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| Broadcast area | Minneapolis-St. Paul |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 104.1MHz (HD Radio) |
| RDS | PI: 52F8 PS: ARTIST TITLE JACK FM RT: Artist - Title |
| Branding | 104.1Jack FM |
| Programming | |
| Format | Adult hits |
| Affiliations | Jack FM network |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | July 1, 1962; 63 years ago (1962-07-01) (as KRSI-FM) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | "Jack" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 54425 |
| Class | C0 |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 315 meters (1,033 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 45°03′29″N93°07′26″W / 45.058°N 93.124°W /45.058; -93.124 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (via Audacy) |
| Website | www |
KZJK (104.1FM) is acommercialradio stationlicensed toSt. Louis Park, Minnesota, and serving theMinneapolis-St. Paulradio market. The station is owned byAudacy, Inc., and airs anadult hitsradio format known as "104.1Jack FM." Audacy also owns Jack FM stations inLos Angeles andDallas. KZJK's studios and offices are on Second Avenue South in Minneapolis.
KZJK has aneffective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000watts. The station'stransmitter is on theKMSP Tower inShoreview, with a auxiliary transmitter with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 34,000 watts located at theIDS Center inDowntown Minneapolis. KZJK broadcasts usingHD Radio technology.
The station firstsigned on as KRSI-FM on July 1, 1962; 63 years ago (1962-07-01).[2] It was co-owned withKRSI (950 AM) by Radio Suburbia. The two stationssimulcast most of their programming, and wereaffiliates of theABC Radio Network. KRSI was adaytimer at that time, so KRSI-FM allowed the station to be heard around the clock, even when the AM had tosign-off.
KRSI-FM had a limited range, broadcasting at 15,000 watts from a 250-foot (76 meter) tower, located inEden Prairie, Minnesota on one of the AM station's three towers. The result was a spotty signal in parts of the metropolitan area, even after the power was doubled to 30,000 watts in the late 1960s, and then to a 100,000 watt transmitter inSomerset, Wisconsin in the 1980s. Partly due to signal limitations and impatient management, the 104.1 FM frequency went through many format changes throughout its history.
In February1968, KRSI-AM-FM was bought byPark Communications, a radio company with stations inNew York City,Los Angeles and other cities. From 1968 until1973, KRSI-AM-FM played a mix ofTop 40 hits andoldies as "Request Radio." In Spring1969, KRSI-AM-FM ranked as the #3 station in the Minneapolis ratings, behindWCCO andWDGY. By 1971, KRSI-AM-FM moved away from oldies and towardcontemporary hits.
In March1973, KRSI became the first affiliate ofDrake-Chenault’sautomated “Great American Country” format. Both stations moved from their studios in St. Louis Park to new facilities inEden Prairie (which today is still home to 950 AM).[3] The FM station broadcast instereo for the first time and moved to analbum rock/Top 40 hybrid format, soon changing its call letters to KFMX.[4]
KFMX went through a succession of different formats and transitions throughout the rest of the decade. For a brief time, it playedfree form rock, going up againstKQRS-FM. KFMX began playingdisco music at night in1978, soon adopting the format full-time and becoming "Disco 104."[5] By this time, the AM station was playing rock/Top 40 andnew wave music as "Musicradio I-95." KFMX gave up disco in February1980 as the fad faded in popularity, and both stations switched to anadult standards/"Music of Your Life" simulcast, with KFMX becoming KRSI-FM once again. (TheKFMX call letters would go to 94.5 inLubbock, Texas later that year where they remain there to this day.)
In September1981, the FM station switched tocountry music, as "K-JO Country", adopting the KJJOcall letters.[6] It was up against established country stations in the Twin Cities, market leaderWDGY, low-ratedKTCR-AM-FM and soon,KEEY. KJJO was never very competitive as a country station.
