Classic country

Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades.

The classic country format can actually be further divided into two formats. The first specializes in hits from the 1920s through the early 1970s (thus including music that is older than almost any other radio format in the United States), and focus primarily on innovators and artists from country music's Golden Age (including Hank Williams, George Jones and Johnny Cash). The other focuses on hits from the 1960s (including some the above-mentioned performers) through early 1990s, some pre-1960 music, latter-day Golden Age stars and innovators such as Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard) to newer recurrent hits from current-day artists such as George Strait, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson and Reba McEntire.

History

The format resulted largely from changes in the sound of country music in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, as it began moving to FM radio stations in and around major cities and absorbing some of the electric sound of rock music; similar pressures also were a factor in the development of the Americana format at around the same time. These new FM country stations excluded older "classic" country artists from their playlists, despite the fact that artists such as Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers and Emmylou Harris were still actively performing and releasing new recordings, some of which were significant hits. When mainstream country radio began this practice in the mid-1990s, a large segment of older country fans felt alienated and turned away from mainstream country. Whereas modern country began moving to FM around this time, classic country remained (and still remains) one of the few formats that has proven ideal for AM radio, particularly in rural areas; prior to this transition, country was primarily an AM radio phenomenon and was most widely popular in rural areas.

WestwoodOne

Westwood One, owned and operated by Cumulus Media, is an American mass media company headquartered in New York, New York, specializing in radio syndication and audio content. As the radio network and national brand of Cumulus, Westwood One distributes hundreds of programs to radio stations and partners across the United States.

The company was, at various times, managed by CBS Radio, the radio arm of CBS Corporation and Viacom. It was later purchased by the private equity firm The Gores Group and then sold to Dial Global in 2011. In September 2013, Dial Global rebranded under the name Westwood One and announced a merger agreement with Cumulus Media; the transaction was closed on December 12, 2013. Westwood One now includes the combined network of Westwood One and Cumulus Media Networks, the former radio network of Cumulus.

The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978 before merging with Dial Global in 2011.

Westwood One delivers content and services to thousands of radio stations and digital partners across the U.S., including music and entertainment; talk; and sports programming, including coverage of the NFL on Westwood One Sports.

KKGQ

KKGQ is a 95 kW radio station operating in Wichita, and licensed to Newton, Kansas. The station currently airs a rhythmic-leaning hot adult contemporary format, branded as "Q92 The Beat." The station is owned by the Wichita-based blind advocacy group Envision under their broadcast group division. KKGQ's studios are located next to Envision's headquarters on North Main in Wichita, while its transmitter is located on the south side of Newton.

History

What is now KKGQ started as KJRG-FM in 1959. It was a sister station to Newton-licensed KJRG and had its studios there; both stations were owned by George Basil Anderson. After spending its first 4 years at 92.1 FM, KJRG-FM relocated to its current dial position in 1963. For nearly 4 decades, the station aired a Beautiful music/Easy listening format. In 1975, KJRG-FM changed call letters to KOEZ. Despite the somewhat antiquated format the station was consistently in the top 10 of the Wichita markets' radio ratings in the latter half of the 1980's thru the '90's. After being purchased by Journal in 1999 and focused its audience to Wichita (as well as moving studios there), they flipped to an Adult Contemporary format as "Mix 92.3" and would later evolve to Adult Top 40. The station would change call letters to KMXW. The ratings quickly tanked. The station was the Wichita affiliate of the Dallas-based morning show Kidd Kraddick in the Morning (which moved to KFBZ in 2006). In the fall of 2002, the station flipped to "92-3 the Zone" with an automated Modern AC/Modern Rock format. One year later, the station would revert to Hot AC as "The New 92-3." In September 2004, KMXW flipped to a gold-based Rhythmic Adult Contemporary format as "Magic 92.3". None of these attempts garnered any ratings success. On January 16, 2007, KMXW flipped to classic country as "Classic Country 92.3". The call letters were changed to KFTI-FM. Almost instantly the station jumped back into the top 10 in the ratings.