KAPW (99.3 FM) is a terrestrial American

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

licensed to

White Oak, Texas White Oak is a city in Gregg County, Texas, Gregg County, Texas, United States. It was incorporated in 1960. The population was 6,225 as of 2020 United States census, 2020. History In the later parts of the 1800s, White Oak was a small farmin ...

, United States. The station serves the Tyler-Longview-Marshall area, broadcasting a

Regional Mexican Regional Mexican music refers collectively to the regional subgenres of the country music of Mexico and its derivatives from the Southwestern United States. Each subgenre is representative of a certain region and its popularity also varies by ...

format. The station is currently owned by Reynolds Radio, Inc. KAPW's studios are located on Grande Boulevard, south of downtown Tyler. The transmitter is located northwest of Gladewater.

History

The station was assigned the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

KIXK on June 1, 1997. KIXK was originally licensed to Linden, Texas. KIXK was usually silent. From 1999 until 2002, KIXK would periodically return to the air to test its facilities and broadcast easy listening music from its tower near Linden. KIXK broadcast more regularly from Fall 2001 to Spring 2002. During this timeframe the music varied with adult contemporary, classic hits, and country. KIXK then switched city of license from Linden to White Oak and transferred broadcasting facilities to a new tower so that it could cover the Tyler/Longview radio market. In March 2002, KIXK signed on full time and launched a

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

format known as "the Bull." February 15, 2004, the station changed its call sign to KLBL. Several times after that, the call sign was changed: 08-15-2005 to KVEE; 02-22-2007 to KAJK; 04-29-2009 to KZTK; and 07-23-2013 to the current KAPW. In August 2005, KLBL dropped its

format and began stunting with "1999" by Prince played on loop for a week. The last song "the Bull" played was " Goodbye Says It All" by Blackhawk. This led to the launch of a

Rhythmic Adult Contemporary Rhythmic adult contemporary, often abbreviated as rhythmic AC or RAC, is an adult contemporary radio format. The format focuses primarily on rhythmic contemporary, rhythmic hits aimed towards an adult audience, often resembling a mixture of the cla ...

format as V-99.3. This format lasted until March 2007 when it was dropped for Adult Hits "Jack-FM", which was from the "Jack-FM" national feed. In Spring 2009, the station switched to a talk format as "99.3 Talk FM" with the KZTK call letters. On February 15, 2013, KZTK dropped its talk format and began stunting. The next day (February 16), KZTK launched a contemporary hit radio format, branded as "Power 99.3". The first song played on Power 99.3 was "Scream & Shout" by will.i.am and Britney Spears. In Fall 2014, 99.3 (now KAPW) flipped to a Spanish Adult Contemporary format as "Mega 99.3." Eventually, KAPW changed to a

format but kept the "Mega" name.

References

External links

APW Radio stations established in 1997 Regional Mexican radio stations in the United States {{Texas-radio-station-stub