KCTR-FM (102.9

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

, "Cat Country 103") is a commercial radio station in

Billings, Montana Billings is the most populous Lists of populated places in the United States, city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, i ...

. KCTR airs a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

. Licensed to

, United States, the station serves the Billings area. The station is currently owned by Townsquare License, LLC.

History

The station began broadcasting in August 1979 as KOOK-FM, sister station to KOOK (970 AM). The new outlet used Schulke Radio Productions's automated beautiful music format with just eight commercial units an hour. KOOK-AM-FM was acquired by "Major" Dan Miller, a 25-year employee of the stations, and the Mesa Broadcasting Company of Chicago in 1983. Citing low support, KOOK-FM flipped to country as KBIT on January 16, 1984. The station returned to KOOK-FM on November 4, 1985, as part of a format and call sign trade between the AM and FM stations that moved country to AM and the former

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...

format on KOOK to FM. The move failed to generate increased interest in the stations, and Miller left the management group and KOOK. After the FM station improved in listenership over the course of 1987, KOOK-KBIT was sold again in 1988, to Citadel Associates of Phoenix. Citadel wasted little time changing the format on KOOK-FM back to country; KOOK and KBIT began simulcasting as KCTR-AM-FM, retiring the KOOK call letters from Billings radio after having been used since 1951. In October 2007, a deal was reached for KCTR-FM to be acquired by GAP Broadcasting II LLC (Samuel Weller, president) from

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

as part of a 57 station deal with a total reported sale price of $74.78 million. What eventually became

GapWest Broadcasting Gap Broadcasting Group was a group of companies that owned around 116 broadcast stations (including 1 low-power television station and 5 low-power stations) in 23 radio markets in northwestern and central southern United States in the late 2000s. ...

was folded into

Townsquare Media Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

on August 13, 2010.

References

External links

Official Website

Flash StreamMP3 Stream
CTR-FM Country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1979 1979 establishments in Montana Townsquare Media radio stations {{Montana-radio-station-stub