Broadcast area Greater St. Louis ERP 100,000 watts Class C0 Frequency 102.5 MHz FM Owner CBS Radio | First air date 1973 HAAT 309 meters Facility ID 13507 City of license St. Louis Branding 102.5 KEZK | |
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Format Christmas music, Adult contemporary music Area St. Louis MO-IL, Metropolitan Statistical Area Slogan Today's Hits, Yesterday's Favorites | ||
KEZK-FM (102.5 FM, "102.5 KEZK") is an adult contemporary formatted radio station licensed to St. Louis, Missouri. The station serves the city of St. Louis as well as its suburbs in Missouri and Illinois. The station is owned by CBS Radio. The station is also broadcast on HD radio. The station's studios are in downtown St. Louis on Olive Street, while its transmitter is located in Shrewsbury.
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KEZK's HD2 subchannel broadcasts The Spirit, a contemporary Christian music format which includes faith-based music from mainstream artists along with artists from the contemporary Christian genre. The Spirit is also available online on the station's website. The Spirit is programmed by longtime on-air personality Stel Pontikes.
History
KEZK first went on-the-air as an easy-listening music station owned by Heftel Broadcasting in June 1973. Prior to that, the frequency had been occupied by listener-supported KDNA, later reincarnated as KDHX at 88.1 MHz. In 1991, KEZK shifted from the instrumental-based easy listening format to a soft adult contemporary format, playing music mostly from the 1970s and 1980s as well as some current soft hits.
Jeff Kapugi became KEZK's Program Director in November 2010, replacing Mark Edwards. The current program director is Marty Linck.
On December 27, 2010, the station rebranded from "Soft Rock 102.5 KEZK" to "Fresh 102.5", adopting the brand used on sister CBS stations WWFS New York, WCFS-FM Chicago and WIAD Washington, D.C.. However, while those three stations had playlists more closely resembling hot adult contemporary stations, KEZK continued to feature 1970s artists such as Billy Joel and Chicago, indicating the name "Fresh" was more of a rebranding than a format change; sister station KYKY already features Hot AC format.
On May 26, 2015, at 7:05 AM, after stunting that weekend with 1980s music (ending with "Kokomo" by The Beach Boys), KEZK dropped the "Fresh" handle, rebranding as "102.5 KEZK, Today's Hits and Yesterday's Favorites." The first song on 102.5 KEZK was "P.Y.T." by Michael Jackson. While many AC stations have moved more contemporary, KEZK continues to play artists from the 1980s, such Michael Jackson, Madonna, Billy Joel and Hall & Oates. The station features an all-1980s lunch hour and runs occasional 1980s weekends.
Awards
In 2007, the station was nominated for the top 25 markets Adult Contemporary station of the year award by Radio & Records magazine. Other nominees included WMJX in Boston, KOST in Los Angeles, WALK-FM in Nassau, New York, WLTW in New York, and WBEB in Philadelphia.
Programming
The morning show features Greg Hewitt with traffic from Sue Thomas (5-10am). Other on-air hosts include Trish Gazall (middays 10-3pm), Marty Linck with traffic from Sue Thomas (afternoons 3-7pm), and various djs in the evenings. Weekends include Elaine Everett, Jackie McCoy, Curt Allen, and Sabrina. KEZK airs the syndicated John Tesh radio show on Sunday mornings from 7-10am. KEZK had aired the syndicated Delilah 7pm-12am nightly until May 2012, when the station discontinued the program.