On September 15, 1983, after playing "Old Time Rock and Roll" byBob Seger for 48 hours straight, the station launched a newclassic hits format, "Twenty Years of Rock and Roll", as "K-JO 104."[7]
KJJO's ratings improved with the classic hits format, but the station was still not making much of an impact in the market. In February1987, KJJO transformed yet again and introduced ahard rock format, to go head-to-head with theclassic rock-leaningKQRS-FM. The KJJO call letters were retained, with the station now calling itself "Hot Rockin' 104" (later "Rock 104").[8] At its peak, the hard rock format pushed KJJO into the top 10 in the localArbitron ratings. KJJO was not very consistent with the harder format, though, as it went back and forth betweenheavy metal and mainstream album rock. In the fall of1988, KJJO's AM counterpart became anetwork affiliate of thesyndicated heavy metal "Z-Rock" format.
By1990, KJJO began adding morealternative rock songs to itsplay list. In March of that year, KJJO ditched the heavy metal and mainstream rock altogether and became a full-fledgedmodern rock station. At first, KJJO called itself "104FM," but later used the moniker "KJ104."[9]
During the station's modern rock run, the playlist became more adventurous. Over time, KJ104 garnered positiveword of mouth in the Twin Cities area, though ratings were still mediocre. The station's manager complained in the local media that KJ104's listeners were not filling out theArbitron ratings diaries, the results of which are used to measure a radio station's success.
In the summer of1992, KJJO announced it would switch back to country music, which was increasing in popularity, amid a large outcry from KJ104's dedicated modern rock fans.[10][11] At 6 a.m. on September 8, after signing off the modern rock format by playing "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" byR.E.M., "Thunder 104" debuted.[12] As a country station, ratings went up slightly, but the station could not compete with the established country leaderKEEY ("K102"), orWBOB ("BOB 100").
To set itself apart from the competition, KJJO evolved into aclassic country format as "Classic Country 104” in March 1994, and ratings slightly improved.[13] Also that same month, several former KJ104 employees were working at bringing the rock format back to the local airwaves, which culminated with the debut ofREV 105. Two months prior to this, hard rockerKRXX became KEGE "The Edge," and was soon the highest-rated modern rock station in the country, succeeding where KJJO, as KJ104, failed.
With K102 and BOB 100 firmly establishing in the country format, KJJO gave up on country and flipped tosmooth jazz on April 3,1995, under new call letters KMJZ.[14][15] During this time, ownership transferred several times;Nationwide Communications, asubsidiary of Nationwide Insurance, bought both the AM and FM stations from the estate of longtime ownerRoy H. Park. Nationwide Communications was bought byJacor in October 1997; Jacor would spin the station off toInfinity Broadcasting in June 1998 (Infinity would be renamedCBS Radio in December 2005).[16]
On September 24,1998, at 4 p.m., the station changed format once again, toModern AC as WXPT, "104-1 The Point." The first song on "The Point" was "The Way" byFastball.[17][18] After gradually adding insongs from the 1980s throughout the course of 2000, WXPT shifted to a full-fledged '80s hits format on November 17,2000, and rebranded as "Mix 104.1." The first song on "Mix" was "Beat It" byMichael Jackson.[19] While never a dominant station, "Mix" was a modest ratings and financial success, as the station's transmitter woes were finally resolved by the move toKMSP-TV's antenna array inShoreview, Minnesota, where most of the market's big FM stations have their transmitters.
CBS Radio later sold WXPT's longtime sister station at 950 AM to a local group, which turned it intoKTNF, aprogressive talk station.
At 9 a.m. on April 21, 2005, after a few hours ofstunting, "Mix 104.1" flipped to "Jack FM." The first song on "Jack" was "Get The Party Started" byP!nk.[20] On May 10,2005, three weeks after the format change, the call letters were officially changed to KZJK.
KZJK has a larger playlist compared to other radio stations. While many stations commonly have 200-400 songs in rotation, the Jack format has three or four times that number.
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge withEntercom.[21] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on November 17.[22][23]
KZJK broadcasts anHD Radio signal. Its HD2 signal originally carried asmooth jazz format, but on December 26, 2011, fellow sister station WLTE's former "Lite FM"adult contemporary format moved to KZJK-HD2 after WLTE flipped tocountry music asKMNB. As of March 2023, KZJK no longer broadcasts an HD2 signal.