KXBL (99.5 FM) is a classic country

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 ...

known as "Big Country 99.5" ("Big Country" was a slogan 1170 KVOO now

KOTV KOTV-DT (channel 6) is a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Griffin Media alongside Muskogee, Oklahoma, Muskogee-licensed The CW, CW affiliate KQCW-DT (channel 19) and radio stations KOTV ...

used during its country music heyday). Located in

Henryetta, Oklahoma Henryetta is a city in Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 5,640 at the 2020 census. History Hugh Henry established a ranch on Creek Nation land in 1885. He soon found a deposit of coal, which he began using to fuel th ...

, it broadcasts to the

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

area. The station is owned by

Griffin Communications Griffin Media is an American media company based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The company began as a subsidiary of Muskogee-based Griffin Foods, which produces a line of pancake and waffle syrups and other foods. It owns Oklahoma's two large CBS ...

. Its studios are located in Downtown Tulsa and shares a transmitter with television station

KTPX-TV KTPX-TV (channel 44) is a television station licensed to Okmulgee, Oklahoma, United States, serving as the Ion Television outlet for the Tulsa area. It is owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company, E.W. Scripps ...

Mounds, Oklahoma Mounds is a town in Creek County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located just south of Tulsa; the town's population was 932 at the 2020 census. History The post office for this community was established in 1895 and originally named "Posey", fo ...

. KBXL broadcasts in the HD hybrid format.

History

In the 1970s & 1980's, the station was known as KGCG "The Green Country Giant" then later as KDLB "Double Barrel Country" (both as country stations). It later went dark, then came back on the air in 1985 as "Magic 99" (KQMJ) until 1991. After that, it became "99.5 The Storm" with calls KSTM. KSTM flipped to country in March 1993 and changed calls to KCKI as "Kick99". It changed calls in 2001 to KXBL and became "99.5 The Bull". In 2003, KXBL became a classic country station as "Big Country 99.5" its current format.

Journal Communications Journal Media Group (formerly Journal Communications) was a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based newspaper publishing company. The company's roots were first established in 1882 as the owner of its namesake, the ''Milwaukee Journal'', and expanded into br ...

(KXBL's former owner) and the

E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglom ...

(owner of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's local affiliate

KJRH-TV KJRH-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Okmulgee-licensed Ion Television outlet KTPX-TV (channel 44). KJRH-TV's studios are locate ...

) announced on July 30, 2014, that the two companies would merge to create a new broadcast company under the E. W. Scripps Company name that will own the two companies' broadcast properties, including KXBL. The transaction was completed in 2015, with shareholder and regulatory approvals. On June 26, 2018, parent company E. W. Scripps announced that it would sell KXBL - along with its sister stations, KBEZ, KFAQ,

KHTT KHTT (106.9 FM broadcasting, FM, "106.9 K-HITS") is a Contemporary hit radio, top 40 mainstream (CHR) radio station city of license, licensed to Muskogee, Oklahoma, Muskogee, Oklahoma, and serving the Tulsa metropolitan area. It is owned by Gr ...

, and KVOO to

. Griffin began operating the stations under a

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...

on July 30, and completed the purchase October 1; the company already owned

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

affiliate

KOTV-DT KOTV-DT (channel 6) is a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Griffin Media alongside Muskogee, Oklahoma, Muskogee-licensed The CW, CW affiliate KQCW-DT (channel 19) and radio stations KOTV ...

and CW affiliate

KQCW-DT KQCW-DT (channel 19) is a television station licensed to Muskogee, Oklahoma, United States, serving the Tulsa area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Griffin Media alongside CBS affiliate KOTV-DT (channel 6) and radio stations KOTV (1 ...

. KXBL originated a daily midday program with country music star and area native

Joe Diffie Joe Logan Diffie (December 28, 1958 – March 29, 2020) was an American country music singer and songwriter. After working as a demo (music), demo singer in the mid 1980s, he signed with Epic Records' Nashville division in 1990. Between then and ...

, which aired until his death. The program was recorded from Nashville and from his tour stops.

References

External links

XBL Classic country radio stations in the United States Griffin Media {{Oklahoma-radio-station-stub