K104
It is owned by Service Broadcasting Corporation alongside with its AM counterpart KKDA-AM and KRNB-FM. It's studios are located in Grand Prairie, Texas.
Its longtime morning drive show "Skip Murphy and the Morning Team" was ranked #1 during the morning drive timeslot for nearly a decade, according to the Arbitrons.
Over the last two years, several popular personalities on the #1 ranked morning show, such as comedian Nannette Lee and Wig, have moved on. Murphy says that he outgrew the rap format that K104 is known for.
Nationally syndicated personality, Tom Joyner, became recognized as the Fly Jock because he hosted the morning drive slot on "K-104" and traveled regularly to host an afternoon drive slot on WGCI-FM Chicago. His show was heard later on KRNB and now airs on KSOC-FM ("94.5 K-Soul").
History
The station that became "K-104" began operation on June 8, 1947 as KIXL.
KIXL (pronounced "Kicksil") aired a successful Beautiful Music format, simulcast on both 104.5 FM and 1040 AM ("104 on both dials"). The station maintained the KIXL call letters until 1970 when it changed to KEZT, continuing to play easy-listening musical fare but with much lower ratings.
In 1976, KEZT changed formats and calls to Urban Contemporary KKDA-FM, "K-104".
K-104 was initially the FM counterpart to KKDA-AM ("Soul 73"), which aired R&B and soul music during the day and gospel music at night. "K-104" was primarily a Disco station at first, then shifted to more mainstream Urban Contemporary fare after the end of the disco era while maintaining high ratings.
Through the mid-1990s, K-104 skewed its format more towards the Mainstream Urban consisting of a hip-hop and current R&B-heavy playlist with slower R&B and soul songs at night and urban contemporary gospel on Sunday mornings.
This current format has help project K-104 to being the highest-rated radio station in the Dallas/Fort Worth DMA, where it has remained to this day.
Competition-wise, KKDA also has a crosstown rivalry with KBFB-FM ("97.9 The Beat"), who has taken advantage of KKDA's 'traditional' Urban direction and used that to their advantage, resulting in the two fighting it out for R&B/Hip-Hop dominance in the Metroplex. In addition, they also have a competitor in Rhythmic Contemporary rival KZZA ("Casa 106.7"), which just shifted from a Hispanic Rhythmic direction, since KKDA also has a sizable share of Hispanic listeners.
Controversy
In May 2006, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that Program Director/current morning personality Skip Cheatham and night deejay Cat Daddy appeared in part 2 of the "Aggtown Fightz" underground video series, seemingly to promote the violent teen-fight DVDs.
Cheatham told the newspaper he thought he was "helping out a young entrepreneur. I would never endorse or condone any type of violence against our youth." Since the news broke, the station waged a war of words with the Arlington, TX police department, who investigated the videos.