KVIL

Infobox Radio station
name = KVIL


city = Highland Park, Texas
area = Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex
branding = "103.7 Lite FM"
slogan = "Today's Refreshing Lite Rock"
airdate = 1961
frequency = 103.7 (MHz) HD Radio
103.7 HD-2 for "Rise" (Christian rock/Alternative)
format = Adult Contemporary
erp = 99,000 watts
haat = 507 meters
class = C
facility_id = 28624
callsign_meaning = Highland ParK VILlage Shopping Center
former_callsigns =
owner = CBS Radio
licensee = Texas CBS Radio Broadcasting, LP
webcast = [http://cbsplayer.streamtheworld.com/?CALLSIGN=KVILFM Listen Live]
website = [http://www.1037litefm.com/ 1037LiteFM.com]
affiliations =
sister_stations = KJKK, KLLI, KLUV, KMVK, KRLD
"also part of CBS Corp. cluster: TV stations KTVT and KTXA"

KVIL (103.7 FM, "103.7 Lite FM") is a radio station broadcasting in the Dallas/Fort Worth market in Texas. The station has featured a very popular adult contemporary music format for nearly forty years.

History

The original location of the studios overlooked the golf course at 4152 Mockingbird Lane at Preston Road near the SMU campus. In 1962 The Owner/Manager was John Coyle with the Program Director being Dillard Carerra. At that time the station was an FM powerhouse breakthrough at 119,000 watts in full stereo.

The remarkable engineering of the audio was routed through a huge Audio mixer with slider controls utilizing german silver rheostats. Audio phasing was a problem at that time. Capitol Records for instsance, used a revers-phasing that prevented anything recorded by The Beatles to be played, unless it was monaural. The reverse phasing simply blanked out the audio tracks to a distorted muffle.

"The singing time clock" was one of the first digital breakthroughs - actually a marriage of digital and analogue technology. The clock audio was recorded on 1/4" tape in stereo played on AMPEX recorders in individual segments, by the jingle singers at Pam's Jingles in Dallas. The project was huge, involving musicians, singers, recording engineers who taped every minute on the 24-hour clock in at least two versions, to be played by the station at the appropriate minute, The sequential clock was synchronized to the individual tape segments. When the DJ pushed the button, the audience heard "It's nine forty-three on the Kayvville Clock. K-V-I-L" or any imagineable variation of such limerick - and in stereo.

The KVIL logo was one of sophistication.. the picture of a feminine hand with a bracelet. That logo was plastered all over Dallas on billboards, matchbooks and most any imaginable media.

For many years during the 1970s and 1980s, it was the top station in the market. During the 1990s, it spent several years as the flagship station for the Dallas Cowboys.

For many years, KVIL's programming was simulcast on both the FM (103.7) and AM (1150) signals. KVIL-AM signed on as a daytime-only station in 1960, and KVIL-FM was added a year later. Yet, despite an attempt to take on the legendary KLIF with a Top 40 music format in 1967, neither AM nor FM attracted a very large portion of the listening audience until 1969, when the station hired Ron Chapman (better known to KLIF listeners as "Irving Harrigan") to do the morning show. At the same time, KVIL instituted a music format that was unique for its time, a cross between Top 40 and MOR which would later be termed "Adult Contemporary." The station was meant to appeal to adult listeners who had grown up with KLIF by projecting the same type of "showmanship" typical of Top 40 stations. KVIL first finished in Dallas/Fort Worth's top 10 Arbitron ratings in 1974 (the year after Arbitron combined Dallas and Fort Worth into a single market) and topped the ratings list for the first time in 1976.

AM 1150 adopted the calls KVIX and programmed a separate AC format from KVIL-FM for a short time in the mid-1980s. The station now operates at AM 1160 as conservative talk station KVCE, while KVIL continues with its AC format on 103.7 FM.

Today's programming features husband & wife team Gene & Julie hosting the morning show, the syndicated Delilah nighttime lovesongs program, and the Sunday Jazz Brunch hosted by Tempie Lindsey (formerly of KOAI "107.5 The Oasis").

KVIL HD-2

When KVIL began broadcasting a second channel in HD Radio, KVIL launched "Chick Rock" (Rock for Women) on 103.7 HD-2. The HD-2 channel now broadcasts Christian rock/adult alternative music as "Rise".

KVIL was the first station in the Dallas FtWorth area to broadcast top 40 format on FM and in stereo. The initial attempt in April of 67 was bold, offering good personalities and some interesting programming including the first Dallas broadcast of the Beatles' "Sgt Peppers Lonely hearts Club Band" album, played in its entirety on the evening of its release.

The 1967 to 1969 attempt to take on (the then very popular) KLIF failed because FM was still a relatively new format and only a small percentage of people owned FM radios. FM was not even a "standard" feature in original equipment car radios until the late 70's even though it had been an option since the early 60's. Additionally, KVIL's AM broadcast was only operating during daylight hours when the evenings were critical to a top-40 station's survival in the ratings. The failing station suffered in several ways, including employees running off with the records (possibly in place of the pay they were likely not receiving).

KVIL was purchased (probably for a very low price) in late 1968 by a partnership headed by the aforementioned Ron Chapman. In early 1969, KVIL starting broadcasting (under the new management) and spent several weeks broadcasting only music, no commercials except brief announcements by Ron Chapman telling listeners what was in store. And this time it happened as planned. Ron's expertise in broadcasting and his popularity, along with the increasing popularity of FM stereo, brought the station to prominence. At some point, Ron sold KVIL to one of the large broadcasting companies, but stayed on as morning DJ for many years after.

Past logos

External links

* [http://www.1037litefm.com/ KVIL official website]
*FMQ|KVIL
*FML|KVIL
*FMARB|KVIL
*Geolinks-US-buildingscale|32.58861|-96.96806
* [http://www.dfwradioarchives.com DFW Radio Archives]