KMCN (94.7 FM) is a radio station licensed to

Clinton, Iowa Clinton is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, Iowa, United States. It borders the Mississippi River. The population was 24,469 as of 2020 United States census, 2020. Clinton, along with DeWitt, Iowa, DeWitt (also located in Clinto ...

and broadcasting an Adult Hits format under the branding ''Mac 94.7''. The transmitter for KMCN is co-located with the transmitter of sister AM station

KCLN KCLN (1390 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to serve the community of Clinton, Iowa. KCLN primarily airs an automated oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the sec ...

in northern Clinton. In addition to the music format, KMCN broadcasts selected local Clinton area programming, mainly remote broadcasts of occasional special broadcasts of community events.

History

Early history (1970 to 1998)

The current KMCN-FM went on-the-air as KCLN-FM 97.7 on December 7, 1970. The station used its KCLN-AM programming to

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

broadcasts in the early 1970's as many AM radio stations did in back during that period. From 1976 to 1978, the station experimented and flipped its format to a hybrid of

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

with live disc jockeys mostly independent of its sister station. Under the watchful eye of P.D. Bill "The Wildman" Warner, the station's moniker became "Rock 98", playing a blend of

Album Rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM broadcasting, FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of Rock music, rock albums and is currently associated ...

Disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

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 ...

as well as some

Oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

. On-Air Personalities at that time were: The Wildman, Fran Scheiden, Joel Craig, Mark Cooper, Bryan Bradford, Eugene Jeffreys, Mary Witt, Kim Long and Kelly Long. After that short experimental period, the station changed call letters and went to a "reel-to-reel" automated Top 40 format as KLNQ-FM in June 1978. Then the station reorganized and call letters were changed to KNJY-FM and became an Automated Adult Contemporary station on July 1, 1980. KNJY once more changed its call sign to back to KCLN-FM on June 15, 1987. Throughout those early years, the station aired

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 ...

beautiful Beautiful, an adjective used to describe things as possessing beauty, may refer to: Film and theater * ''Beautiful'' (2000 film), an American film directed by Sally Field * ''Beautiful'' (2008 film), a South Korean film directed by Juhn Jai-h ...

music, middle-of-the-road music,

music as "Rock 98" and

music formats. The station eventually switched frequencies to 94.7 FM on August 8, 1998, and at the same time adopted the call letters KZEG-FM. The current KMCN-FM call sign was adopted on November 2, 2005.

The Eagle 94.7 (1998 to 2005)

KZEG broadcast a

format from 1998 to 2005, and was known as ''The Eagle 94.7''. In November 2005, both KZEG and Muscatine-based sister station KWCC were owned by WPW Broadcasting, which later became Prairie Radio Communications.

The New MaC FM-93.1 and 94.7 (2005 to present)

The switch from country music to adult hits on both stations happened in November 2005, with the format branded as "93.1 and 94.7 Mac FM" KZEG changed its call letters to KMCN, for "Mac North", while KWCC changed its call letters to KMCS, for "Mac South". The stations target, as well as their home cities, the "

Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of five cities (originally Tri-Cities, later four, see #History, History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport, Iowa, Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, Bettendorf (the fifth to be included) in southeaster ...

" market along the

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

–

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

border. The music mix, meanwhile generally included pop, rock and soul from the early 1970s to the present day.

George Lowe George Edward Lowe (November 10, 1957 – March 2, 2025) was an American voice actor and comedian whose voice roles included Space Ghost on the animated series ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' and its spin-off, '' Cartoon Planet''. He continued ...

is the radio voice for Mac FM. On January 14, 2013, KMCS dropped from the simulcast and flipped to "Vintage Sound 93.1", airing classic album rock. KMCN continues on with the "Mac FM" format. The station also had a competitor of sorts with

KQCJ KQCJ (93.9 FM) is a commercial radio station, licensed to Cambridge, Illinois and serving the Quad Cities radio market. Known as "Planet 93.9" the station airs an alternative rock radio format. It is operated by Fletcher M. Ford, of Regional ...

, which had aired an adult hits format as "

Jack FM Jack FM is a radio network brand that is licensed by Sparknet Communications, with the exception of the European Union where it is licensed by Oxis Media. It plays an adult hits radio format, format, in most cases not using disc jockey, DJs. F ...

", but has since flipped to

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

as Planet 93.9.

References

External links

* * {{Quad Cities Radio MCN Radio stations in the Quad Cities Adult hits radio stations in the United States Clinton, Iowa