City Hurst, Texas First air date 1947 as KXOL | Frequency 1360 kHz Format Spanish | |
Broadcast area Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex Power 50,000 watts (day)
890 watts (night) | ||
KMNY (1360 AM, is a radio station in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, which broadcasts on 1360 kHz and is under ownership of Multicultural Broadcasting. As of February 2010, the station is broadcasting in Spanish, Portuguese, and Greek.
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Although during the day, the station has a 50,000 watt signal that covers the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex adequately, at night KMNY's signal is significantly weaker. Nighttime reception can be problematic outside the immediate Dallas-Fort Worth area due to more powerful stations broadcasting on identical or nearby frequencies from elsewhere in the U.S. and Mexico.
The early years
KMNY was established in 1947 as KXOL and featured a variety of entertainment programs and country music during its early years. From 1956 to 1976, KXOL played Top 40 music, competing with 1270 KFJZ. Station personalities during the late 1950s included comedians George Carlin and Jack Burns. With the rise of FM radio and a decrease in ratings and revenue after the combination of Dallas and Fort Worth into one radio market, KXOL switched back to country music in 1976.
In the early-1980s, KXOL also carried the weekend editions of the Texas Night Train and Wonderful Radio London programs, which were carried full-time on Mexican border blaster station XERF-AM.
Other than the special weekend programming, KXOL continued as a country station until it was sold in 1985 and became KWJS, featuring Christian oriented programming. KWJS became KNRB in 1988, featuring country and then religious formats, and then became KAHZ in 1993, airing children's programming from the Radio AAHS network. After Radio AAHS discontinued operations in January 1998, Children's Broadcasting Corporation, KAHZ's owner, needed programming for the network of stations until they could find buyers. The station, along with the other nine CBC-owned and operated Radio AAHS affiliates, flipped to "Beat Radio", which broadcast electronic dance music 12 hours a day until late October 1998.
KAHZ switched to Catholic religious programming in 1998 and later to Spanish-language talk programming.
Biz Radio Network
The KMNY calls were established in March 2005, and the business talk format the following month as KMNY Biz Radio 1360. Nighttime slots were filled with brokered programming in Spanish, Chinese and other languages, or automated Adult Standards music during non-sponsored times.
Beginning in 2006, KMNY airs "The Hi-Fi Club," a live, weekly oldies/talk show that resurrected its name from KXOL's "Coca Cola Hi-Fi Club" (1959–62; originally hosted by comedian George Carlin.) Hosts Mike Shannon, John Lewis Puff, and Ray Whitworth cover historic local and national events, along with local radio and television history, regularly breaking an unwritten rule by discussing competing area stations by name. Offbeat and candid in nature, it also features live and recorded interviews with historical local radio notables such as Norman Alden, Bob Schieffer, Bud Buschardt, George Gimarc, Jack Burns, Russ Bloxom and Bob Allen.
In November 2006, "The Hi-Fi Club" presented the radio special, "As it Happened: The Lost JFK Assassination Tapes of KXOL-1360" over KMNY. This was a two-hour compilation of audio recordings from KXOL, mostly in the post-assassination hours and continuing into the early morning of 11/23/1963. The recordings were edited from reels provided by KXOL newsman Russ Bloxom, who was on duty at the station's newsdesk when President John F. Kennedy was killed, and had never been replayed. "The Hi-Fi Club" reunited the recordings with their original frequency, and Russ Bloxom provided a new five-minute interview as part of the presentation. An edited version of the presentation aired over KMNY on November 23, 2008.
In January 2007, the station aired a sports talk show titled "Sports Kings."
In January 2008, the station began airing progressive talk programming sponsored by Rational Radio (via Nova M Radio) from 7PM-midnight, featuring Mike Malloy.
The BizRadio Network left KMNY (1360) for KJSA (1110 AM) on May 23, 2008. Testing of the new 1110 frequency's signal began in April 2008. (In 2007, KJSA received a construction permit to move from 1120, to 1110 AM—with a considerable power increase to 20,000 watts.) From May 24 to June 30, 2008, KMNY aired "Retro Radio," a block format put together by "The Hi-Fi Club"'s Mike Shannon. Weekdays, oldies shows were hosted by Jim Thomas, Bud Buschardt, Randy Carlisle, Josh Holstead, John Lewis and Jay Weaver; "The Larry Stanley Show," an irreverent 'guy talk' show, aired Saturdays; and "The Hi-Fi Club" expanded to Sunday afternoons. Music during non-show times consisted of automated Modern Classic Rock. Retro Radio aired a tribute to George Carlin upon his death in June 2008. KXOL-1360 veterans Bob Bruton and Jack Burns participated.
Rational Radio
Rational Radio group leased the entire 24-hour-a-day KMNY schedule from MRBI as of July 1, 2008, through December 31, 2009. In addition to Mike Malloy, the new schedule featured Dial Global's Ed Schultz (delayed), Bill Press, and Thom Hartmann, and Air America's Lionel (delayed). KMNY's "The Hi-Fi Club" was on the station prior to the switch of the station from Biz Radio to Rational Radio and was carried over into the Rational Radio Format.
On April 1, 2009, Rational Radio added local hosts The Pugs and Kelly Show on weekday afternoons with Richard Hunter following. Weekend hosts included Cindy Sheehan of "Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox" and Jack E. Jett. The rest of the lineup was filled syndicated programming including Thom Hartmann and Air America Radio.
In December 2009, station president Dave Clifton announced that the station had been outbid for its lease renewal and, in the face of the economic climate and declining advertising revenue, would move much its locally originated programming to internet radio. While Rational Radio seeks a new broadcast home, they ended their run on KMNY on December 31, 2009.
KMNY today
On January 1, 2010, KMNY returned to a business talk radio format, airing the Biz Radio Network once again with a 24-hour lineup. As of February 2010, the programming on KMNY (1360) is Spanish, Portuguese, and Greek. And the Biz Radio Network is not on the air in the Dallas area at this time. KMNY's "Hi-Fi" Club has since moved to other stations in the Area and is no longer heard on 1360. On April 28, 2014, owner Multicultural announced the station is for sale.