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KVLY (107.9 MHz) is a
commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
FM
radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission 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 radi ...
licensed to
Edinburg, Texas Edinburg ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hidalgo County, Texas, United States. Its population was 74,569 as of the 2010 census, and in 2019, its estimated population was 101,170, making it the second-largest city in Hidalgo County, and the ...
, and serving the
Rio Grande Valley The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. The ...
. The station is currently owned by
Entravision Communications Entravision Communications Corporation is an American media company based in Santa Monica, California. Entravision primarily caters to the Spanish-speaking Hispanic community and owns television and radio stations and outdoor media, in several ...
and broadcasts 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 present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...
radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...
, switching to
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 m ...
for part of December. It shares
studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design, ...
s and offices on North Jackson Road in McAllen with its
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: KFRQ, KKPS and KNVO-FM. KVLY 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 ...
(ERP) of 100,000
watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
s, the maximum for most FM stations in the U.S. The
transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to ...
is on East Levee Road South in Scissors, Texas.


History


Beautiful Music

On , the station first
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. It was owned by Lloyd Hawkins, with the
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 assig ...
KESI, representing an
easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, ...
format. It was
automated Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...
, carrying
beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator m ...
supplied by Bonneville. KESI played quarter hour sweeps of soft, mostly instrumental
cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...
s of popular songs, as well as
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
and
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...
show tunes. Hawkins also owned
KURV KURV (710 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Edinburg, Texas, and serving the Rio Grande Valley border area. It broadcasts a talk radio format and is owned by Grupo Multimedios, through licensee Leading Media Group Corp. The s ...
710 AM. After a fire destroyed the building housing both stations, Hawkins sold KESI to Henry B. Tippie. Tippie purchased the Yazoo lawnmower sales and service building and renovated it using the plans of chief engineer Mike Hales, who also designed the studios of KURV after the fire. Tippie then purchased radio station KRIO 910 AM in McAllen and also
KNCN KNCN (101.3 FM, "C101") is a radio station licensed to Sinton, Texas playing to the Corpus Christi metro area. It is under ownership of iHeartMedia. The station's studios and offices are located on Old Brownsville Road in Corpus Christi (near t ...
"C101" in Corpus Christi, Texas. In 1979, KESI switched its call letters to KVLY, representing the
Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio ...
ValLeY.


Adult Contemporary

As the beautiful music format began to age in the 1980s, KVLY made the transition to
soft 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 present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet s ...
and eliminated the instrumental music. It played well-known adult hits dating back to the 1960s, including a nightly "Love Songs" program. "Love Songs" was hosted by Rennae Valentine (Ivy Easterly), airing 60s, 70s, and 80s hit love ballads. Callers wishing to make special dedications could ask for specific titles. Rennae Valentine left in 2007 for Clear Channel’s (now
iHeartMedia 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 ...
) KTEX in
Weslaco, Texas Weslaco is a city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 41,103, and in 2020 the estimated population was 41,103. It is located at the southern tip of Texas in the Rio Grande Valley near the Mexi ...
. In 2008, KVLY cancelled "Love Songs" (which by then aired on Sunday–Thursday nights) in favor of more upbeat music and the new ''Top 8 at 8:00''. At this point, KVLY was classified as 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 present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...
radio station with a target audience of adults 18–49. On August 31, 2009, KVLY moved the Billy Bush show to 10pm in favor of a new local love songs program titled ''Heartbeats'', airing from 7 to 10pm (Monday–Friday nights). The Billy Bush show returned to the 7pm – 11pm hours in July 2010.


Top 40 era (2010–2020)

