 | |
| Broadcast area | Sacramento metropolitan area |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 93.7MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | 93-7 The River |
| Programming | |
| Format | Classic hits |
| Subchannels | HD2: 107.1 The Bull (country music) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | June 1970; 55 years ago (1970-06) |
Former call signs |
|
Former frequencies | 93.5MHz (1970–1988) |
Call sign meaning | "River" (also a reference to theSacramento River) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 11273 |
| Class | B1 |
| ERP | 25,000watts |
| HAAT | 100 meters (330 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 38°44′21.6″N121°12′53.8″W / 38.739333°N 121.214944°W /38.739333; -121.214944 |
| Translator | HD2: 107.1 K296GB (North Highlands) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | FM/HD1:Listen live (viaiHeartRadio) HD2:Listen live (viaiHeartRadio) |
| Website | 937theriver |
KYRV (93.7FM) is acommercialradio stationlicensed toRoseville, California, and serving theSacramento metropolitan area. It airs aclassic hitsradio format, leaning towardclassic rock. KYRV is owned byiHeartMedia with studios and offices on River Park Drive near theArden Fair Mall.
KYRV has aneffective radiated power (ERP) of 25,000watts. Thetransmitter is off Quail Lane inGranite Bay.[2] KYRV broadcasts usingHD Radio technology. Its HD2 signal carriescountry music as "107.1 The Bull", which feedsFM translatorK296GB at 107.1 FM.
In June 1970, the owners ofKPOP (1110 AM), founded by Don Reeves, started a 3,000-wattstation on 93.5 MHz inRoseville, California. The station debuted as KPIP andsimulcast KPOP'smiddle of the road (MOR) music during the day while airingsoul music at night.
In the mid-1970s, KPIP dropped the daytime MOR music and replaced it withSpanish-language programming from 5 a.m. to 5 pm. At 5 pm, the station would flip over toR&B anddisco music. As time progressed, KPIP acquired the nickname of "The Disco Express."
In May 1980, the owners put the Spanish programming exclusively on 1110 AM and moved the KPIPcall letters there. The FM station flipped tourban contemporary and took on the KPOP call sign. In 1982, the station attempted to promote itself as broadcasting inDolby Stereo, although its transmitter was only equipped for standardFM stereo.
In August 1983, KPOP changed to amodern rock format, adopting the slogan "Rock of the 80s". Radio consultantRick Carroll, who developed the format atKROQ-FM in Los Angeles, released it for national syndication in the early 1983. KPOP became one of his clients. The format includednew wave music, synthesizer-based "Europop", and some guitar-basedpunk rock (such asThe Clash andThe Ramones). Some of thedisc jockeys from the urban contemporary era stayed on for the change to modern rock.
In December 1983, Don Reeves sold KPOP to theFuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting Company. Since the "Rock of the 80s" format was not producing high enough ratings, the new owners flipped the station to acontemporary hit radio (CHR/Top 40) format in January 1984. The owners kept the KPOP call letters and called the station "Pop Hits", aiming primarily at young women. The 3,000 watt KPOP shifted to arock-based CHR format in the fall of 1985.It retained the KPOP call letters but now called itself "Rock Hits". The station's overall ratings were not as strong as its competitors.
On January 10, 1986, morningdrive time announcers Dave Skyler and Rusty Humphries[3] staged a management-approved stunt to initiate a format change. They locked themselves in the studio and refused to leave until management allowed them to drop the KPOP call letters and switch the format toalbum-oriented rock (AOR). The flip occurred six hours later.
By this time, Sacramento only had one other AOR station:KZAP (98.5 FM), whose programming was beginning to skew toward 25-to-49-year-old males. KPOP changed its call letters to KDJQ and rebranded as "93 Rock". Targeting males ages 18–34, "93 Rock" featured music by mainstreamhard rock artists. The KDJQ call letters were short-lived, however, as the station had a format and call sign similar to those on KDJK (95.1 FM, nowKHKK) inModesto. KDJK's owners served acease and desist order against Fuller-Jeffrey, prompting the Sacramento station to change its call sign to KRXQ in short order. KRXQ's ratings began to increase, but the largest jumps began when the station's owners boosted the power, coupled with a shift in the station's frequency.
