KMDL (97.3 FM, "97.3 The Dawg") is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

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 ...

Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette ( , ) is the most populous city in and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, Lafayette Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located along the Vermilion River (Louisiana), Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's List of municipaliti ...

. It 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 and is owned by

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 ...

. Its studios are located on Bertrand Road in Lafayette, and its transmitter is off Guillot Road in Youngsivlle.Radio-Locator.com/KMDL
/REF> The station is an

affiliate Affiliation or affiliate may refer to: * Affiliate (commerce), a legal form of entity relationship used in Business Law * Affiliation (family law), a legal form of family relationship * Affiliate marketing * Affiliate network or affiliation platfo ...

of the New Orleans Saints Radio Network.

History

KMDL began broadcasting August 1, 1981, at 97.7 MHz.Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1984 When it

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

, it had a 3,000 watt signal, a fraction of its current output. It concentrated on Kaplan-area listeners with a signal that was hard to hear in Lafayette. In 1991, in an effort to serve listeners in the more lucrative Lafayette radio market, KMDL upgraded to 40,000 watts and relocated to 97.5 MHz. The move lasted for a short time, however, as interference forced the station to return to 97.7 until it was found that the station could move to 97.3 interference-free. KMDL has been playing country music since first signing on as "K-Middle," in reference to 97.7 appearing in the middle of the FM dial on an analog radio. After relocating to 97.3, KMDL dropped the "K-Middle" branding and identified only using its frequency and call letters. It later shifted from a traditional country format to a current hit-based country sound in September 1995. It began identifying as "the Dawg," a reference to

University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a Public university, public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus Universi ...

Bulldog The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is a stocky, muscular dog of medium size, with a large head, thick folds of skin around the face and shoulders and a rel ...

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

. (The university has since switched its sports teams' names to the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns.)

HD radio

Ibiquity iBiquity Digital Corporation was a company formed by the merger of USA Digital Radio and Lucent Digital Radio. Based in Columbia, Maryland, with additional offices in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, Los Angeles, California, and Auburn Hills, Michigan, ...

-licensed station, KMDL began broadcasting using

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...

technology in November 2007. Currently, KMDL does not offer additional

subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compressi ...

programming.

References

External links

{{coord, 30.049, N, 91.997, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title Radio stations in Louisiana Country radio stations in the United States Townsquare Media radio stations 1981 establishments in Louisiana Radio stations established in 1981