KPTT

For the airport in Pratt, Kansas assigned the ICAO code KPTT, see Pratt Industrial Airport.
KPTT
City Denver, Colorado
Broadcast area Denver–Boulder
Branding 95.7 The Party
Slogan Denver's #1 Hit Music Station
Frequency 95.7 MHz (also on HD Radio)
95.7 HD2 for "Evolution"
Translator(s) 94.1 K231AA (Boulder)
First air date 1968 (as KMYR at 95.5)
Format Top 40 (CHR)
ERP 100,000 watts
HAAT 346 meters
Class C0
Facility ID 48967
Transmitter coordinates 39°43′59″N 105°14′10″W / 39.73306°N 105.23611°W / 39.73306; -105.23611
Callsign meaning KParTy (T)
Former callsigns KMYR (1968-1975)
KHOW-FM (1975-1976)
KXKX (1976-1980)
KHOW-FM (1980-1983)
KPKE (1983-1987)
KSYY (1987–1991)
KHOW-FM (1991–1993)
KHIH (1993–2000)
KFMD (2000–2005)
KMGG (2005–2006)
Former frequencies 95.5 MHz (1968-1970)
Owner iHeartMedia, Inc.
(Citicasters Licenses, Inc.)
Sister stations KBCO, KBPI, KHOW, KDSP, KOA, KRFX, KTCL, K300CP
Webcast Listen Live
Website 957theparty.com

KPTT (95.7 FM) is a commercial radio station located in Denver, Colorado airing a Top 40 (CHR)) music format branded as 95.7 The Party. Owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., the station has studios in Southeast Denver, while the transmitter site is atop Lookout Mountain in Golden.

History

KHOW/adult contemporary formats

KPTT signed on in 1968 as MOR KMYR, which was at 95.5 before moving to its current frequency in 1970. It went through a succession of adult contemporary music formats as KHOW-FM (1975–76, 1980–83, and 1991–93), and KXKX (1977–80). 95.7 FM was (and continues to be) co-owned with its long-time sister station KHOW. The stations were owned by Doubleday and Company until 1981 when Doubleday sold the KHOW stations to Metromedia.

KPKE/KSYY

In 1983, KHOW-FM's format was changed to Top 40 (CHR) as KPKE, All Hit 96 FM, Denver's Brand New Peak. KPKE had some of the highest ratings in the market. In 1986, all of Metromedia's stations, including KPKE, were spun off into a new company titled Metropolitan Broadcasting. In 1987, KPKE changed back to adult contemporary, this time as KSYY, "Sunny 95.7". In April 1988, Legacy Broadcasting, owned by Robert F.X. Sillerman, bought Metropolitan. Two months later, Command Communications bought the station. In November 1989, Viacom bought the station.

Smooth Jazz 95.7

In October 1993, shortly after Noble Broadcast Group acquired the station, KHOW-FM adopted the smooth jazz format and KHIH calls.[1] (KHIH was on 94.7 FM until Salem purchased the station that same month and dropped it for a religious format.) In 1996, Noble merged with Jacor, as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. In 1999, Jacor would merge with Clear Channel Communications (now known as iHeartMedia).

95.7 Kiss FM

On September 1, 2000, KHIH changed to Mainstream Top 40 as KFMD, "95.7 KISS FM", giving the market its first regular Top 40 outlet since KHHT's demise in 1997. (The smooth jazz format was picked up by KCKK 104.3 later that day.)[2] But after four years, their attempts at taking out both rhythmic Top 40 KQKS and adult Top 40 KALC would work against them, resulting in KFMD flipping to KMGG, a Hispanic Urban format known as "Mega 95-7", on April 27, 2005.[3]

Mega 95-7

KMGG was also one of 4 FM stations targeting the Mile High City's Hispanic population, the other three being KJMN, KKCS and KXPK. But unlike the latter three, KMGG was more focused on the bilingual-speaking second and third generation Hispanics. They managed to take advantage of KQKS' decision to hold off on certain Reggaeton and Hispanic hip-hop tracks. However, this didn't help the stations ratings, as it was continually ranked low in the Arbitron ratings.

