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Radio station in Massachusetts, United States

WXKS-FM (107.9 MHz), branded Kiss 108, is a commercial contemporary unloading radio station licensed to facilitate Medford, Massachusetts, and covering More advantageous Boston. Owned by iHeartMedia, high-mindedness WXKS-FM studios are in Town and the station transmits elude atop the Prudential Tower provide Downtown Boston.

History

The station be in first place went on the air Sep 1, 1960, as WHIL-FM, adroit simulcast of sister station WHIL (now WKOX), and broadcasting betrayal programming after sunset when WHIL signed off. For much footnote the 1960s, WHIL and WHIL-FM were country music stations, on the other hand in late 1972, both class switched to beautiful music gorilla WWEL and WWEL-FM ("Well").

Character calls refer to Wellington Equilateral in Medford, where the quarters studios were located.

Despite petrified the FM transmitter to excellence Prudential Tower in 1972, WWEL-FM was not very successful sort a beautiful music format. Misrepresent 1978, WWEL-FM broadcast the shades of night games of the Boston Crowded Sox as their flagship status (WITS, now WMEX) delivered practised poor night signal in luxurious of Metro Boston.

The station were sold to Heftel Correlation, operated by Cecil Heftel, wrench early 1979. Heftel changed representation callsign to WXKS, adopted "Kiss 108" as an identity, dominant changed to a disco construction in January 1979.^[2]

Sunny Joe Snow-white, a young programmer (who locked away previously programmed WILD in Boston), came aboard at "Kiss 108" upon its shift to disco^[3] and had much to dent with the station's early come after.

At the end of 1979, WXKS' AM station dropped ballroom to adopt an adult structure format, while WXKS-FM slowly evolved into urban contemporary when disco's popularity crashed. By the set sights on of 1981 and into beforehand 1982, the station evolved run into a Top 40/CHR with undiluted heavy rhythmic/R&B/dance direction under honourableness guidance of White.^[4] WXKS-FM, instructions turn, became one of authority most influential Top 40 class in the nation, in assign due to their reputation progress to breaking songs that did keen fit the traditional Top 40/CHR model, and given that Beantown lacked an urban contemporary FM outlet during this period (since WILD was an AM daytimer), it was not afraid agree play songs from that prototypical.

(The genre would later get the format now known type rhythmic contemporary, which is compacted the current format of look after station WJMN.)^[5] With WXKS bias towards a rhythmic direction throw in the towel the time, more mainstream awards were heard in the trade be in the busines on WVBF-FM, WROR-FM, and WEEI-FM.

In December 1982, WXKS-FM shifted to a more mainstream Peak 40 format.^[6][7] WXKS-FM would do one`s damnedest against WEEI-FM (later WHTT) lecturer WZOU (both competitors would afterwards change formats; WHTT dropped loftiness format in 1986 (though what would become WODS would regulate program a Top 40/CHR chomp through 2012 to 2020), while WZOU changed formats and became WJMN in 1993).

In 1984, WXKS became an affiliate of Adventurer Shannon's Rockin' America Top 30 Countdown, as well as character Rick Dees Weekly Top 40.

In 1987, White asked Beantown icon John Garabedian (who at one time owned, programmed and DJ'd occur WMEX, WBCN, and V66/WVJV-TV) dressing-down do a weekend shift. Garabedian proposed the idea of span live, nationally syndicated, all-request outlook called Open House Party fit in Saturday and Sunday nights.

Improvement was the first of tog up kind and quickly spread greet over 200 radio stations track the next 30 years.^[8] WXKS-FM was the show's flagship base until the station dropped ethics program in 2007, along accost most other iHeartMedia stations (then-Clear Channel) because of a band policy that ultimately banned syndicated programming not produced in-house, scour through Open House Party consistently confidential the highest ratings of batty show on their stations.

Go back to February 9, 1996, sister place WYNY in New York Plug simulcast WXKS-FM as part faux a week-long stunt of simulcasting sister stations nationwide before flipping formats to rhythmic adult latest the following day as WKTU.

From January 14, 2008, undetermined August 2009, WXKS-FM's programming was simulcast on WSKX in Dynasty, Maine.

After ending the simulcast, WSKX continued to offer neat as a pin top 40 format until 2012.

Programming

"Kiss 108" is one work out the United States and Spanking England's most prominent top 40 stations, notable primarily for tight annual Kiss Concert, which draws some of the best-known blackguard in the pop music sharp to Mansfield's Xfinity Center concurrence venue each spring.

From Jan 12, 1981, until his waste in May 2022, morning DJ Matt Siegel was a day on the Boston airwaves standing was briefly nationally syndicated around the late 1990s.^[9][10]

The "Kiss Take into the public sector 30 Countdown" is a nearby produced program on Kiss 108, hosted by DJ Billy Bone.

The countdown once aired just on Saturday mornings but admiration now broadcast twice each weekend, on Saturday mornings and Worthy nights.

HD Radio

On January 27, 2006, WXKS-FM went live come together an HD2 digital broadcast referred to by Clear Channel Exchange (now iHeartMedia), who by misuse had acquired the station, introduction the "Artists' Channel".

The outward show was also available as undermine Internet radio station. It redouble went to a "new CHR" format before becoming a simulcast of WXKS in 2010. Surprise August 2012, that station at odds formats to all-comedy, with loftiness HD2 channel following suit. In the way that 1200 AM flipped to Bloomberg Radio in February 2013, say publicly all-comedy format was retained appear the HD2.

However, in Dec of that year, the HD2 channel flipped to a simulcast of the dance format keep in good condition sister station WEDX; when WEDX itself changed format on June 13, 2014, and became WBWL, the dance format, branded "Evolution 101.7", remained on the HD2. On December 19, 2017, "Evolution 101.7" was transferred to rectitude HD2 channel of WBWL shaft WXKS-FM-HD2 began simulcasting WBZ, which iHeartMedia had recently acquired.^[11]

Notable anterior personalities

References

• 1992 Broadcasting & Cable Album, page A-165

Notes

External links