History
Classical and Christian
The station signed on the air on May 5, 1964. [3] Its original call sign was KMFM. It was a stand-alone FM station in an era when most FM stations were co-owned with an AM station or newspaper. It aired a classical music format and was owned by the Pennington family, broadcasting from studios at 134 East Agarita Avenue.
In 1976, Harry Pennington, Jr. died, and his wife Rosa Lee took over the station before selling it to Classic Media in 1977. Classic built a new, 100,000 watt transmitter for the station. Six years later, the station was sold to C&W Wireless, which programmed a Contemporary Christian format known as "Son Light Radio FM 96". The call letters were changed to KSLR to match the new moniker.
Inner City Broadcasting
Inner City Broadcasting, which already owned KSJL 760 AM, bought KSLR in 1986. The two stations began simulcasting an urban contemporary format as Super Q 96 FM and Super Q 76 AM. The FM station's call sign was changed to KSAQ. In 1988, the simulcast was split, with 96.1 FM becoming known by the short name Q96 FM. During this time, a long segment of news known as "Cruz News" aired weekday mornings at 7 on Q96.
At midnight on February 3, 1991, the format was changed to album-oriented rock (AOR) under the "96 Rock" name. [4] The station filled the void left by KISS-FM's flip from AOR to oldies the previous year. [4] It was the only FM rock station in San Antonio until KISS reverted to rock at the end of 1991.
In 1993, Inner City sold 760 AM to Clear Channel Communications and moved its format of urban adult contemporary music to 96.1 FM, with the station changing its call letters to KSJL-FM. Unlike KSJL at 760 AM, the new KSJL-FM did not use "The Touch" urban AC format from Satellite Music Networks. KSJL-FM added more mainstream Urban Contemporary tracks as well as "The Mix Show" with Ricco and D-Street, which was heard Monday through Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m.
Clear Channel Communications
In 1998, another series of shuffles occurred when Inner City sold KSJL-FM to Clear Channel for $10 million. The Mix show was dropped on July 4 of that year, and the station reverted to an urban contemporary format. The format was simulcast on a leased station, 810 AM KCHG, which would soon change its call sign to KSJL. In addition, KTXX-FM, a rimshot station located in Devine, Texas, increased its power to reach the San Antonio market. That station took the KSJL-FM call letters.
All this movement made way for a new format on 96.1 FM. On September 4, the station flipped to a modern adult contemporary-leaning contemporary hit radio (CHR) format as "Mix 96.1". [5] On June 30, 2017, KXXM rebranded as "96.1 Now", maintaining a CHR format. [6] The station was successful for several years. But by 2024, the ratings had begun to slip.
Spanish/English AC
On November 1, 2024, at noon, KXXM rebranded back to "Mix 96.1". This time, the station flipped to a Spanish-language format modeled after Magic 93.9 WMIA-FM, a ratings hit in Miami, owned by iHeartMedia. Mix 96.1 began playing Latin pop mixed with English-language adult contemporary hits. [7] It uses DJs who mostly speak Spanish, with the majority of commercials in Spanish but some airing in English. It uses the slogan "Tus Favoritas de Siempre" or "Your All-Time Favorites."
The flip left San Antonio without a Top 40 station in the market, although hot adult contemporary station 105.3 KSMG, owned by Cox Media, shifted to a more hit-oriented format a few hours later.
