format as "Sunny 102.9 HD-2", shifting "Pride Radio" back to 106.1 HD-2. As of January 8, 2014, KDMX-HD2's format has been changed to a syndicated Delilah nighttime love songs program that was previously dropped by KVIL.[4][5]
References
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Playlist - Mix 102.9 (accessed March 29, 2012)
- ↑ http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/58251/kdmx-dallas-revamps-now/#.T7ZwX44Zy70
- ↑ KVIL adds Blake Powers as evening DJ - DFW.com (released January 21, 2014)
- ↑ http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=10 HD Radio Guide for Dallas-Ft. Worth
