KBXX (97.9 FM) is a commercial radio station in Houston, Texas that features an urban-leaning rhythmic contemporary format, mainly playing hip-hop and R&B music. Owned by Urban One, KBXX operates alongside sister stations KMJQ, KKBQ, KHPT, and KGLK, with studios located in Greenway Plaza. The station broadcasts with 100,000 watts ERP from a transmitter near Fort Bend Parkway in Southwest Houston, using the HD Radio hybrid format. Its HD2 subchannel formerly aired Vietnamese talk and pop music, relayed by FM translator 101.7 K269GT in Humble.
History
As KFMK
The station originally signed on February 2, 1958 with an MOR music format as KFMK,2 but later migrated to a classical music format. By 1967, the station had moved back to an MOR format. In 1967, the studios were moved to the Memorial/Spring Branch area, and the station started focusing its programming on the suburban area, with locally focused newscasts and Spring Branch ISD sports play-by-play coverage.
In October 1967, the station started airing progressive rock at night. The underground format proved so popular that in late March 1968, the station adopted a round-the-clock progressive rock format that became known as "Mother Radio."
With no warning, the owners paid off the whole staff and took the station off the air at 4pm on March 26, 1969. The president of the station at the time, Jim Lammers, told the Houston Chronicle, "The format was not getting the kind of response we were hoping for, we were losing money and decided it was time to change."
After several weeks off the air to make technical repairs to the station's transmitting equipment, KFMK returned in May 1969 with a Southern Gospel format. After a survey of music preferences among Houston's church-going community, KFMK re-launched on October 1, 1975 with a contemporary Christian format and the slogan "The Spirit of 98".
The station was sold in 1979 and moved to an adult-leaning contemporary format, but retained the KFMK call letters. Protests over the station's abandonment of the Christian music format led that group to eventually start non-commercial contemporary Christian outlet KSBJ. During the 80s, KFMK evolved into a more gold-based AC station, before becoming all Oldies in September 1990.
As KBXX
On April 2, 1991, after a period of stunting, the station flipped to "The Box" with a new rhythmic contemporary format (alternatively referred to as "contemporary crossover" in the early years). The new KBXX callsign was implemented on April 22, 1991.3 It fiercely competed with longtime heritage urban station KMJQ until Clear Channel Communications bought KBXX in late 1994, then paired it with KMJQ the year after, also in that year, KMJQ flipped to urban adult contemporary.
Despite being rhythmic, KBXX's music selection moved more toward a mainstream urban direction, focusing on hip hop and R&B music. Clear Channel spun off KBXX and KMJQ to Radio One in 2000.
The morning show had been hosted by Madd Hatta since March 2001. He had been on KBXX since 1995, starting off in afternoons, before switching to morning drive time. In December 2019, Madd Hatta left the station; the following month, he was replaced with "Good Morning H-Town", hosted initially by Jerrel 'Hardbody Kiotti' Brown and Keisha Nicole; Kiotti would be replaced by former Madd Hatta Show co-host James 'J Mac' Garrett.4
Programming
KBXX was moved to R&R's Urban Contemporary Airplay panel in 2006, however it still remains on Mediabase's Rhythmic Airplay Panel. In spite of having an urban-driven playlist, the station retains its rhythmic format in order to target a multicultural audience in the Houston market.5
External links
- Official website
- Facility details for Facility ID 11969 (KBXX) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
- KBXX in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
References
Radio-Locator.com/K269GT https://radio-locator.com/info/K269GT-FX?loc=29.99492%2C-95.26487&locn=Humble%2C%20Texas ↩
"Houston Radio History" http://houstonradiohistory.blogspot.com/2009/10/1950s-part-ii-kfmk-fm-khgm-fm-khul-fm.html ↩
Louis B. Parks, "'Box' lowers the boom on KFMK", The Houston Chronicle, April 3, 1991. ↩
What's Going On at 97.9 The Box as Kiotti & Keisha Move to Mornings? https://radioinsight.com/headlines/182997/whats-going-on-at-97-9-the-box-as-kiotti-keisha-move-to-mornings/ ↩
"Part of a Rhythm Nation" from Radio-Info (November 12, 2012) http://www.radioinfo.com/2012/11/13/part-of-a-rhythm-nation/#more-3849 ↩