KXRK (96.3 FM, branded as X96) is a commercial

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 ...

located in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

, United States, broadcasting an

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

music format to the Provo, Ogden, and

Salt Lake City metropolitan area The Salt Lake City metropolitan area is the metropolitan area centered on the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau currently define the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical ...

s. Owned by Broadway Media, the station's studios are located in

Downtown Salt Lake City Downtown (also called City Center) is the oldest district in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The grid plan, grid from which the entire city is laid out originates at Temple Square, the location of the Salt Lake Temple. Location Downtown S ...

and its transmitter site is located southwest of the city on

Farnsworth Peak Farnsworth Peak is a peak located on the northern end of the Oquirrh Mountains, Oquirrh Mountain range, approximately south east of Lake Point, Utah and south west of Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The mountain is named for Philo Farnswo ...

in the

Oquirrh Mountains The Oquirrh Mountains ( ) is a mountain range that runs north–south for approximately 30 miles (50 km) to form the west side of Utah's Salt Lake Valley, separating it from Tooele Valley. The range runs from northwestern Utah County– ...

History

KFMC (1966–1976)

KOVO, Inc., received the construction permit for a radio station on 96.1 MHz in Provo on May 9, 1966. The new FM outlet took the call letters KFMC and signed on February 14, 1968. KOVO and KFMC were placed in receivership in 1973, after Glenn C. Shaw sued co-owner Ashley J. Robison asking for a financial accounting of KOVO, Inc.'s operations; when the case could not be settled, the stations were ordered into receivership and bids were accepted to buy the company. Both owners placed bids, but they were beaten out by First Media Corporation of

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, whose principal was a former Utah resident and which also had J.W. Marriott Jr. as an investor. However, First Media did not become the owner of KOVO-KFMC until 1976 because the other parties appealed the district court's decision all the way to the

Utah Supreme Court The Utah Supreme Court is the supreme court of the state of Utah, United States. It has final authority of interpretation of the Utah Constitution. The Utah Supreme Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, an associate chief justice ...

Adult contemporary (1976–1981)

First Media immediately made a mark on the operations of both stations, changing the call letters of KFMC to KAYK-FM on June 1, 1976. KAYK-AM-FM simulcasted as

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 ...

outlet "K-96". The stations remained a simulcast until 1980, when 960 AM broke off as KDOT.

Top 40 (1981–1988)

The call letters were changed to KFMY in 1981 and the station moved in 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 ...

direction. In 1987, First Media announced it would sell its 11 radio stations, including KFMY-AM-FM, to a partnership of Cook Inlet Region, Inc., a company principally owned by Alaska Natives, and Whitcom Partners, a group of New York investors led by the

Whitney family The Whitney family is a prominent American family descended from non-Norman English immigrant John Whitney (1592–1673), who left London in 1635 and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. The historic family mansion in Watertown, known as The Elm ...

; this gave First Media a tax break under policies that promoted minority ownership of radio stations.

Oldies (1988–1992)

Under Cook Inlet, KFMY-FM flipped to

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

in 1988 as KZOL. The Great Stock Company of Vast International Import acquired KFMY-KZOL in 1990 from Cook Inlet for $972,000.

Alternative (1992–present)

The slumping KZOL, however, went through a major change in 1992, precipitated as much by events at another Salt Lake City-area station as by its own poor performance. In late 1991, 23 of the 25 disc jockeys at alternative outlet KJQN-FM (95.5), known as "KJQ", quit after the station hired a new general manager, making them question the ownership's commitment to its "modern music" format. The result was that on February 13, 1992, with the financial backing of concert promoter J. C. McNeil, many of the former KJQ airstaff, organizing as the Acme Broadcasting Company, started a new alternative rocker on the former KZOL as KXRK "X96". The Great Stock Company said that because of KZOL's unsatisfactory ratings performance as an adult contemporary outlet, it was willing to entertain brokering the station to Acme, which retained KZOL's sales and office staff but none of its air personalities. The result was an unusual format war between "new rock outlets" which ended when KJQN-FM flipped to CHR in October. Ex-KJQ DJs on the new X96 included Bill Allred (mornings), Dom Casual (mornings), Andrea Gappmayer (mid-day), Mike Summers (afternoon), Todd Nuke'em (evening) and Chet Tapp (overnight). Acme acquired the station from Great Stock in 1993 for $925,000; the application included a copy of a lawsuit filed by the former KJQN-FM, alleging that its former employees took equipment, including a live truck known as the "Milk Beast", when they defected, and that the ex-KJQ staffers used KJQN-owned trademarks and made defamatory remarks about their former station. Since fall 1995, X96 has hosted an annual all-day music festival called the Big Ass Show (BASh) featuring nationally touring alternative and punk bands, as well as providing a stage for local bands. In 1996, X96 underwent a major technical overhaul, moving to 96.3 MHz from a transmitter on

, increasing its coverage area (particularly in Utah County). In April 1998, Acme sold KXRK to Simmons Media Group. Simmons moved X96 to studios located on the corner of Broadway and 2nd West in Salt Lake City. In its 2006 summer double issue, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' named KXRK one of five "awesome rock outlets" that were thriving in their markets despite a recent contraction in rock radio stations across the United States. In 2014, Broadway Media acquired Simmons Media Group for $11 million after having taken over operations the previous year. Broadway moved X96 and its sister stations to new studios on 50 W. Broadway (300 S.) in downtown Salt Lake City; the company currently houses seven stations at this location.

References

External links

KXRK official website
* {{Modern Rock Radio Stations in Utah XRK Alternative rock radio stations in the United States Modern rock radio stations in the United States Mass media in Salt Lake City Radio stations established in 1968 1968 establishments in Utah