KSLZ

KSLZ

St. Louis, Missouri
Broadcast area	Greater St. Louis
Frequency	107.7 MHz FM (HD Radio) HD2: "Pride Radio"
Branding	Z107-7
Programming
Format	Top 40 (CHR)
Ownership
Owner	iHeartMedia (Citicasters Licenses, Inc.)
Sister stations	KATZ, KLLT, KLOU, KATZ-FM, KSD, W279AQ
History
First air date	1968 (as KACO)
Former call signs	KACO (1968-1970) KGRV (1970-1972) KKSS (1972-1979) KMJM (1979-1997)
Call sign meaning	K St. Louis Z
Technical information
Facility ID	48960
Class	C0
ERP	100,000 watts
HAAT	313 meters
Links
Webcast	Listen Live Listen Live (HD2)
Website	https://z1077.iheart.com/ prideradiostl.iheart.com (HD2)

KSLZ ("Z107-7") is a Top 40 (CHR) FM radio station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. The iHeartMedia (previously Clear Channel Communications) outlet broadcasts at 107.7 MHz with an ERP of 100 kW. Its transmitter is located in Shrewsbury, a suburb of St. Louis, and operates from studios in St. Louis south of Forest Park.

KSLZ is one of three CHR-top 40 stations in the St. Louis Metro market, the others being KNOU ("Now 96.3") and KYKY ("Y98").

History

107.7 FM debuted on the air in 1968 as KACO, which aired an AC/MOR format until a fire took the station off the air in January 1970. Two months later, the station returned to the air and changed call letters to KGRV, "Music for Groovy Adults," offering a more upbeat AC format, which lasted until 1972, when it once again changed call letters to KKSS, "Kiss 108", but retained its AC format. By 1974, KKSS switched formats to country. A year later, KKSS switched formats to a R&B format dubbed "Black in Stereo". In February 1979, KKSS altered its R&B format and adopted the moniker "Studio 108," with a hybrid Disco-R&B format, competing with WZEN (now KATZ-FM).

In June 1979, the calls were changed to KMJM under the moniker "Majic 108." Majic was wanted to cater to the Black and White audiences as the St. Louis market's first ever "CHUrban" station (a forerunner to the Rhythmic Contemporary format). The station was owned by Keymarket Communications at the time. KMJM would later go on to be among the top 5 stations in the St. Louis Arbitrons during the 1980s, even as they shifted towards a conventional Urban Contemporary direction. In May 1988, KMJM was sold to Noble Communications of San Diego for $19 million. KMJM's signal was one of the best in the St. Louis area, and at this time, the station emerged as the Top R&B/Urban station in the market. Jacor bought the station in late 1997, but the new owners were not interested in keeping "Majic" on the frequency despite its longterm success. So, on October 20, 1997, at Midnight, after 18 years on 107.7, KMJM was moved to recently purchased sister station 104.9 WCBW, which aired a Christian format. After a 12-hour stunt with a looped heartbeat and announcements redirecting KMJM listeners to the new frequency and the launch of a new format on 107.7 later that day, KSLZ and its current Top 40 format, branded as "Z107-7", debuted. The flip was to fill a format hole left by WKBQ, who dropped the format for Modern AC in February of that year. The final song on "Majic" was "Good Girls" by Joe, while the first song on "Z" was "Get Ready For This" by 2 Unlimited.

As for KMJM, the station moved again from 104.9 (now KLLT) to 100.3 FM (the frequency of former competitors WZEN and KATZ) in November 2012. It then dropped its longtime "Majic" brand and urban AC format for classic hip hop in 2014, yet retained its KMJM callsign. (It has since reverted to mainstream urban.) "Majic" would return to the market on W279AQ on May 26, 2017.

HD Radio

KSLZ made the conversion to HD Radio in 2006. 107.7-HD2 carried a New CHR format branded as "Z107-7 Amped." On June 22, 2016 KSLZ-HD2 switched to "Pride Radio".

Former Logos

File:KSLZ-FM-logo.jpg

References

• "1". Archived from the original on 2008-09-17. Retrieved 2008-02-25.

External links

• Official Website
• Facility details for Facility ID KSLZ ({{{2}}}) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• {{{2}}} in Nielsen Audio's FM station database