KAMX

KAMX
City Luling, Texas
Broadcast area Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area
Branding Mix 94.7
Slogan Today's Best Mix
Frequency 94.7 MHz
First air date March 22, 1987 (as KAPT)
Format Top 40
ERP 99,000 watts
HAAT 398 meters
Class C0
Facility ID 48651
Callsign meaning K Austin's MiX
Former callsigns KAPT (1987-?)
KATG (?-1992)
KFGI (3/1992-4/1992)
KFGI-FM (1992-1994)
KPTY (1994-1995)
Owner Entercom Communications
(Entercom License, LLC)
Sister stations KJCE, KKMJ
Webcast Listen Live
Website mix947.com

KAMX (94.7 FM, "Mix 94.7") is a commercial radio station licensed to Luling, Texas, United States, broadcasting to the Austin, Texas area from studios and transmitter in West Lake Hills, Texas. KAMX airs a mainstream Top 40 music format.

On-air staff

Current KAMX on-air staff include Booker, Alex Franco, and Sara Osburn in the morning, midday host Heather Rivera, afternoon drive host Jay Styles, and evenings with Alex Franco.

Former on-air staff

Former on-air staff include JB Hagar (contract not renewed November 2013, currently at 105.3 The Fringe in Austin, morning show), Sandy McIlree (left December 2013), Cassiday Proctor (now at WNKS KISS 95.1 in Charlotte, NC) Bridget Taylor and Carey Edwards, Drew Bennett, MacKenzie Crash, Clay Culver (currently in Dallas, TX), Carrie Benjamin (currently in Dallas, TX), Alex Forth, Dusty Hayes, Micki Gamez, Patrick Lemeuix, Carey Brady, Lynn Hernandez (currently at 97.5 KMOD in Tulsa, OK), the late Glenn Donovan, Jason.com, Funky, Leah, Larry the New Guy (left in 1999 for 107.9 The Edge in Albuquerque, NM to take over afternoon drive / Music Director, currently in Dallas, TX), Steak Boy (aka Chris Ruth), Bess, Debi O'Keefe (aka Super Mouth, currently at KROX-FM in Austin, TX), Morgana, Kacie Quinn (aka Prebble McLaughlin), Mark Ryan, Autumn Bouakadakis (left December 2007, currently at KGSR-FM in Austin), Mary Jane (left December 2007), Tim Puttre, Jack Stevens, Forrest Bueller, Kitty and Greg Williams (Sam Williams)on air at KPTY, KFGY and KAMX.

Programming history

KAMX first signed on March 22, 1987 as KAPT by owner/operator Mark Grubbs. It was one of the first "move-ins" in the area being licensed to serve Luling, Texas but targeting the much larger audience in nearby Austin. The station debuted with a mass appeal or Top 40 format under the name "Capital FM." Finding little initial success against established Top 40 stations KHFI and KBTS (now KGSR), the station would try other formats including beautiful music, country as "The Country Kat" KATG and oldies as "Froggy 94" KFGI. After June 1994 the format was changed to a Pop CHR known as KPTY "Party 94.7" which lasted until September 1, 1995 when the station changed format again to KAMX "Mix 94.7".

The station reached the northern portion of San Antonio, Texas until the summer of 1998 when the broadcast tower was moved to West Lake Hills, Texas.

Bridget Taylor was already working at 94.7 (when it was Party 94.7), when JB Hager and Sandy Rivers were teamed up for a new morning show. JB had previously been in Dallas and Sandy had previously been in New York. They hadn't worked together before, but knew each other through the radio industry. They added producer Funky to start a brand new morning show in 1995. When Funky left, a replacement producer was hired known as the "New and Improved Funky". The JB & Sandy Morning Show with Bridget and Funky enjoyed some of the best ratings to this day on Mix 94.7. Eventually the show started to separate. Funky left the station in November 1999 to move to California to pursue his Hollywood dream.

Following Funky's departure, a new producer, Tim Puttre was brought in to replace him. Tim was from New York and was known for his overly excited, fast-talking personality. In December 2000, Jb and Sandy were making plans for a move to Dallas. Jb and Sandy made the decision to release Bridget Taylor from their show and a month later, since Dallas was a Top Ten market and Austin was not, JB & Sandy packed their bags and began simulcasting from Dallas, while still being on the radio in Austin. Bridget Taylor was offered to co-host the morning show on Majic 95.5, Mix 94.7's sister station, but instead waited it out until she got a job co-hosting the morning show in Houston on KHMX/Mix 96.5 with Larry Moon. Tim Puttre went on to Dallas and new morning sidekick Bess was added. The show being based in Dallas alienated many Austin listeners and Dallas ratings began to suffer because JB & Sandy's wholesome brand of show didn't play well on the urban Dallas radio station they were heard on . After 15 months in Dallas, the JB & Sandy show was canceled and they returned to 94.7 in Austin.

After arriving back in Austin, JB & Sandy began to build their Austin audience back to where it was when they left. This was difficult to do with Bess, who never caught on with the audience. She was let go and a search was on for her replacement. Listeners were encouraged to submit audition tapes, which would be narrowed down and a new sidekick would be hired - who would receive a one year contract and host of prizes, including a free car for a year, a free apartment for a year and a $50,000 salary. In the end, a 27-year-old woman with no radio experience and a British accent was hired, named Debi O'Keefe.

Shortly after that, JB & Sandy hired on full-time their intern, Alex Franco (aka Digitz) as producer and another intern, Autumn Boukadakis to be assistant producer and sidekick.

In 2003, JB and Sandy's contract was up for renewal. The entire staff in Houston where Bridget Taylor was working had been laid off. The Program Director at KAMX called Bridget and wanted her to come back to Mix and replace Jb and Sandy in the morning. Bridget Taylor came back in October 2003 and was supposed to start doing the morning show with a co-host from Dallas in January. An old Program Director who put Jb and Sandy together originally, Dusty Hayes, was hired back at the same time. He really wanted to keep Jb and Sandy on Mix, so after three months of going back and forth, Jb and Sandy's contract was renewed and Bridget Taylor was back working in the Midday time slot. Within two years, Debi was fired and her good friend, Autumn was promoted to sidekick and traffic reporter. In January 2006, The Mix Happy Hour Show was formed in Afternoon Drive. Bridget Taylor moved to Afternoons and was partnered with a guy from Houston named Carey Edwards. It was Austin's only 2 person Afternoon Show. In December 2007, Autumn announced her resignation to pursue her music career full-time and left after the Bikes for Kids show in mid-December.

In 2006, Entercom Radio announced its acquisition of Mix 94.7, along with 14 other radio stations in Austin, Cincinnati (OH), Memphis (TN) and Rochester (NY), from CBS Radio, with the acquisition made official on November 30, 2007.

In fall of 2008, JB and Sandy renewed their contract with Entercom for 5 years, keeping them on the air through the end of 2013. In May 2009, Bridget Taylor, Carey Edwards and Bree from the Jb and Sandy morning show were all released from Entercom. Shortly after Sara Osburn was hired as an on-air personality to fill out the four-some of JB, Sandy, and Alex. Cassiday Proctor, formerly the producer for Bridget Taylor and Carey Edwards, was also hired as an assistant producer.

On November 25, 2013, Sandy McIlree announced that JB Hager's contract was not renewed, and that JB would not be returning to the show.

Over the course of Summer and Fall 2015, KAMX began removing older pop and AC material from the playlist while adding current rhythmic hits, shifting to a mainstream Top 40 format by November 2015.

External links

Coordinates: 30°19′23″N 97°48′00″W / 30.323°N 97.800°W / 30.323; -97.800

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