
KCXL

KCXL (1140 AM) is a locally owned Talk radio station that serves the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. From its tower in Liberty, Missouri, KCXL broadcasts all hours of the day. The daytime wattage of 4000 watts covers all of the Kansas City Metropolitan area, and reaches the Topeka, Emporia, and Fort Scott radio markets in Kansas, and the Columbia, Missouri radio market. Despite the "daytimer" correlation with Class D stations, KCXL's six nighttime watts continue the station's operation within Clay County. KCXL recently upgraded its daytime power to 4,000 watts. KCXL 1140 AM also serves as a translator on K275BQ 102.9 MHz FM and K284CH 104.7 MHz FM, in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area.
History.
Kansas Citians first heard a signal on 1140 kHz in 1967, when Liberty business owners, led by furniture store owner George Bedinger, established a country music station under the call letters KBIL. The format continued until 1978, when new owners opted for adult contemporary music. Although the switch proved unsuccessful in a matter of months, the station (as KFIX) included as its deejays Mike Murphy, who later became a legendary voice at KCMO, Randy Miller, who made his name as a shock jock on KBEQ-FM, and Rush Limbaugh, who briefly took his “Jeff Christie” moniker here before finding his niche in talk radio. Some unsuccessful formats would find a reprieve on their sister FM signal at 106.5 MHz.
The station, under various owners, tried different formats. In 1980, KDLY debuted, playing Oldies music. In 1984, KCXL letters debuted alongside an urban contemporary format. Studios were built within Kansas City's urban core. However, because the signal at night was limited to the suburban Northland, it eventually fell short competing with longtime station KPRS. The station ceased operations in 1992 and went silent for two years. Meanwhile, 106.5 was eventually sold to Entercom and is now the country station WDAF-FM.
Current format.
Local resident Pete Schartel acquired the 1140 tower in 1994 and introduced an oldies station that eventually gave way to a talk station. With the slogan “Radio Free Liberty”, KCXL's programming is a mix of local talents, wacky cut-ups like the wack pack and national syndicate features that take an activistic approach, as well as usual local radio fare such as tradio. The syndicated programming airing on KCXL is a mixture of brokered programming (such as Joel Wallach's "Dead Doctors Don't Lie") and programming from the Genesis Communications Network and the Accent Radio Network. KCXL operates a bookstore at 203C Southwest Eagles Lane Parkway Grain Valley, Missouri. The Bookstore features products from shows carried by the station as well, like water filters, health supplements, books, videos and the always effervescent store manager Jonni. As KCXL principally broadcasts to Liberty, sports coverage includes the Blue Jays of Liberty High School and the Bearcats of Northwest Missouri State University.
Sister station KCTO was signed to a local marketing agreement in March 2011 by the Ramirez Group and is no longer programmed by Alpine Broadcasting.
The current KCXL format is mainly talk radio during the daytime. "Sports Radio 810" WHB now programs KCXL through a LMA from 6pm to midnight daily with overflow programming from ESPN Radio. Sundays continue to be manned by The JPEG Show Network and brings Contemporary Christian music and sports. Hosted by James and Peggy Peuster, they enter their 9th year of radio ministry.
On April Fools' Day 2012, the station played Christmas music from noon - 2 p.m. CDT.
On Sunday, October 30, 2016 at 6pm, KCXL launched a new overnight Dance format as Surge Radio, which was a part-time simulcast of WEGG 100.5 FM & 710 AM in Eastern North Carolina under time brokerage agreement. Surge's first song on KCXL was "Hello" by The Potbelleez. Surge Media changed the format of WEGG on January 10, 2017, but continued operating Surge Radio as an internet radio station as well as overnights on KCXL. Surge started midnight to 6am nightly, and started at 6pm on Sunday nights. Surge Radio aired a number of syndicated programs; The Weekend Jumpoff with DJ Perry, Bimbo Jones mix show, The House Connection with DJ Perry, The Listening Room with Mikeo (owner of Energy98.fm, and was also WEGG's program director from November 2014 to August 2016), Unleash The Beat with JES, and House Sundays with Rohit Bangera. Surge Media had stated that it would expand the Dance programming with every 1,000 additional likes to the Facebook page, and, upon gaining an additional 1000 likes, expanded to 11pm to 6am in January 2017.
On July 17, 2017, Surge Media terminated the time brokerage agreement, stating that it didn't wish to continue playing "the mass appeal game" due to the Dance genre beginning to favor lower bpm sounds, and opted to transition to internet only in order to continue playing 120+ bpm songs with a heavier focus on 2000s Dance Hits. WEGG falling into financial difficulties also played a role in the decision. Surge Radio never aired any advertising during its time on KCXL, other than promos for its own programming, social media pages, and mobile apps, and, therefore, did not generate any revenue to maintain itself. Surge's final broadcast on KCXL ended with the song "Freefallin"' by Zoe Badwi, probably because the refrain contains the line, "it's all good" which is KCXL's main slogan.
KCXL's management opted to continue airing several of Surge Radio's programs The Listening Room with Mikeo, Unleash The Beat with JES, and House Sundays with Rohit Bangera on Sunday afternoons 6pm-9pm. These programs were eliminated in January 2018, but The Listening Room with Mikeo returned in May 2018 on Sundays 5pm to 6pm, and continues to this day.
In a time brokerage agreement with RM Broadcasting, KCXL began airing Radio Sputnik six hours a day beginning on January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022.