KMLE (107.9 FM) is a commercial radio station, licensed to Chandler, Arizona, and serving the Phoenix metropolitan area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs a country music radio format. The studios and offices are on North Central Avenue in Downtown Phoenix. The transmitter is off Road D in South Mountain Park amid other towers for Phoenix-area FM and TV stations. It has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 96,000 watts (100,000 with

beam tilt Beam tilt is used in radio to aim the main lobe of the vertical plane radiation pattern of an antenna below (or above) the horizontal plane. The simplest way is mechanical beam tilt, where the antenna is physically mounted in such a manner a ...

). KMLE broadcasts in the

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

hybrid format. Its HD2 subchannel carries a younger-targeting country format titled "Country Thunder."

History

Early years

KMLE's first owners got a

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

from the Federal Communications Commission in 1979, to build a new FM station under the call sign KLRG. Those call letters were never used, and the owners eventually acquired the KMLE call sign on June 18 of that year. The station officially

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature, placing one's name on a document * Signature (disambiguation) * Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice * Digital signature A dig ...

the air on April 18, 1980. The station was owned by Radio KMLE, Inc., with George T. Wilson serving as President and General Manager. At first, KMLE aired an easy listening format. For most of the 1980s, it was a

brokered time Brokered programming (also known as time-buy and blocktime) is a form of broadcast content in which the show's producer pays a radio or television station for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot comm ...

Christian radio Christian radio is a Christian media radio format that focus on programming with a Christian message. Many such broadcasters play contemporary Christian music, though many programs include sermons, radio dramas, as well as news and talk progra ...

outlet. National and local religious leaders would pay the station a fee for half hour segments of airtime, during which they could ask for donations to their radio ministry.

Switch to country

On October 24, 1988, Shamrock Broadcasting purchased the station and changed the station's format to country music as "Camel Country". At the time, KNIX-FM was often the leading station in the Phoenix ratings, having been a country outlet since 1969, first under the ownership of singer and TV host Buck Owens and later

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly 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 fou ...

, now known as iHeartMedia. Since then, KMLE and KNIX have been locked in a long time battle for Phoenix country listeners. Occasionally there would be a third country station in Phoenix as well, but those attempts did not last more than a few years, with KMLE and KNIX often trading the lead among country listeners.

Ownership changes

In 1997, KMLE was acquired by Chancellor Media, which later merged into AMFM, Inc. In 2000, the station came under the ownership of the Infinity Broadcasting Corporation. Infinity was later merged into

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...

. On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom. The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th.

On-air staff

As of April 6, 2022 KMLE @ 107.9 is home to Gunner & Cheyenne in the morning drive, Katie & Company in middays, Kimo in the afternoon drive home and Rob & Holly at night.

HD Radio

KMLE broadcasts in the

format. The main signal is a simulcast of KMLE's country music programming. At first, the HD2 signal carried Tim and Willy's Classic Country. Tim and Willy were terminated from the radio station during the summer of 2012. The HD2 subchannel now carries "Country Thunder." In November and December, it switches to all-

Christmas music Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...

, with only a few

public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...

s per hour and no commercials. On February 23, 2022, KMLE added The Bet to its HD3 subchannel.

References

External links

* {{Entercom MLE Country radio stations in the United States Mass media in Chandler, Arizona Mass media in Maricopa County, Arizona Radio stations established in 1980 1980 establishments in Arizona Audacy, Inc. radio stations