KXMX
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
KXMX is a multi-ethnic, brokered time AM radio station licensed to Anaheim, California, and broadcasting at a frequency of 1190. It is owned by Salem Communications as a sister station to KFSH and KRLA.
Among the languages of shows on KXMX are Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Tagalog. It can be thought of as a radio version of KSCI television.
[edit] Station history
This station began as KEZY, an easy-listening station known as "K-Easy." The station later became an Orange County top 40 powerhouse featuring such personalities as Mark Denis, Mike Wagner and other disc jockeys. The station's address at the time was the same as its assigned frequency: 1190 East Ball Road.
In the late 1970s, programmer Dave Foreman dropped top-40 in favor of an adventurous semi-alternative rock format. The slogan was "Kick-Ass Rock and Roll," which contrasted with 95.9 KEZY-FM's light-rock format and a related slogan, "KEZY-FM kicks back; KEZY-AM kicks ass." After a few years the station once again changed formats, first to news (as KNWZ), then to an adult rock format known simply as "12." ("KEZY Anaheim is 12.") This format was abandoned in the early 1980s and it briefly became a top-40 station again.
Then, in the late 1980s, it was KNWZ (K-News), with, of course, an all-news format for most of the day. It broadcast a few games of the Los Angeles Kings hockey team during conflicts with KLAC, the Kings' flagship station at the time. In fact, in one of those games (October 15, 1989), Wayne Gretzky established the National Hockey League's all-time point-scoring record. In 1987 and '88, KNWZ was an affiliate of RTV Sports, one of the first all-sports radio networks in America. Steve DeSaeger provided local sports updates during RTV programs, which aired seven nights a week.
In the mid-1990s, Anaheim Broadcasting, a local company that had been the owner, sold the station to Jacor, which later merged with Clear Channel Communications. In 1997, Clear Channel sold KXMX to Salem because it had exceeded the Federal Communications Commission limit as to how many stations it could own in the greater Los Angeles market. (Anaheim is still in business as the owners of FM stations KOLA and KCAL in the Inland Empire.)
The KXMX call sign was derived from KXMX, a sister adult contemporary station that was the aforementioned KEZY-FM. When that outlet became KFSH (the Fish) in 2001, the calls were re-assigned to 1190 AM. (Today, KEZY can be found on 1240AM in San Bernardino, California under separate ownership.)
Other previous call signs include KPRZ ("K-Praise") and KORG ("K-Orange").
[edit] External links
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