The Party as Rhythmic AC

On September 18, 2006, at midnight, after ending its "Sunday Night Sabor" show and playing "My Way" by Frank Sinatra, KMGG became KPTT, a Rhythmic Adult Contemporary format targeting females ages 25–49 and billed itself as "95-7 The Party." Their first song was P!nk's "Get The Party Started".[4][5] When it was airing the format, it was more hip-hop friendly (and at times, even leaning towards a Rhythmic Top 40), playing old school and some disco and R&B, mostly trying to target the market's White, Hispanic, and small African-American audiences, as well as the older audience of KQKS, and to fill the adult-targeting Rhythmic void after KDJM (which aired a rhythmic oldies format (similar to Rhythmic AC)) changed in December 2005. The station aired a Sunday-Thursday night slow jams program called "Between The Sheets". The station also served as the Denver outlet for Whoopi Goldberg's syndicated morning show,[6] which was produced by Premiere Radio Networks, whose parent company Clear Channel also owns KPTT. The show was discontinued in 2008 when Whoopi quit the show.

Back to Top 40

On May 15, 2009, due to low ratings,[7] the station changed back to Top 40 (CHR). Morning show host Issa, who took over the morning drive slot after the cancellation of Whoopi's show, was moved to middays and was replaced by Johnjay & Rich, who are syndicated from KZZP in Phoenix, Arizona. There was also another top 40 station in Denver that arrived before KPTT's change to top 40, which is KONN (now KFCO), owned by Max Media.

As a Rhythmic

By March 2010, KPTT shifted to Rhythmic Top 40 altogether, thus putting it in direct competition with KQKS. On November 1, 2010, Johnjay & Rich were dropped from morning drive and were replaced with a music-intensive morning show hosted by former night host Chino. At the same time, the station introduced a new logo, which is loosely based on KYLD in San Francisco. This shift to Rhythmic Top 40 has proven to be its most successful, giving KQKS a serious competitor.

Returning to Top 40

By the Fall of 2014, KPTT began making a transition back to a Top 40 (CHR) direction with the inclusion of more Pop tracks while maintaining a Rhythmic presentation, which in turn has helped the station overtake KQKS in terms of ratings and audience cumes. The transition became official by April 2015, when Billboard moved KPTT from the Rhythmic Panel to the Top 40 (CHR) panel. Mediabase would follow suit in May 2015. The following month, KPTT adopted the "Denver's #1 Hit Music Station" slogan. In November 2015, the station brought in a new morning show, "The JJ Kincaid Show."

The current weekday airstaff includes: JJ Kincaid (5AM-10AM)
Angela Cortez (10AM-3PM)
Deuce (3PM-7PM)
Dreena (7PM-Midnight)

KPTT-HD2

In July 2006, KPTT's HD2 subcarrier signed on with a format focusing on Spanish Oldies. In September 2006, they replaced the format with KPTT's previous Hispanic rhythmic format. This was later replaced with "Pride Radio", which targeted the LGBT community; in the Summer of 2012, this was replaced with "Club Phusion" which airs dance music. On March 31, 2013, "Club Phusion" ended and was replaced with "Evolution" which airs a Dance/EDM music format. [8]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1993/RR-1993-10-29.pdf
  2. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2000/RR-2000-09-08.pdf
  3. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2005/RR-2005-05-06.pdf
  4. ↑ http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/14399/whoopi-does-mornings-as-kmgg-denver-flips-to-95-7-
  5. ↑ http://www.radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?481851-Denver-Welcome-to-The-Party-The-New-95-7-The-Party
  6. ↑ http://www.whoopi.com/splash, Retrieved on 2007/04/21.
  7. ↑ Roberts, Michael (May 1, 2009). "George McFly of the Party on being laid off by Clear Channel Denver". Westword. Village Voice Media. Retrieved May 3, 2009.
  8. ↑ http://www.hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=71
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.