KMJQ, "Majic 102.1" is a Houston radio station with an urban adult contemporary musical format. It is owned by Radio One.

History [link]

The station originally went on-the-air in 1961 as KAJC-FM with studios and transmitter in Alvin, Texas, a Houston suburb. At a time when FM typically aired "elevator music", it was the first FM station in the Houston area to broadcast an adult contemporary and hourly news format. In 1962 and 1963 it became the first FM station in Texas to win major news awards from the UPI Texas Broadcasters' Association, including story of the year and best news coverage in population class.

In 1964, the station was sold, changed its call letters to KMSC, and was moved to Clear Lake City on Galveston Bay. Styled the "Voice of the Manned Spacecraft Center", it broadcast news about the space program and easy listening music.

The station call letters changed to KLYX or "Clicks" as an easy listening station. In 1975, it became an affiliate of NBC Radio's national News and Information Service. This aired from 1975 to the end of the service in early 1977. The all-news operation originated from then-new studios in Houston. The station operated under a waiver of the FCC rules known as "Arizona Waiver" after a Glendale, Arizona station then owned by Arizona Broadcasting Corporation. Back when the main studio of a station had to be inside the city of license, the Arizona Waiver allowed a station to air its recorded, non-network shows from an 'auxiliary' studio (in this case more convenient Houston) and then the live local public affairs shows would air from a city of license studio. This worked well with the easy listening format, as 94% of the station was recorded music and commercials. The 6% news and non entertainment items could originate from the main studio. This was expanded to let the station broadcast its local and non network shows from the Clear Lake studios.

In 1979, the Clear Lake City area was annexed by Houston, and Houston became the city of license. In 1982, the transmitter was moved from downtown Houston (Shell Plaza tower farm, where it had been since 1973) to the new shared tower at Missouri City.

KMJQ began broadcasting in 1978 as Houston's first Urban radio station on the FM dial. It began as "Majic 102", and in 1991, it became "Majic 102 Jamz" during its transition in 1992 to 102 Jamz. Reggae was played in rotation during the transition. In 1991, KBXX went on the air with Hip Hop and R&B in the playlists. When KBXX and KMJQ became co-owned in 1994, KMJQ modified its format to Urban Adult Contemporary and changed its branding to Majic 102, The Majic Is Back!, playing mostly R&B Hits and Oldies. In 2003, the name was modified adding "point 1" to the moniker, thus Majic 102.1 to avoid frequency confusion with Beaumont, Texas Urban radio station KTCX "Magic 102.5".

Today, KMJQ carries nationally syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show in morning drive.

External links [link]

• Official website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for KMJQ
• Radio-Locator information on KMJQ
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for KMJQ