KFTK

For the military airport at Fort Knox, Kentucky assigned the ICAO code KFTK, see Godman Army Airfield.

KFTK
City	Florissant, Missouri
Broadcast area	Greater St. Louis
Branding	FM News Talk 97.1
Slogan	In Touch and Up to Date
Frequency	97.1 MHz FM (also on HD Radio) 97.1-2 FM "MyRedLounge"
First air date	1977
Format	News/Talk
ERP	100,000 watts
HAAT	171 meters
Class	C1
Facility ID	73890
Callsign meaning	K FM TalK
Owner	Emmis Communications (Emmis Radio License, LLC)
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	971talk.com

KFTK is a commercial radio station located in Florissant, Missouri, United States, broadcasting to the Greater St. Louis area on 97.1 FM. KFTK airs news/talk local and syndicated programming leaning to the conservative side of talk and opinion. Owned by Emmis Communications, the station's studios are located in the Powerhouse building at St. Louis Union Stations, while the transmitter is located in O'Fallon.

It is affiliated with Fox News Radio and features Fox News personality Sean Hannity. Other syndicated shows that appear are Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Dave Ramsey, and Bill Cunningham.

Local talent includes former KMOV reporter Jamie Allman (mornings), Dana Loesch, and Dave Glover (afternoon drive), the lawyer-turned-comedy/current events talk show host whom the station developed its lineup around when it changed to a news format. Other local weekend talent include Dr. Randy Tobler, Dave Finkelstein (auto talk), Bob Stockdale (money talk), Max Foisey (movie show), and Rodney Boyd.

History

In the fall of 2000, Emmis Communications added to its St. Louis radio portfolio by purchasing properties from Sinclair Broadcasting, who wanted to focus on its television properties. 97.1 FM ran a classic rock format known as "97FM The Rock!" which had pulled listeners away from Emmis' rock station KSHE. Upon purchasing 97.1, Emmis changed formats to an FM talk station on October 16, 2000.^[1] Initially, the station focused on a female audience, which included such syndicated personalities as Bob and Sheri, Joy Browne, Clark Howard, Dr. Laura, Phil Hendrie, Rhona at Night, Loveline, and John and Jeff, using the name "97.1 FM Talk." Failing to reach much of an audience, the station shifted towards more political talk in 2002, adding such talkers as Don Imus, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity. The station briefly changed its name to "97-1 the Link...Real Life Radio" but soon returned to the "FM Talk" moniker.

KFTK is the only talk station in St. Louis that carries more than one nationally syndicated radio show. The two main talk stations in St. Louis, KTRS and KMOX carry mostly local shows. KTRS carries Coast to Coast AM, while KMOX airs Rush Limbaugh.

Previous to the station's Classic Rock station, the frequency was home to a variety of call letters and formats throughout the '80s and '90s. The station originally signed on the air in the Mid 1970s, as KSCF – standing for St. Charles & Florissant, with a "Middle of the Road" Easy Listening format. One of the original owners was Harlan "Grant" Horton, a longtime St. Louis broadcaster at KSD, WRTH, KMOX, KXOK AM 630 and WEW. The sign on of 97.1 caused KADI-FM to move from their original frequency of 96.5 to 96.3 to accommodate the new radio station.

K-Lite 97.1/Breeze 97

In 1980, after the KCFM call letters were dropped by 93.7, they were picked up by 97.1, and the station had an Adult Contemporary format until 1985, when the calls would change once again to KLTH "K-Lite 97" with a Soft Adult Contemporary format. KLTH gradually segued into a format called "Breeze 97," which was "New Adult Contemporary," an early predecessor to the Smooth Jazz format. In 1989, the station was sold once again, and the new owners flipped the station to Top 40 "Hot 97" with the call letters KHTK. The Top 40 format died when former Top 40 station WKBQ was briefly under lease by the station's owner Saul Frischling of Pittsburgh, and both top 40 stations were merged at 106.5, taking personalities from both stations.

Mix 97.1 KXOK

Around 1992, the call letters of 97.1 were switched to KXOK-FM known as "Mix 97-1" with an Urban Adult Contemporary format with Urban Oldies from the former KXOK 630AM was moved to FM. Mix 97.1 would try to comptete with the Urban AC leader in Saint Louis, KMJM ("Magic 108"). The two stations simulcasted briefly before the AM was taken off the air completely, pending a sale to a religious broadcaster.

