Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

KMVK

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City
  
Fort Worth, Texas

Branding
  
La Grande 107.5

KMVK

Broadcast area
  
Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex

Frequency
  
107.5 MHz (also on HD Radio) 107.5 HD-2 "Fierro" (Tejano) 107.5 HD-3 "Mega" (Latin Pop)

Repeater(s)
  
KLOL 101.1 HD2 (Greater Houston)

First air date
  
February 18, 1965 (as KNOK)

KMVK (107.5 MHz, "La Grande 107.5"), is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas and serving the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The station is owned and operated by CBS Radio. KMVK broadcasts in Spanish and airs a radio format featuring Regional Mexican music. The station's studios are located along North Central Expressway in Uptown Dallas and the transmitter site is in Cedar Hill.

Contents

While most FM stations in the Metroplex operate at or near 100,000 watts, KMVK runs at 16,500 watts, so it has a smaller coverage area. The station broadcasts in HD. Its HD-2 signal carries a Tejano music format known as "Fierro." Latin pop music is heard on its HD-3 signal, known as "Mega 107.5 HD3."

KNOK/KDLZ

On February 18, 1965, 107.5 signed on the air as KNOK-FM, an R&B and Soul music station. It simulcast its sister station KNOK AM 970 (now KHVN), with both stations owned by the Chatham Corporation. KNOK-FM originally broadcast with 100,000 watts but from a tower only 450 feet in height above average terrain. (Today KMVK broadcasts from a tower at 1884 feet HAAT but it reduced its power over the years to 16,500 watts.) In 1985, the station became KDLZ while retaining its R&B format. The coverage area was increased and the studios were moved to Cedar Hill after the original studios in Fort Worth were destroyed by fire.

EZ 107.5/The Oasis

In December 1988, Summit Broadcasting Group purchased KDLZ. On December 23, Summit moved the easy listening format and KMEZ call letters from 100.3 (now KJKK) to 107.5. The station was then sold to Granum Communications in 1991. On July 4th of that year, Granum flipped the station and format to KCDU ("CD 107.5") with a short-lived classic rock format. A Smooth Jazz format began on November 2, 1992, moving over from 106.1 (now KHKS). The Smooth Jazz station took the call letters KOAI as "The Oasis." (The KMEZ call letters are now assigned to a New Orleans station, which airs an Urban Adult Contemporary format). In 1996, KOAI was one of three radio stations that fell victim to the radio tower collapse in Cedar Hill on October 12 of that year. KOAI, as well as sister stations KRBV (now KJKK) and KYNG (now KRLD-FM), scrambled to get their stations back on the air through an auxiliary tower. "The Oasis"' ratings seemed to escape unscathed in the Fall ratings book that year, but the fate was not as good at the other 2 stations.

MOViN/Mega era

On October 2, 2006, at 5 PM, KOAI jettisoned the smooth jazz programming and changed its format to Rhythmic Adult Contemporary as "Movin' 107.5." The Oasis moved to 107.5 HD-2 digital sub-channel (and today is on an HD channel of 103.7 KVIL). The station's logo and branding was identical to MOViN radio station KVMX (now KXJM) in Portland, Oregon (then owned by CBS Radio, but is now owned by iHeartMedia). The station later changed formats to Rhythmic Top 40.

On February 17, 2009, at Noon, after playing "Vogue" by Madonna, the station flipped to a Spanish Hot adult contemporary format as "Mega 107.5." In 2010, "Mega 107.5" shifted to a Spanish rhythmic contemporary playlist (similar to its MOViN predecessor) with a few English-language hits in between. It was competing head-on with KESS-FM (La Kalle 107.9) for over 2 years, until that station's owner, Univision Radio, switched it to a simulcast of KDXX, leaving KMVK the only Latin Pop-formatted station in the Metroplex for a short time. In late June 2012, it gained another competitor from Univision Radio with KDXX Máxima 99.1.

By mid-summer 2012, the Metroplex had three Spanish-language CHR stations and three English-language CHR outlets, with one of those English-language stations targeted towards Latino listeners. The former "La Kalle 107.9" from Univision Radio changed to KESS (now KFZO) in late June 2012. KTCY Baila 101.7 (previously owned by Liberman, now owned by EMF) was one of its short-term competitors until February 8, 2013, when the station's format was changed.

On March 8, 2012, the station's website displayed a message stating "Todo va a cambiar!" (Translation: Everything will change!), hinting at a possible format flip in the near future. However the next morning, it was nothing more than a Daylight saving time announcement.

On May 21, 2012, CBS hinted at a possible format flip on either KMVK or KRLD-FM to "AMP Radio", much like its Los Angeles CHR/Top 40 sister station KAMP-FM. The parent company registered 3 web domains (as AMPRadioDFW.com, AMPRadio1053.com, and 1075AMPRadio.com). This format change instead happened four years later in 2016, when sister KVIL evolved to Top 40.

107.5 today

On July 26, 2013, KMVK did flip formats, though to a Regional Mexican format as "La Grande 107.5", making it the 3rd format flip since 2006. The Latin Pop format is now heard on an HD Radio subchannel on 107.5.

Controversy

After the Smooth Jazz format ended on October 2, 2006, much emotion and criticism was seen on The Oasis Blog by some loyal listeners of KOAI. Many demanded that the Smooth Jazz format be reinstated. "The Oasis" Smooth Jazz format was retained on an HD subchannel of KMVK originally, then was moved to an HD subchannel of 103.7 KVIL.

KMVK HD channels

On November 11, 2015, 107.5 HD2 began airing a Tejano format under the name "Fierro".

In early February 2016, KMVK launched its HD-3 subchannel as "Mega 107.5 HD3" using the slogan "Numero Uno En Exitos" (English translation: "Number One in Hits"), broadcasting a Latin Pop format that previously aired on KMVK's main frequency from 2010 to 2013.

References

KMVK Wikipedia