WGKX (105.9 FM, "Kix 106") is a

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 ...

formatted

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 ...

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

. It is owned by

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdi ...

. The station's studios are located at the Memphis Radio Group building in East Memphis, and the transmitter site is in Cordova, Tennessee.

History

The station began in 1968 as WHBQ-FM, sister to

WHBQ (AM) WHBQ (560 kHz) – branded ''Sports 56 WHBQ'' – is a commercial sports AM radio station licensed to serve Memphis, Tennessee. Owned by Flinn Broadcasting, the station covers the Memphis metropolitan area, and is the local affiliate for Fox ...

560 AM and

WHBQ-TV WHBQ-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with the Fox network and owned by Imagicomm Communications. The station's studios are located on South Highland Street (near the campus of the Univers ...

, Channel 13. It was originally owned by

RKO General RKO General Inc. (previously General Teleradio Inc. and RKO Teleradio Pictures Inc.) was an American broadcasting company that, from 1952 through 1991, served as the main holding company for the noncore businesses of the General Tire and Rubber C ...

, until 1972, when it was sold to new owners who flipped the station to easy listening music and adopted the WEZI calls on January 12, 1973. By 1983, after several ownership changes, the station became owned by Barnstable Broadcasting, which adopted the current call letters, format and the name KIX 106. In February, 1986 Barnstable hired the first known husband/wife team in morning radio, Andy and Debbie Montgomery, who enjoyed top ratings from 1986 until a two-year sabbatical in 1995 when they pursued other radio interests, returning from 1997 until April, 2003.

Citadel Broadcasting Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company founded and developed by Larry Wilson. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the count ...

bought the station and three others from Barnstable in 2004. Duane Shannon and Abby Summers, known as Duane and Abby, previously on

WOGT WOGT (107.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial radio station city of license, licensed to East Ridge, Tennessee. It is owned by Cumulus Media and serves the Chattanooga, TN-GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, Chattanooga metropolitan area. The s ...

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

, replaced Brian Elder and Jay Young in the morning late in 2010. Duane and Abby are one of the few married morning teams. Citadel merged with

on September 16, 2011.

References

External links

* Country radio stations in the United States GKX RKO General Cumulus Media radio stations Radio stations established in 1968 1968 establishments in Tennessee {{Tennessee-radio-station-stub