KVLY (FM)

KVLY (107.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting an adult contemporary format.[1] Licensed to Edinburg, Texas, United States, the station serves the Rio Grande Valley area. The station is currently owned by Entravision.[2] It shares a studio with its sister stations, while its transmitter is located near Scissors, Texas.

KVLY
CityEdinburg, Texas
Broadcast areaRio Grande Valley
Frequency107.9 MHz
Branding107.9 RGV FM
Slogan"More Hits. More Variety."
Programming
FormatAdult contemporary
Ownership
OwnerEntravision Communications
(Entravision Holdings, LLC)
KFRQ, KKPS, KNVO-FM
History
First air date
September 12, 1974 (as KESI)
Former call signs
KESI (1974–1979)
Call sign meaning
Rio Grande VaLleY
Technical information
Facility ID67188
ClassC1
ERP100,000 watts
HAAT257 meters
Transmitter coordinates
26°5′18.00″N 98°3′44.00″W
Links
WebcastListen Live
Website1079rgvfm.com

History

KVLY signed on September 12, 1974,[3] as KESI, owned by Lloyd Hawkins. He also owned KURV 710 AM, but after a fire destroyed the building both stations were housed in, Hawkins sold KESI, an "Easy Listening" format using an automation system and the Bonneville Beautiful Music format, to Henry B. Tippie. Tippie purchased the old Yazoo lawnmower sales and service building and renovated the building using the plans of chief engineer Mike Hales, who also designed the studios of KURV after the fire. Tippie then purchased radio station KRIO in McAllen and also KNCN, C101, in Corpus Christi.

Format

Initially, KVLY used to be a traditional Soft Adult Contemporary radio station, playing well-known hits dating back to the 1960s, even including a nightly "love songs" program. However, in recent years, KVLY began playing more contemporary hit radio (Top40).

Then 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.

KVLY was classified as a Hot Adult Contemporary radio station with a target audience of adults 18–49.

On August 31, 2009, KVLY moved the Billy Bush show to 10 pm in favor of a new local love songs program titled Heartbeats, airing from 7 to 10 pm (Monday–Friday nights). The Billy Bush show returned to the 7 pm – 11 pm hours in July 2010.

In August 2010, the station started playing more top hits, becoming more of a Mainstream Top 40 than a Modern AC. This was done in order to compete with rivals KBFM and XHAVO-FM. Mediabase & Nielsen BDS have since moved KVLY to the Contemporary Hit Radio 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 10 pm – midnight slot weeknights and 6 pm – midnight on Saturday nights. The show was eventually added to the 5 pm 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 8 pm – 10 pm, 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 (which have their playlists consisting of today's current music, often excluding reggaeton and bachata music from their playlists), the station included some reggaeton and bachata songs (which are often played on some Spanish radio stations), as well some non-top 40 music material, such as Red by Taylor Swift (which is a country song), and some songs that were no longer played on Top 40 radio stations, on its playlist.

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 recently carried The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show, replacing the local morning show of Alex and Meridee, before changing back to its previous AC format.

On April 13, 2020, KVLY changed their format from contemporary hit radio back to their previous adult contemporary format, branded as "107.9 RGV FM".[4] The change came two weeks after sister station KKPS changed their format from Regional Mexican to Bilingual Rhythmic CHR. Sister station KFRQ also shifted their format from Active rock to Classic rock 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 flipped to Christmas music 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. Making it the first Rio Grande Valley radio station, to play 24/7 Christmas music, since 2016 when Hot AC-formatted station KHKZ (owned by iHeartMedia) discontinued the tradition, after its sister station KQXX-FM (also owned by iHeartMedia) became of simulcast of KHKZ in 2015.

Branding names

KVLY's branding name was Mix 107.9 KVLY, but in March 2009 they changed the branding name to 107.9 Mix FM. In April 2020, they changed the branding name to 107.9 RGV FM.

Slogans

KVLY's slogan was "The Most Hit Music", but in January 2009 the slogan was changed to "The Valley's #1 Hit Music Station". And 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.

On-air personalities

Current

  • Roxy

Current competitors

  • KHKZ 106.3 FM Hot AC
  • KJAV 104.9 FM Spanish AC/CHR
  • KESO 92.7 FM Classic Hits

References

  1. "KVLY Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  2. "Station Information Profile". Arbitron. Archived from the original on 2010-03-01.
  3. "NEW FM STATION ON THE AIR". The Monitor. September 15, 1974. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  4. Entravision Flips KVLY To AC And Shifts KFRQ To Classic Rock Radioinsight - April 13, 2020
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