KLUV

Infobox Radio station
name = KLUV


city = Dallas, Texas
area = Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex
branding = "98.7 K-Luv"
slogan = "North Texas' Greatest Hits"
airdate = 1961 as KROW
frequency = 98.7 (MHz) HD Radio
98.7 HD-2 for '50s & '60s Oldies
format = Oldies/Classic Hits
power =
erp = 99,000 watts
haat = 507 meters
class = C
facility_id = 67195
callsign_meaning = K-Love
former_callsigns = KROW (1961-1963)
KLIF (1963-1966)
KNUS (1966-1981)
KLVU (1981-1984)
owner = CBS Radio
licensee = Texas CBS Radio Broadcasting, LP
webcast = [http://player.play.it/player/player.html?id=146&onestat=kluv Listen Live]
website = [http://www.kluv.com kluv.com]
affiliations = CBS
CNN Radio Network
sister_stations = KJKK, KLLI, KMVK, KRLD, KVIL
"also part of CBS Corp. cluster: TV stations KTVT and KTXA"

KLUV, branded as "K-LUV" (K-Love), is a radio station transmitting on 98.7 FM, serving the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in Texas with an Oldies format, however KLUV is leaning into more of a Classic Hits format with some music from the early 1980s mixed in their playlist since late 2006. KLUV is currently owned by CBS Radio and affiliated with the CNN Radio Network.

History

KLUV was first established on January 26, 1984 and bills itself as a "Classic Top 40" station. Former owner John Tenaglia purchased the more-coveted "KLUV"-spelled call letters for $10,000 from a Haynesville, Louisiana station and trading them 98.7's former KLVU calls (which were established at 98.7 on October 19, 1981 under the station's San Juan Racing ownership.) Continuing its light adult contemporary format from KLVU, the station began incorporating pop oldies into its mix throughout 1984; then, by November, 1985, the station became all-pop oldies after purchasing the record collection of newly-defunct KXOL-1360 AM in Fort Worth at auction.

In the late 1950s, the station was first established as KOST. The callsign was initially requested when the application was sent in 1959, but was never used. It was then rebranded KROW and signed on in 1961 as a Top 40 station in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, owned by Gordon McLendon. Two years later, the callsign changed to KLIF as a simulcast of sister station KLIF (AM).

In July, 1966, the station changed call letters to KNUS, and began an automated progressive/underground rock format, with live jocks added in mid-1967. When McLendon sold his AM Top 40 flagship KLIF to Fairchild Industries in 1972, he offered them KNUS as well, but Fairchild declined. As part of the sale, McLendon agreed not to operate any AM station within a 150-mile radius, but since the agreement did not forbid him to operate an "FM" station, McLendon continued to operate KNUS and, by 1971, had already morphed it into a rock-based Top 40 station which played hit music without the "bubblegum" and "teeny-bopper" material. (The station's initial promotion to plug the new Top 40 format had a disc jockey positioned at the top of a flagpole at McLendon's Gemini Drive-In Theatre. The pole was more of an aerial structure with large "KNUS" lettering mounted vertically to each side of the square truss. The pole was still intact in the 1990s, long after the KNUS calls were dropped and the Gemini shuttered.)

KNUS eventually transitioned into a more mainstream Top 40, and it paid off when the station passed KLIF in the ratings in the fall of 1975, becoming one of the first FM Top 40 stations to defeat its chief AM competitor. By the end of the 1970s, however, KNUS had fallen out of the top ten, and the station switched to an adult contemporary format as KLVU on October 19, 1981 before adopting the current oldies format in 1985, playing pop oldies from the 1950s to the late 1960s.

McLendon sold KNUS to San Juan Racing in May, 1979, who in turn sold the station to John Tenaglia dba TK Communications (as KLVU) on October 27, 1982. Tenaglia sold the rebadged KLUV to CBS on April 21, 1995, for a then-staggering $55 million.

On December 31, 1985, singer Rick Nelson and his band were en route to KLUV's New Year's Eve Sock Hop, hosted by Ken "Hubcap" Carter. The plane crashed near DeKalb, Texas, killing Nelson and his entourage.

The Chuck Brinkman years (1988-2006) included many personalities: Hubcap Carter, Jason Walker, Jonathan Hayes, Johnny Michaels, Steve Eberhart, Al Forgeson, Paula Street, Dave Van Dyke, Debi Diaz, John Summers, Jim Prewitt, Jay Cresswell, Bob Gomez, Sandi Sharp, Ben Laurie, Glen Martin, Bob deCarlo, Johnny Stone, John McCarty, Mike Wade, Brian Pierce & Kate Garvin.

After 1998, 98.7 KLUV, like many oldies stations around the United States, largely removed the 1950s songs from its playlist. Another CBS station, KLUV (AM) 1190 (later 1190 AM) and, coincidentally, the same dial position as former sister station KLIF), existed from 1998-2000 and primarily played 1950s music. Meanwhile, the main station tweaked its format to pop oldies from the mid 1960s to early 1980s. Starting in 2002, the station was temporarily the "radio home" of the Dallas Cowboys, featuring live broadcasts of their games. In 2006 Dallas Cowboys broadcasts moved to KTCK.

In 2005, with the retirement of long-time radio veteran Ron Chapman, KLUV picked up noted Dallas news personality Jody Dean as replacement.

Peter Zolnowski, KLUV's Program Director, fired longtime DJ and former PD Chuck Brinkman in August, 2006. Most years, on Memorial Day weekend, KLUV features a "Top 500 Countdown" in which the top 500 oldies, as picked by the station's listeners, are played in descending order for the entire weekend.

KLUV recently launched an HD Radio sub-station. Originally, it was called "The Fab Format", where fans of The Beatles could hear their music 24/7, but in January 2008 they've changed the format to include oldies from the 1950s and 1960s, much similar to ABC Radio's True Oldies Channel. It can be heard on 98.7 HD-2 (HD Radio needed). [http://www.kluv.com/pages/78643.php?contentType=4&contentId=200081]

As of June 30, 2008; it competes head-on with Citadel Broadcasting's KPMZ ("Platinum 96.7").

Former Logos

External links

* [http://www.kluv.com KLUV official website]
*FMQ|KLUV
*FML|KLUV
*FMARB|KLUV
*Geolinks-US-buildingscale|32.58861|-96.96806
* [http://www.kluv.com/2006top500.htm 2006 Top 500 Countdown]
* [http://www.knus99.com Mike Shannon's Dallas-Fort Worth Radio and TV History]
* [http://www.dfwradioarchives.com DFW Radio Archives]