KWXY

KWXY (1340 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Cathedral City, California, and serving the Palm Springs radio market in the Coachella Valley. The station was founded in 1964, and is one of the few remaining adult standards / easy listening stations in the country. It is owned by Desert Broadcasters LLC. Studios, offices and the transmitter are on Dinah Shore Drive.
Programming is simulcast on 99-watt FM translator station K222DA at 92.3 MHz.
History.
The station previously simulcast on 1340 AM but sold the AM frequency to Ric and Rozene Supple's R&R Radio Corporation of Palm Springs, who flipped the format to progressive talk on August 7, 2006 and changed the call sign to KPTR. KPTR was the area's first Air America Radio affiliate; that network went bankrupt October 13, 2006 but had resumed operation under new ownership until it ultimately shut down in January 2010 and filed for liquidation.
KWXY not only had the same format since its inception in October 1964 but the same owner as well. KWXY was owned by veteran broadcaster Glen Barnett (1924-2014), a broadcast engineer who actually built and wired the studios and transmitter and most recently was the station's general manager.
KWXY (AM) began in 1964 as a 24-hour, 250-watt AM station. Power was increased to 500 watts in 1968 and again to 1 kW in 1973, where it remains today. FM operations began in 1969 at 103.1 MHz with a 3 kW signal. The move to 98.5 MHz and a boost to 50 kW occurred in 1976.
Both full-time residents of the Coachella Valley as well as seasonal visitors from the northern part of the United States and Canada made KWXY one of the most successful stations in the area both in demographics as well as revenue. In addition, the on-air lineup boasted Dave Hull, named one of the top ten greatest broadcasters in Los Angeles radio history, and his KFI colleague Scott Ellsworth. KWXY also broadcast news reports from Canada for Canadian citizens who visit the Coachella Valley during the winter season.
In January 2010, it was announced that KWXY-FM would cease broadcasting on 98.5 FM and broadcast only on the 1340 AM frequency. Dave Hull signed off the FM station at 11:59 pm February 1. KDES, another R&R Broadcasting station originally broadcasting at 104.7, has taken over the 98.5 frequency allocation and will continue with its classic hits programming. Licensing of the 104.7 frequency then moved from Palm Springs to Riverside.
In June 2014 the station began simulcasting on KDES-HD2 and on a leased FM translator at 107.3 and changed its branding to "Legend 107.3: The Sound of the Desert". The branding was later amended to "107.3 MOD-FM".
In November 2015 KWXY changed to a syndicated liberal talk format while the programming rights to its previous standards format and the 107.3 translator (due to a sale to Alpha Media) moved to KDES-HD2 as Mod 107.3 FM but continues to play classic songs from The Great American Songbook as well as easy listening favorites, but no instrumentals.
On August 12, 2016, KWXY and sister station KPSI (now KKGX) went silent. In October 2016, Desert Broadcasters agreed to acquire both stations from R&R Radio Corporation.
On March 14, 2017, KWXY returned to the air as "Relaxing Music 1340" and once again airs an Adult Standards music format. The sale to Desert Broadcasters was consummated on March 31, 2017. A simulcast on FM translator K222DA (92.3 FM) was added on April 23, 2018. On August 4, 2020, KWXY's Website is hinting a change is happening on the station. It is unknown if the format is going to be changed, and the station is running liners saying "Change is coming to KWXY and we think you're going to like it". On August 13th, KWXY announced that their FM translator K222DA 92.3 is getting its power boosted from 60 watts to 99 watts.