KSLZ (107.7

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 ...

''Z107-7'') is a

Commercial radio Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship, for example. It was the United States' first model ...

station in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. It airs a

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 and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. Z107-7 carries two syndicated programs on weekdays, ''The Jubal Show'' from KBKS

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

is heard in morning

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

while ''

On Air with Ryan Seacrest ''On Air with Ryan Seacrest'' is a weekday radio syndication, syndicated radio program hosted by Ryan Seacrest. It was launched in 2004 as a drive time show at the same time on Los Angeles contemporary hit radio, Top 40 station 102.7 KIIS-FM a ...

'' is heard middays. The station's studios are on Foundry Way near

Interstate 64 Interstate 64 (I-64) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its western terminus is at Interstate 70, I-70, U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and U.S. Route 61, US 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern ter ...

in St. Louis. KSLZ is a Class C0 station. It has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

(ERP) of 100,000 watts, the maximum for most stations. Its

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is off MacKenzie Road in the Shrewsbury neighborhood of St. Louis, amid the

towers A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

for area FM and TV stations. KSLZ uses

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, its

digital 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 compress ...

carries "

Pride Radio Pride Radio (United States) is an LGBTQ+ electronic dance music and top 40 radio network launched by Clear Channel Communications Format Lab under the direction of Michael Albl, who conceived the format, on terrestrial HD2 & HD3 stations and on ...

," an

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...

service for

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

listeners. KSLZ HD1

History

1968–1979: Early years

The station

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 ...

the air on . The original

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

was KACO, and it was owned by the Apollo Broadcasting Company. It aired an

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 ...

(AC) and middle of the road (MOR) format. A fire at the transmitter took the station off the air in January 1970. Two months later, the station returned to the air, changed its call letters to KGRV, and relaunched as "Music for Groovy Adults," offering a more upbeat AC format. This lasted until 1972, when it once again changed call letters, this time to KKSS, and rebranded as "Kiss 108". By 1974, KKSS switched to

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 ...

. A year later, KKSS flipped to an R&B format, dubbed "Black in Stereo". In February 1979, KKSS altered its R&B format and adopted the moniker "Studio 108," with a hybrid

disco music Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightlife, particularly in African-American, Italian-American, Gay and Latino communities. Its sound features four-on-the-floor ...

and R&B format, competing with WZEN (now

KATZ-FM KATZ-FM (100.3 Hertz, MHz, "The Beat") is a commercial radio, commercial radio station city of license, licensed to Bridgeton, Missouri, and serving Greater St. Louis. It broadcasts a mainstream urban radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, I ...

1979–1997: CHUrban/UC

In June 1979, the call sign was changed to KMJM and rebranded as ''"The New Majic 108 FM, Where the Music is the Majic!"''. KMJM Was catered to both African-American and Caucasian-American listeners as the St. Louis

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...

's first "CHUrban" station (a forerunner to the

Rhythmic Contemporary Rhythmic contemporary, also known as Rhythmic Top 20, Rhythmic Top 30, Rhythmic Top 40, Rhythmic CHR or rhythmic crossover, is a primarily American music-radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip-hop and upbeat R&B hit ...

format). At the time, the station was owned by Keymarket Communications. KMJM was ranked among the top five stations in the St. Louis

Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...

ratings during the 1980's, as it shifted towards a mainstream UC direction. In May 1988, KMJM was sold to Noble Communications of

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

for $19 million. KMJM's FM signal was one of the best in the St. Louis area, as the station emerged as the top urban station in the market.

Jacor Jacor Communications was a media corporation, existing between 1987 and 1999, which owned many radio stations in the United States. In 1998, Jacor was purchased by Clear Channel Communications, now iHeartMedia, for $2.8 billion. Jacor Communicat ...

bought the station in 1997.

1997–present: Top 40

On October 20, 1997, at midnight, after 18 years on 107.7 FM, KMJM was moved to recently purchased sister station WCBW (104.9 FM), which aired a

Christian music Christian music is a genre of music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christianity, Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence and lament, and its f ...

format. After a 12-hour

stunt A stunt is an unusual, difficult, dramatic physical feat that may require a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually for a public audience, as on television or in theaters or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Befo ...

with a looped heartbeat and announcements redirecting KMJM listeners to the new frequency and the launch of a new format on 107.7 later that day, KSLZ and its current top 40/CHR format, branded as "Z107-7", debuted. The flip was to fill a format hole left by WKBQ, who dropped the format for modern AC on January 24 of that year. The final song on "Majic" was "Good Girls" by Joe, while the first song on "Z" was " Get Ready For This" by 2 Unlimited.

Morning shows

At first, KSLZ was the St. Louis affiliate for the MJ Morning Show, based at

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

sister station WFLZ, and the only affiliate for the show outside of the Eastern Time Zone. After the show ended in February 2012, KSLZ became the St. Louis affiliate for

The Bobby Bones Show ''The Bobby Bones Show'' is an American, nationally syndicated country music radio show aired during the morning hours. The Bobby Bones Show, which originally aired from Austin, Texas, now broadcasts from studios at WSIX-FM in Nashville. Premie ...

. After Bones relaunched his show to air on

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

stations in February 2013, KSLZ replaced him with

Elvis Duran and the Morning Show ''Elvis Duran and the Morning Show'' (formerly known as ''The Z Morning Zoo'') is an American syndicated weekday morning radio program hosted by Elvis Duran. The show originates from the studios of Newark-licensed WHTZ in New York City, a To ...

. In December 2017, KSLZ dropped Duran for local host Jordan DeSocio. As part of company-wide layoffs, DeSocio exited the station in November 2020, and was replaced by "The Jubal Show", based at

sister station KBKS.

HD Radio

KSLZ made the conversion to

in 2006. 107.7-HD2 initially carried a New CHR format branded as "Z107-7 Amped." On June 22, 2016, KSLZ-HD2 switched to "

References

External links

* * {{IHeartMedia 1968 establishments in Missouri Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States IHeartMedia radio stations Radio stations established in 1968 SLZ