KJKK


KJKK is a commercial FM radio station in Dallas and serving the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. It is owned by Entercom, and airs an adult hits radio format known as "JACK FM." The station's studios and offices are located along North Central Expressway in Uptown Dallas.
KJKK has an effective radiated power of 97,000 watts. The transmitter site is off Plateau Street in Cedar Hill, amid the towers for several Dallas-area TV and FM stations. KJKK broadcasts in the HD Radio hybrid format, with its HD2 subchannel airing Urban Contemporary music and its HD3 subchannel playing classic country music.

History

1965-1988: Easy Listening

In 1965, on Christmas Day, KBOX-FM first signed on the air. It was the FM counterpart of AM 1480 KBOX. KBOX-FM played easy listening and occasional jazz music while KBOX AM 1480 was a Top 40 and then country music giant during the 1960s and 1970s. The stations used the K-Box call sign because they were owned by John F. Box.
In 1973, the FM station's call letters switched to KTLC for "Tender Loving Care," a way to describe its beautiful music format. In 1976, the call sign was changed again, this time to KMEZ, carrying new branding as EZ 100. KMEZ also served as the flagship station for Southern Methodist University football.

1988-1999: CHUrban

In 1988, KMEZ was purchased by Summit Broadcasting. After the purchase, KMEZ's call letters and easy listening format moved to 107.5 FM. At 12:01 a.m. on Christmas Day, 1988, after two days of stunting with a loop of "Jam On It" by Newcleus, the station changed formats to a mix of CHR and Urban music, commonly called the "CHUrban" format, which is the predecessor of rhythmic contemporary. The station changed its call letters to KJMZ and branding to 100.3 Jamz.
During its time as KJMZ, on-air personality Russ Parr got his start in the radio business before going to Washington, D.C. to host a syndicated morning show, which, at one time, aired on KBFB. In 1995, Granum Communications bought KJMZ and KOAI. Granum tweaked KJMZ's format to adult R&B hits of the last two decades and renamed the station KRBV, V100 on September 1, 1995. The KJMZ call letters were picked up by a station in Las Vegas.
KRBV, along with KXTX-TV, KOAI and KYNG, were impacted by the Cedar Hill tower collapse on October 12, 1996. Three workers were killed and one injured when a gust of wind caught the gin pole being used for construction of a new antenna for KXTX-TV. With their tower on the ground, the stations scrambled to get back on air. They were forced to use an auxiliary site for many months, though at a much reduced power output. Because of this, KRBV's ratings sank, and the station was unable to return to its success before the tower collapse.
Also in 1996, the Infinity Broadcasting Corporation bought Granum Communications, acquiring KRBV and KOAI. In December 1998, KRBV re-added hip hop music to its playlist, and was revamped as Adult Mix V100.3.

1999-2004: Top 40

On March 12, 1999, the station began stunting by looping songs from artists such as Rob Base and Eminem. Three days later, on March 15, the station changed formats to Rhythmic-leaning Top 40. The station was renamed Hot 100, calling itself DFW's Party Station. On May 28, 2001, at 11 a.m., the station changed its name again to Wild 100 while maintaining its Rhythmic-leaning Top 40 format. The first song on Wild 100 was "Wild Thing" by Tone Loc. Wild 100 became the Dallas affiliate for the Austin-based "J. B. and Sandy" morning show.
On March 8, 2002, Wild 100 exhumed an old KLIF stunt by declaring themselves a "thing of the past." The station went dark for about three hours and came back with the same format and name. Later that year, J. B. and Sandy's show was terminated. The station became a CBS Radio station when Infinity was renamed. Throughout Wild 100's tenure, the station ran a nightly program at 8PM called "The Wild Trials: Do It or Screw It." A new song would be played and listeners could call in with the choice to keep it in the station's playlist or discard it.
On the morning of April 1, 2004, as an April Fools' Day joke, Wild 100's morning show was replaced by a pre-recorded episode of The Russ Martin Show. Later that day, Russ Martin was back on his regular station, Live 105.3, where he got calls from Russ Martin show listeners who thought this change was permanent. Little did anyone know a major change was on the horizon for 100.3 FM.

2004-present: Jack FM

On July 1, 2004, at 8 a.m., the station began stunting with a mix of music and soundbites featuring the word "Jack." At Noon, the station flipped to Adult Hits as 100.3 Jack FM. The first song was "Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2. The Jack FM format had been successful in a number of Canadian cities. CBS began putting it on several of its FM stations around the U.S., including Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and other markets.
With the flip, KRBV's call letters changed to KJKK. For the first 11 years, KJKK was jockless, and rejected all song requests. It used the voice of Howard Cogan to make quips and sarcastic remarks several times each hour instead of having a DJ. In late 2015, the station added an airstaff, while still keeping Cogan for station imaging. In the summer of 2016, KJKK dropped the "Playing What We Want" slogan, and changed it to "Everyone Agrees on Jack FM." In early 2020, KJKK brought back the famous “Playing What We Want” slogan.
The station's playlist has a core focus on hits from the 1980s and 1990s, with some songs occasionally going back to the 1970s, 1960s, and even the 1950s. Most of the music is from mainstream rock and alternative rock, although other songs from the Top 40 charts are included. The KRBV call letters eventually went to a Los Angeles station for several years, also at 100.3 FM, but under different ownership.
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom. The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th.

HD Radio

HD2

KJKK's secondary HD Radio channel was initially launched as "My HD" in 2004. In early 2008, it carried Las Vegas-related jazz standards sound under the branding "The Sound of The Strip."
In May 2018, "The Sound of the Strip" was replaced by urban contemporary-formatted "V100.3 HD2" with the tagline "DFW's New Hip-Hop and R&B." It is similar to the "Adult Mix V-100.3" format previously heard on the main 100.3 frequency from 1998 to 1999.

HD3

KJKK's HD3 signal was launched in late 2010 to broadcast a diverse indie/alternative format known as The Indie-Verse. It was previously heard on KRLD-FM 105.3 HD2, but that station now airs the all-news and talk programming heard on sister station AM 1080 KRLD.
As of June 1, 2016, KJKK-HD3 began broadcasting a classic country format. It also carries news breaks from the co-owned Texas State Network during the day.