KEEZ-FM (99.1 FM, "Z99") is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of

Mankato, Minnesota Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, Blue Earth, Nicollet County, Minnesota, Nicollet, and Le Sueur County, Minnesota, Le Sueur counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is the county seat of Blue Earth County, Minnesota. The ...

, and serving the Minnesota River Valley. The station broadcasts a

hot adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

format. The station is owned by

Alpha Media Alpha Media LLC is a radio broadcasting company based in Portland, Oregon, and led by Bob Proffitt. The group does business under the Alpha Media name. It was formed from the merger of Alpha Broadcasting, L&L Broadcasting, and Main Line Broadc ...

, through licensee Alpha 3E Licensee LLC, along with

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

s KYSM-FM,

KRBI-FM KRBI-FM (105.5 FM, "River 105") is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of St. Peter, Minnesota and broadcasting to the Mankato area and the Minnesota River Valley. It currently airs a classic hits music format. The stati ...

and KMKO-FM.

History

The station was granted license on May 15, 1968, as KEYC-FM. The station was started by

Lee Enterprises Lee Enterprises, Inc. is a publicly traded American media company. It publishes 72 daily newspapers in 25 states, and more than 350 weekly, classified, and specialty publications. Lee Enterprises was founded in 1890 by Alfred Wilson Lee and is b ...

, which also owned

KEYC-TV KEYC-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Mankato, Minnesota, United States, affiliated with CBS and Fox. It is owned by Gray Media alongside low-power, dual NBC/ CW+ affiliate KMNF-LD (channel 7). The two stations share stud ...

. The station was sold in 1977, to Faribault County Broadcasting Co. for $200,000, principally owned by Paul C. Hedberg and his wife. Burke B. Bartell was General manager until 1980's. The station was a

CHR/Top 40 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 ...

station by the mid-1980s, and then shifted to a

hot AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, ...

format in August 1992. Hedberg Broadcasting sold the station in 1993, to Nolan Broadcast Group. From January 1993 to the fall of 2000, KEEZ was owned and operated by Nolan Broadcast Group. KEEZ was managed by Michael E. Nolan, who along with his father Philip E. Nolan owned KAUS-AM/

KAUS-FM KAUS-FM (99.9 FM, "US 99.9") is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Austin, Minnesota, United States, the station serves the areas of Austin- Albert Lea, Mason City, Iowa, and Rochester, Minnesota. The station is ow ...

Austin, Minnesota Austin is a city in and the county seat of Mower County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 26,174 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The town was originally settled along the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River and has ...

. In 2000, the station was sold to Three Eagles Communications. KEEZ's longtime competitor, 96.7 KDOG, was a CHR station from 1984 until shifting to hot AC in 2000. KDOG returned to their CHR roots as "Hot 96.7" in September 2009. While Z99 was a hot AC format during the daytime (playing a mix of hit music from the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and today), it took a Top 40/CHR format at night, as the station added hip-hop to their playlist, thus it could be considered an

adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...

. By 2012, Z99 shifted to a full-fledged Top 40/CHR format. On October 31, 2018, at midnight, KEEZ began stunting with a continuous loop of Michael Jackson's “

Thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

” while branding as "Thriller 99.1". The next day, at 9 a.m., KEEZ relaunched with a

format as "Mix 99.1". In May 2024, Alpha Media let go most on-air staffers in their Mankato cluster, which includes KEEZ, as part of nationwide cuts. The following month, KMKO began airing

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The co ...

's "Hot AC" format. On November 11, 2024, at midnight, KEEZ reverted back to Top 40/CHR and the "Z99" moniker, with programming coming from Westwood One's "

Hits Now! Dial Global Local (formerly Waitt Radio Networks) was a national radio network based in Omaha, Nebraska, formerly owned by NRG Media and purchased in April 2008 by Triton Radio Networks. As a subsidiary of Dial Global, they specialized in 24 ...

" format. Ahead of the April 2025 discontinuation of "Hits Now!" by Westwood One, on April 8, KEEZ reverted back to hot AC.Hot AC , Westwood One
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References

External links

Z99 website
1968 establishments in Minnesota Alpha Media radio stations Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States Mankato, Minnesota Radio stations established in 1968 Radio stations in Minnesota {{Minnesota-radio-station-stub