In July 1988, the station moved from 93.5 FM to 93.7 FM. In the process, the station increased its power from 3,000 watts to 25,000 watts, providing coverage to most of the Sacramento area. The station retained the "93 Rock" name, with billboards announcing the frequency change by stating "Now at 93.7 FM". KRXQ became quite successful with its hard-edged mainstream album rock format. By 1989, the station began overtaking rival KZAP in the ratings, often registering ashare between 6 and 7. While KZAP began leaning towards older adults with mid-tempo andclassic rock, KRXQ clearly skewed towards younger adults with up-tempo and current hard rock artists. By the fall of 1991, "93 Rock" was the top rock station in Sacramento. KZAP dropped AOR forcountry music on January 20, 1992.[4]
In the early 1990s, disc jockey Kosar Jaff, along with other California DJs, experimented withbeatmatching, which had not been done before on primetime radio.[5] Beatmatching is a process where the starting and ending beats of two songs are merged, so that there is a clear transition between the two. The beatmatching done on the air allowed longer commentary by him, because the ending and beginning beats could be played during the commentary, rather than stopping the music to commentate for a shorter period before the next track. The 1990s also saw success for the station, including big deals made with major artists such asSting, which led to appearances at the concert by the disc jockeys in collaboration with the artists' concert.[6]
On March 4, 1998, at 3 p.m., KRXQ andclassic country-formattedKRAK-FM (98.5 FM) swapped frequencies.[7][8] KRAK-FM, now at 93.7 FM, had poor ratings, so the country format and call letters were shifted to1470 AM in January 1999. The KXOA call sign then moved to 93.7 FM.
On January 11, 1999, the station's owners flipped KXOA toclassic hits, calling it "Arrow 93.7". The same format had been in use at107.9 FM from 1994 to 1998.[9][10] Basically, the format was a mix of rock songs released as singles from the 1960s through the 1980s that received airplay ontop 40 stations. Few selections were exclusively album cuts. Initially, the station was fairly successful.
On June 18, 2001, station ownersInfinity Broadcasting changed KXOA's format tohot talk. The KXOA call letters remained in place, but the station's slogan became "The Talk that Rocks". The station featured "The Howard Stern Show" during morningdrive time and a mix of local and nationallysyndicated talk show hosts the rest of the day.
On weekends, the station programmed classic hard rock, primarily released during the 1970s and 1980s.[11] The music was highly familiar. KXOA struggled in the ratings, earning less than a 1.0 share in the 12+ demographic. The only national show with a substantial audience was Stern's. However,TheKiddChris Show, airing locally in the evenings, was the station's highest-rated program consistently.
KXOA continued with the hot talk format until August 30, 2002. One of the nationally syndicated programs, New York-basedOpie and Anthony, was cancelled from syndication (as well as on their home station ofWNEW in New York City), when anon-air stunt involving sex in a Catholic church offended some listeners and station management. At that point, KXOA continued to air Howard Stern in morning drive and dropped all remaining talk shows from the schedule. The station continued to air classic hard rock the rest of the day, adopting a new slogan: "Sacramento's Hard Rock".[12] Intending to compete with bothKSEG (96.9 FM) and KRXQ, the station added more current material to its music mix in the summer of 2003, but the ratings did not improve.
On February 5, 2004, the station dropped the KXOA call letters, rock format, and "Sacramento's Hard Rock" slogan. The station, now known as KHWD ("Howard 93-7"), retained Howard Stern in morning drive but flipped to aclassic alternative format.[13] Again, ratings did not improve. In early 2005, the station began adding new harderalternative rock to its mix. The move was seen by some as an attempt to pick up the audienceKWOD (106.5 FM) abandoned when it shifted to analternative/triple-A hybrid format on March 18, 2005. Radio insiders believed that KHWD would either switch to a Spanish-language oradult hits format after Howard Stern left forSirius Satellite Radio.
On October 25, 2005, Infinity Broadcasting announced sweeping changes for many of its owned-and-operated stations carrying Howard Stern. Several major-market heritage rock stations (such asWXRK in New York andWYSP inPhiladelphia) would have their formats overhauled completely. In Sacramento, at 10:30 am, KHWD switched toJack FM, an adult hits format, with the new call letters KQJK. The station continued to air Stern until December 16, 2005, his last day on terrestrial radio.[14][15]
On December 10, 2008,CBS Radio swapped five of its stations, including KQJK, to Clear Channel Communications (nowiHeartMedia) in exchange for two stations inHouston.[16]
On March 24, 2017, iHeartMedia announced that KQJK would flip toclassic rock as "93.7 The River". The station officially made the change on April 3 at 12:01 am. The final song on Jack FM was "Purple Rain" byPrince, while the first song on "The River" was "Start Me Up" byThe Rolling Stones. The station launched with a full-time DJ lineup with extensive history in the Sacramento market, includingKRXQ veterans Dog & Joe in mornings, Monica Lowe fromKZZO in middays, Derek Moore fromKSEG in afternoons, and the syndicatedSixx Sense with Nikki Sixx in evenings.[17] KQJK changed its call letters to KYRV the same day. Moore was laid off from iHeartMedia in late 2020.[18] Morning show Producer Dana Thompson was officially added to the morning show line up in May 2021. Thompson was laid off from iHeartMedia in August 2023.
On March 13, 2025, the station's format shifted to classic hits from classic rock - playing a wider variety of music from 1980s and 1990s, with a new slogan, "Sacramento's Greatest Hits".
38°44′20″N121°12′54″W / 38.739°N 121.215°W /38.739; -121.215