In August 2010, the station started playing more top hits, becoming more of a Mainstream Top 40. This was done in order to compete with rivals KBFM and XHAVO-FM.
Mediabase Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analyti ...
&
Nielsen BDS Broadcast Data Systems (also known as BDS or Luminate BDS), is a service that tracks radio, television and internet airplay of songs. The service, which is a unit of MRC Data, is a contributing factor to North American charts published by co-owne ...
moved KVLY to the
Contemporary Hit Radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...
panel by February 2011. In April 2011, KVLY ushered in a new program branded as "The Nightly Hook-Up" which consisted of the only live music mixing week nights and during the weekends. This was done in order to compete with rival KBFM and their pre-recorded mixshow in the evenings. The original programming for "The Nightly Hook-Up" began from the 10pm – midnight slot weeknights and 6pm – midnight on Saturday nights. The show was eventually added to the 5pm hour weekdays in order to counter other rival's shows at this time. On September 19, 2011, the station saw an increase in listeners and "The Nightly Hook-Up" was moved to the prime time slot weeknights during the premiere of "Nani's Neighborhood" from 8pm – 10pm, while keeping all other original times of "The Nightly Hook-Up" as established, thus sparking a "mix war" with rival KBFM. "The Nightly Hook-Up" was the only "live" mixshow in the McAllen-Brownsville-Harlingen market that allows listeners to instantly call in and request a song to be "mixed" in. In August 2011, Entravision Communications added Radio Production Director, AJ Leal to head up the Valley's only live mid-day program in the McAllen-Brownsville-Harlingen Radio market, instituting a new show, "New At Noon" in Spring 2012. The show's mission is to introduce never-before-heard songs (soon to be released for Radio play) first. In 2012, Program Director Alex Duran, gave the go-ahead to utilize AJ Leal's production capabilities to energize the imaging effect of 107.9 Mix FM and introduced a new "Mainstream Top 40" sound. In February 2015, AJ Leal was quietly removed from all duties at 107.9 Mix FM due to legal issues and was replaced with other on-air personalities filling in the noon spot. Unlike many Top 40 radio stations, the station included some
reggaeton Reggaeton (, ), also known as reggaetón and reguetón (), is a music style that originated in Panama during the late 1980s. It was later popularized in Puerto Rico. It has evolved from dancehall and has been influenced by American hip hop, ...
and bachata songs (which are often played on some Spanish radio stations). In December 2017, the staff was notified of budget cuts and thus led to the release of several on-air talents from KVLY and sister stations within the company. KVLY began carrying '' The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show'' from
KHKS KHKS (106.1 FM) is a Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex radio station broadcasting a Top 40 (CHR) format, licensed to Denton, Texas, and is under ownership of iHeartMedia, (formerly Clear Channel Communications). It is known as "Kiss FM". The station' ...
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
, replacing the local morning show of Alex and Meridee.


Second Adult Contemporary era (2020–present)

On April 13, 2020, KVLY changed its format from
contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...
back to the previous
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 present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...
format, branded as "107.9 RGV FM". The change came two weeks after sister station KKPS changed its format from
Regional Mexican Regional Mexican is a Latin music radio format encompassing the musical genres from the different parts of rural Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Genres include banda, country en español, Duranguense, grupero, mariachi, New Mex ...
to Bilingual Rhythmic CHR. Sister station KFRQ also shifted its format from
Active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge ...
to
Classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...
the same day but retained the “Q94.5” name. With the change, ''The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show'' was dropped and long time afternoon host Roxy was moved to mornings. KVLY had previously aired the AC format under the “Mix 107.9” name from the early 2000s until the late 2000s. KVLY is one of the few AC stations across the country to not have jingles on its station. On September 16, 2021, the station started airing “The 80’s at 8”, Monday–Friday at 8 am. The program is currently hosted by Roxy. In addition, the station started adding more 80’s songs to its
playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop. The term has sev ...
.


Christmas music

KVLY flipped to
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 m ...
on November 27, 2020, joining the many AC stations across the country that had already made the switch to 24/7 Christmas music in early November. That made it the first Rio Grande Valley radio station to play all Christmas music, since 2016 when Hot AC-formatted station KHKZ (owned by
iHeartMedia 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 ...
) discontinued the tradition. For the 2021 holiday season, the station did not switch to 24/7 Christmas music in November, choosing to flip to Christmas music on December 12, 2021 instead. For the 2022 holiday season the station switched to 24/7 Christmas music on December 1, 2022.


Branding and Slogans

KVLY's branding name was Mix 107.9 KVLY, but in March 2009 the brand was switched to 107.9 Mix FM. In April 2020, the station changed the branding name to 107.9 RGV FM. KVLY's slogan was "The Most Hit Music", but in January 2009 the slogan was changed to "The Valley's #1 Hit Music Station". It changed once again in August 2009 to "Today's Modern Music". The slogan "The Valley's #1 Hit Music Station" was reintroduced in 2011 and "The Valley's Hit Music Channel" was added in mid-2012. With the station changing back to its previous AC format, the “More Hits. More Variety.” slogan was introduced in April 2020.


Previous logo


References


External links

{{Entravision Communications VLY Mainstream adult contemporary radio stations in the United States Edinburg, Texas Entravision Communications stations Radio stations established in 1974 1974 establishments in Texas