103.7 KVIL gets "AMPed"

well, looks like we have a rebrand for CBS Radio's DFW heritage station 103.7 KVIL to fit it's newly established CHR/Top 40 format.

in August of last year, KVIL rebranded from 103.7 KVIL (second incarnation of the legendary branding) to "More Hits 103.7" as part of it's musical evolution from AC to Hot AC to CHR/Top 40

in the months since KVIL rebranded and dropped AC as their long time format, a similar move happened at Clear Channel's KDGE when they flip from long time Alternative/Modern Rock "102.1 The Edge" after 16 years at 102.1 FM (and before that at 94.5 FM from 1989 to November 2000 when it was 94.5 The Edge, thus ending that format after 27 years in the entire market all together) to replace KVIL as the AC formatted station in the market as "Star 102.1".

while over at 103.7, in the last few weeks, Kannon and Leigh Ann Adam have left the station for their new respected "Future Endeavors", they they both parted ways with the station at the start of 2017. meanwhile Sybil Summers has move back to Midday, while Nathan Fast has joined the station to replace Kannon as the morning show host.

the station is now rebranding as Amp 103.7, adopting the Amp branding from it's CBS Radio sister stations including KAMP 97.1 Amp Radio in LA, WQMP 101.9 Amp Radio in the Orlando/Daytona Beach, FL radio market, and WBMP 92.3 Amp Radio in New York City. however, this might be the first "Amp" CHR station to not feature the word Radio in it's title and refers to itself by the AMp name first and the stations frequency second.

edit: the radio insight site links are gone due to site's censorship rules regarding that site as Radio Insight is a competitor of this site's current parent company Streamline Publishing/Radio Ink, so here's a new link from the Fort Worth Star Telegram's dfw.com

http://www.dfw.com/2017/01/17/1167582/kvil-ready-to-amp-itself-up-with.html

Well then, I was wondering if DFW would get an AMP station.

DavidEduardo said:

Amp is not a format... it is a name. All the Amps are different, although within a contemporary format area.

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your right, but truth be told, Amp is just a branding for most of CBS Radio's CHR stations across the country.

anyway, i wonder if 103.7 as a CHR will give Kiss FM a run for it's money in this market, all i know is Hot 93.3 may have to change it's format again if they can't compete with Kiss FM and now Amp.

Will_H_69_9 said:

anyway, i wonder if 103.7 as a CHR will give Kiss FM a run for it's money in this market, all i know is Hot 93.3 may have to change it's format again if they can't compete with Kiss FM and now Amp.

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This isn't the first time CBS has gone the CHR (or the like) route to compete with Kiss. Anyone remember Hot/Wild 100.3 from 1999-2004? How about Movin 107.5? Both stations had caused a dent in Kiss' ratings but nothing too much to praise about. Now that I think about it, Kiss has had a handful of stations that competed with them (KDL, Casa, Radio H20, i93/Hot 93.3) and none of them has taken them down. Would be interesting to see how KVIL/Amp will compete with Kiss.

I'm still waiting for the day 93.3 goes alternative to fill the format after 102.1 flipped to AC. KVIL is still faring better than KLIF too.

Me too E-Cam. If I recall correctly though 93.3 only has 50,000 watts while KISS has 100,000. I'm not sure how much difference it makes, but I do remember Hot/Wild and KDL. 106.7 has 100,000 watts but they are near Greenwood as I recall up in Northeast Wise CO.

sox fan matt said:

Me too E-Cam. If I recall correctly though 93.3 only has 50,000 watts while KISS has 100,000. I'm not sure how much difference it makes, but I do remember Hot/Wild and KDL. 106.7 has 100,000 watts but they are near Greenwood as I recall up in Northeast Wise CO.

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93.3 has a really poor signal compared to the cedar hill stations. It has issues in Collin County due in part to KMKT 93.1 and K-something on 93.5 out of Cooper.

I could see 93.3 going back to rock.

on the subject of 93.3 has a 50,000 watt directional signal because of KMKT AND KIKT on a good day i can pick them up in howe or van alstyne.

on 103.7 it was only a matter of time before they went with the amp radio brand.

on 93.3 i could see them going to Adult Album Alternative or just Alternative as well, simular to what KDGE was at one time. or they could find a niche in the market with something that suits them well listener and revenue wise. however some hd subchannels have an AAA format if you bandscan with an hd radio. so i dont think alternative music lovers are left out in the market if they have an hd radio they can find something that will

It seems CBS is content for its AMP stations to do well, while not beating the more established Top 40 stations in each market. My guess is they aim younger, so we may not see how their 18-34 numbers are. Most of the Top 40 stations they compete with are aimed more at women 25-54, with bigger, more talkative morning shows. So I suppose CBS feels there is room for two Top 40 outlets.

Oddly in each case, it is iHeart which owns the OTHER Top 40 station where CBS has an AMP station... Z100 NYC, KIIS LA, WXXL Orlando and now KHKS Dallas. It was even true in Philadelphia, WIOQ. But neither station was doing that well, so CBS switched to AC earlier this month.

And it's true KLIF-FM is really hampered. 50,000 watts at less than 400 feet. Someone above says it is also directional. Meanwhile both KVIL and KHKS have identical facilities, 100,000 watts (double KLIF-FM) and 1600 feet (4x the height). I'd say chances are good KLIF-FM will become Alternative shortly. Maybe even calling itself "The Edge" if that's legal.

I think that would be the plan to have KLIF switch to alternative. Would be nice to revive the Edge name on 93.3 kinda like the Beat name in Austin (from then Infinity Broadcasting, to BMP, to Clear Channel/IHeart).

ABMedia1 said:

on 93.3 i could see them going to Adult Album Alternative or just Alternative as well, simular to what KDGE was at one time. or they could find a niche in the market with something that suits them well listener and revenue wise. however some hd subchannels have an AAA format if you bandscan with an hd radio. so i dont think alternative music lovers are left out in the market if they have an hd radio they can find something that will

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I think 93.3 has tried AAA two or three times, failing miserably each time. First with Merge, The Zone, and Quality Rock.
Then again 93.3 has ALWAYS struggled since day one. (Though The Bone was doing very well when it first went on air)

LibertyNT said:

I think 93.3 has tried AAA two or three times, failing miserably each time. First with Merge, The Zone, and Quality Rock.
Then again 93.3 has ALWAYS struggled since day one. (Though The Bone was doing very well when it first went on air)

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Probably because when 93.3 was rock, it was still during the Eagle/Edge times. When Eagle left the airwaves in 2004, The Bone's ratings were pretty decent I believe but then slipped when the Eagle came back.

The Bone had good ratings when it first signed on (before the demise of the Eagle) because KZPS replaced Bo & Jim with Bob & Tom, and the Bone got Bo on board. The ratings went down after KZPS dumped Bob & Tom, and I believe a new PD came in and made Bo's show become a more music morning show.