History
Early years
One of the first FM stations in Kansas City, KCMO-FM signed on as KCFM in February 1948. [3] It simulcast KCMO (AM), then at 810 AM. During the "Golden Age of Radio", the stations aired ABC Radio Network dramas, comedies, news, sports, game shows, soap operas and big band broadcasts. The KCMO-FM call sign was granted in 1950, the first of several times the station would go by that call sign.
The Meredith Corporation bought KCMO-AM-FM in 1953. On July 23, 1959, as the days of network programming ended, KCMO-AM-FM adopted a full service, middle of the road (MOR) personality format.
Beautiful music
On March 16, 1968, KCMO-FM separated its programming from 810 AM, and began airing a mostly instrumental beautiful music format as KCMU. In 1974, the station began adding a few vocals to the format and switched its call letters to KCEZ, "EZ 95".
In 1983, the Meredith Corporation sold KCMO-AM-FM to Richard Fairbanks, a one-time owner of what is now WXIA-TV in Atlanta, Georgia, and the head of Fairbanks Broadcasting. [4]
Country and Top 40
On October 10, 1983, the station adopted a country music format as "KC 95". [5] The KCMO-FM call sign returned in 1984. The station gained attention when one of its billboards appeared in a Psychedelic Furs music video. Fairbanks sold both stations in 1985 to the Summit Communications Group. Summit changed KCMO-FM to a dance-leaning Top 40 format as KBKC, "B95", on July 26, 1985. The first song as "B95" was "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones. [6] [7]
The Gannett Company bought the station in 1986, and shifted the station to a more adult-friendly mainstream Top 40 format as "Power 95” KCPW, on August 25 of that year. [8] [9] [10] During this period, Dick Wilson began as the morning host. Wilson would continue to host mornings on the frequency until 2017. [11]
Switch to oldies
On July 28, 1989, at 5 p.m., after playing "Don't Wanna Lose You" by Gloria Estefan, KCPW flipped to an oldies format as "Oldies 95", with the third use of the KCMO-FM call sign acquired days before the switch. The first song on "Oldies 95" was "Kansas City" by Wilbert Harrison. [12] [13]
Another oldies station serving Kansas City, WHB (then at 710 AM), saw most of its listeners switch over to KCMO-FM in a matter of months, prompting that station's conversion to farm radio.
In 1993, Gannett sold KCMO-AM-FM to Bonneville International, which also owned KMBZ and KLTH (now KZPT). Four years later, Bonneville sold all four of its Kansas City stations together with three radio stations in Seattle to Entercom Communications. [14]
Susquehanna Radio bought KCMO-AM-FM from Entercom in 2000, as Entercom was forced to sell the KCMO stations after its purchase of Sinclair Broadcast Group's radio stations KQRC, KXTR and KCIY, which left Entercom with two stations over the Federal Communications Commission's single-market ownership limit. [15] Susquehanna subsequently merged with Cumulus Media in mid-2006.
Classic hits
KCMO-FM enjoyed strong ratings throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, management became concerned that the name "oldies" appealed to older listeners, less attractive to advertisers. Ratings were not an issue, as the station was often in the top 10. The station dropped its "oldies" moniker in April 2005 and shifted to its current classic hits format, playing only music from the mid-1960s to the early-1980s.
In the mid-2010s, KCMO began playing hits from the early 1990s, and scaled back on music recorded before the 1970s. Today, the station's playlist focuses mainly on music from the 1980s.
