KEXB

KEXB
City Plano, Texas
Broadcast area Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex
Branding AM 620 KEXB
The Business Authority in North Texas
Slogan Experts in Business
Frequency 620 kHz
First air date July 15, 1939 as KWFT
Format Business News/Talk
Power 5,000 Watts (Daytime)
4,500 watts (Nighttime)
Class B
Callsign meaning K Experts in Business.
Former callsigns KWFT (1939-1995)
KAAM (1995-1998)
KMKI (1998-2015)
Affiliations Associated Press
Bloomberg Radio
Owner Salem Media Group
(Inspiration Media of Texas, LLC)
Sister stations KLTY, KSKY, KTNO, KWRD-FM, K273BJ
Webcast Listen live
Website 620amkexb.com

KEXB (620 AM) is a Business News/Talk formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Plano, Texas, serving the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The station is owned by Salem Media Group. [1] Programming is supplied by syndicated radio shows from Bloomberg Radio, Ray Lucia and others, as well as paid broadcasts from financial experts and planners who advertise their services.

History

KWFT in Wichita Falls 1939-1994

KEXB originally had its start in Wichita Falls, Texas, as KWFT. KWFT radio existed from 1939 to 1994 on an AM frequency of 620 kilohertz. It was the first radio station to continuously operate in the city and was a regional channel that could be heard across a large geographical area of Texas and Oklahoma, as well as some bordering states during the daytime. The station was a CBS affiliate.

On December 19, 1947, the Federal Communications Commission approved the sale of KWFT from Mr. and Mrs. Joe P. Carrigan, Laura Lou Carrigan and Mrs. Elizabeth Carrigan Simpson to Edward H. Rowley, H.J. Griffith and Kenyon Brown, operating as KWFT, Incorporated.[2]

In 1953, KWFT joined other radio stations in the United States by plunging into the new medium of television. KWFT-TV signed on the air onto channel 6 on March 1 and was the first television station in the city. It was an affiliate of the CBS television network. KWFT later sold the TV station in 1956 at which time channel 6 became KSYD-TV and later KAUZ-TV in 1963, continuing as the CBS affiliate for the Wichita Falls-Lawton market.

KWFT Radio continued for many years after the divesture of the TV station as a radio station emphasizing local and national news, weather, farm reports and middle-of-the-road music format. However, the emergence of a preponderance of FM stations in Wichita Falls offering country and rock music formats during the 1970s and 1980s greatly cut into KWFT's audience and advertising dollars, leading to the sale of the station in the mid-1990s to a new owner who signed off KWFT's last broadcast at 11:59 p.m. on December 24, 1994.

AM 620's move to DFW: KAAM and Radio Disney

About two years later, the 620 frequency formerly assigned to Wichita Falls returned to the airwaves in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex as KAAM. Eventually the station was sold to Disney and renamed KMKI (from Disney Character MicKey Mouse) with the Radio Disney format.

The KWFT calls were later reassigned to a MyNetworkTV affiliate (KWFT) in Eureka Springs, Arkansas; that station has since switched its calls to KBBL-TV, though they still use KWFT-LP for a repeater.

Up until Radio Disney's move from Dallas to Burbank, California, KMKI was the network's flagship station.

Sometime in May 2014, Mediabase has moved KMKI, along with other Radio Disney-affiliated stations to the Top 40/CHR panel. Although Radio Disney is still considered a Children's station.[3]

Final Radio Disney logo for KMKI.

On August 13, 2014, Disney put KMKI and twenty-two other Radio Disney stations up for sale, in order to focus more on digital distribution of the Radio Disney network. Originally, KMKI's affiliation would be discontinued on or after September 26, 2014,[4][5][6] but Disney has decided to keep the programming on KMKI until the sale of this and other RD stations take place. KMKI, now KEXB, has a license to broadcast a digital signal using iBiquity's "HD Radio" but has suspended transmission of such months prior to the sale announcement. Because the license to broadcast digital "HD Radio" is perpetual, the station could resume digital broadcasts at any time.

Sale to Salem, change to Business

On June 5, 2015, it was announced that Salem Media Group would acquire KMKI for $3 million.[7] The station was sold to Salem Media Group on September 15, 2015 and, as a result, the station discontinued its Radio Disney affiliate and went silent. [8] 620 AM returned to the air on September 18, 2015, simulcasting programming from KWRD-FM. On September 25, 2015, KMKI began simulcasting new sister KVCE.[9] KVCE's programming still had the branding and imaging of the 1160 frequency for one week, until October 1. Also on that day, KMKI changed call letters to KEXB (standing for “Experts in Business).[10]

References

  1. ↑ Salem Acquires Disney Stations in Boston and Dallas - Radio Insight
  2. ↑ "KWFT Wichita Falls Sale Gets Approval of FCC" (PDF). Broadcasting. December 22, 1947. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  3. ↑ Mediabase Announces Panel Changes (Published April 22, 2014, Retrieved August 8, 2014)
  4. ↑ Lafayette, Jon (August 13, 2014). "Exclusive: Radio Disney Moving Off Air to Digital". Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  5. ↑ Venta, Lance (August 13, 2014). "Radio Disney To Sell All But One Station". Radio Insight. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Radio Disney to Sell the Majority of Its Stations". Billboard. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  7. ↑ Salem Acquires Disney Stations in Boston and Dallas - Radio Insight
  8. ↑ http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/145622/oregon-fm-license-sold-puerto-rico-am-donated
  9. ↑ Biz-talk KVCE/1160 AM moving to 620 AM - DFW.com
  10. ↑ https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=49320&Callsign=KEXB

External links

Coordinates: 33°14′34″N 96°32′29″W / 33.24278°N 96.54139°W / 33.24278; -96.54139

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