In 1998, Frischling sold Mix 97.1 to Sinclair Broadcasting, who owned ABC affiliate KDNL TV-30. In September of that year, the Urban format was dropped, and the station began simulcasting KPNT. On September 25, KXOK began stunting with a 48-hour loop of "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns 'n' Roses. Two days later, KXOK switched formats to classic rock as "The Rock" while retaining the KXOK-FM call letters.^[2] The station enjoyed the most success seen on the frequency to that date as a competitor to Emmis Broadcasting's KSHE 95.

References

External links

Query the FCC's FM station database for KFTK

Radio-Locator information on KFTK

Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for KFTK

Radio stations in the St. Louis market

by AM frequency	550 590 630 690 730 770 850 880 920 1010 1080 1120 1190 1260 1280 1320 1350 1380 1400 1430 1460 1490 1570 1600

by FM frequency	88.1 88.7 89.1 89.5 89.5 89.7 89.7 89.9 89.9 90.3 90.7 91.5 92.3 93.3 93.7 94.1 94.7 95.5 96.3 97.1 97.7 98.1 98.5 99.1 99.9 100.3 100.7 101.1 101.7 101.9 102.5 103.3 104.1 104.5 104.9 105.7 106.5 107.3 107.7

NOAA Weather Radio frequency	162.450 162.550

by callsign	K270BW K297BI KATZ KBWX KCFV KCLC KDHX KDO89 KEZK KFAV KFNS KFNS-FM KFTK KFUO KGNA KGNX KHOJ KHZR KJFF KLJY KLOU KMJM-FM KMOX KNLH KNOU KPNT KPVR KQQX KQQZ KRAP KSD KSHE KSIV KSIV-FM KSLQ KSLZ KSTL KTJJ KTRS KWMU KWRE KWUR KXEN KXFN KXI70 KXQX KYFI KYKY KYRO KZQZ WARH WBGZ WCBW-FM WEW WFUN WGNU WHHL WIJR WIL WLCA WQQX WRYT WSDZ WSIE WXOS

Defunct, now internet-only	KFUO-FM

Satellite radio local traffic/weather XM Channel 217 Sirius Channel 151 Nearby radio markets Cape Girardeau Columbia-Jefferson City Hannibal/Quincy Marion–Carbondale Mount Vernon Springfield, IL See also List of radio stations in Missouri List of radio stations in Illinois

News/Talk radio stations in the state of Missouri

Stations	KALM – Thayer KAPE – Cape Girardeau KBMV-FM – Birch Tree KCMO – Kansas City KFEQ – Saint Joseph KFMO – Flat River KFRU – Columbia KTFK – Florissant KHMO – Hannibal KJFF – Festus KJPW – Waynesville KLPW – Union KMBZ – Kansas City KMOX – Saint Louis KQQZ – Desoto / Saint Louis KREI – Farmington KRMS – Osage Beach KRZK – Branson KSGF – Springfield KSGF-FM – Ash Grove KSIM – Sikeston KSIS – Sedalia KTRS – Saint Louis KTTR – Rolla KTTR-FM – St. James KTUI – Sullivan KWOC – Poplar Bluff KWOS – Jefferson City KWPM – West Plains KWTO – Springfield KZIM – Cape Girardeau KZRG – Joplin

Defunct:	KUKU – Willow Springs

See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in Missouri

Emmis Communications

Radio stations	KBPA KFTK KGSR KLBJ KLBJ-FM KLZT KNOU KPNT KPWR KROX-FM KSHE Rádio Expres Radio FM Plus Radio Fresh! STAR WBLS WEPN-FM ¹ WFNB WFNF WFNI WIBC WLHK WLIB WQHT WTHI-FM WWVR WYXB

Magazines	Atlanta Cincinnati Orange Coast Indianapolis Monthly Los Angeles Texas Monthly

¹ Operated by ESPN Radio under a local marketing agreement.

Coordinates: 38°46′44″N 90°43′44″W / 38.779°N 90.729°W / 38.779; -90.729

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