KEGL
KEGL (97.1 FM) is an iHeartMedia hot talk and sports betting formatted commercial radio station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, and serving the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The studios are located along Dallas Parkway in Farmers Branch, although it has a Dallas address.
97.1 The Freak
HD2: Active rock "97.1 HD2 The Eagle"
- iHeartMedia, Inc.
- (iHM Licenses, LLC)
June 7, 1959
- KFJZ-FM (1959–1969)
- KWXI (1969–1976)
- KFJZ (1976–1981)
"Eagle" (former branding, currently in use on HD2)
18114
C
100,000 watts
508 meters (1,667 ft)
- Listen live (via iHeartRadio)
- HD2: Listen live (via iHeartRadio)
KEGL has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts, the maximum for most FM stations. The transmitter site is in Cedar Hill. KEGL broadcasts using HD Radio technology. The HD-2 subchannel carries the active rock format formerly broadcast on the main signal.
History[edit]
Rock/Top 40 era[edit]
The station signed on the air on June 7, 1959. In its early years, it used several call signs, beginning with KFJZ-FM, then KWXI, then back to KFJZ-FM. When it was KWXI, it used the moniker "Quicksie," borrowed from WQXI Atlanta. As KFJZ-FM, it called itself "Z97, The Texas Music Star" and "Texas FM 97."
In 1981, it took the call letters KEGL. It was one of three album rock stations in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex throughout most of the 1980s. Robert Jones, known on air as "Christopher Haze", became the program director of the station in August 1980, and changed the call letters and imaging of the station as "Eagle 97" on January 20, 1981. Within a short period of time, the station aired a hybrid Rock and Top 40 format known as "Rock 40." The original morning show was "The Rude Awakening Morning Show", consisting of Billy Hayes, Rose Wright and "The Rude Moose" (a character voiced by Hayes).[2]
Future KLOL Houston morning DJs Stevens and Pruett were the next morning show hosts from February 1982 to March 28, 1986. Stevens and Pruett were replaced with Paul Robbins, Paul Kinney, and Phil Cowan. James Smith "Moby" Carney was added to the lineup as the afternoon drive jock on September 1, 1986. DJs from the earlier era of KEGL included Drew Pierce, Charlie "Doc" Morgan, Danny Owen, Jonathan Doll, Dave Cooley, Jimmy Steal, Anthony "Tony Paraquat" Johnson, Jimmy White (1980–84; hosted an afternoon talk show on the station called "Relationships", during 1981–82), Sharon Golihar-Wilson (who hosted the evening show "House Party"), Lisa Traxler (who went on to work at Boston's WBCN), Russ Martin (who hosted a late Sunday night talk program), and Martha Martinez reported news during Stevens and Pruett's program.
David "Kidd Kraddick" Cradick (who would go on to greater success at now-sister station KHKS) started his career as KEGL's night DJ in 1984, then moved to afternoon drive on October 20, 1986, when "Moby in the Morning" replaced RKC, who left to do mornings in Sacramento. (Cradick used his real first name, Dave, for a time between 1989 and 1991. He was also known for a regular segment, "Burn Your Buns," where a fake threatening telephone call was placed to a specific unsuspecting person, by a listener's request.) Moby left KEGL on April 8, 1988, because of Federal Communications Commission's alleged violations of content. Cradick was then moved to mornings with "The Kidd Kraddick and Company Morning Show"; the show debuted on April 11, 1988. Rusty Humphries was briefly a personality for KEGL in the 1990s, known for his attempt to "smuggle" toy weapons into the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport as an on-air stunt.[3]: 30-A
Through most of the 1980s, the station was owned by Sandusky, a newspaper company. The studios were located in the Xerox Tower at 222 West Las Colinas Blvd. in Las Colinas, a commercial district in the Dallas suburb of Irving. (The station had been located at 4801 West Freeway in Fort Worth under the original KFJZ-FM and KWXI tenures, then at 5915 West Pioneer Parkway in Arlington during the second incarnation of KFJZ.)
CHR/Rock era[edit]
Responding to KTKS-FM's format change from oldies to Top 40/CHR, KEGL changed to a rock-leaning Top 40/CHR format on September 12, 1984, and altered its moniker Eagle 97 KEGL to All Hit 97.1 KEGL, The Eagle. KEGL's Program Director at the time was Joel Folger. In early 1986, KEGL began adding a minimum amount of mainstream pop titles. Later into the third part of the decade, the station also added a minimum amount of upbeat rhythmic titles in addition to the main rock material the station was known for. However, KEGL would shift back to a rock-lean in 1989, but would return to mainstream Top 40/CHR the following year in 1990; during this time, KEGL competed with KHYI ("Y95").
On June 15, 1992, KEGL Program Director Donna Fadal decided to make changes to the station. After being jockless for most of the summer (and stunting with weeks of Eagles songs), KEGL changed to active rock, while retaining the "Eagle" branding. KEGL also hired former Z Rock jock Madd Maxx Hammer for afternoons.[4]: 35-A [5]
The first active rock era[edit]
KEGL was a Howard Stern affiliate from September 8, 1992, to July 26, 1997. This ended when he criticized the new ownership, Nationwide, an insurance company, on the air. In August 1997, Russ Martin took over the morning show. Within six months, "The Russ Martin Show" had returned the morning program to its No. 1 ranking in the Adults 25–54 and Men 25–54 demographics. In late 1999, Jacor, which had bought the Nationwide Communications chain of stations in mid-1997, was bought by iHeartMedia (then known as Clear Channel Communications). Martin quit KEGL on March 15, 2000, after co-host Rich Berra had been hired and Martin did not like him. In addition, Martin had been offered to host mornings on Infinity Broadcasting's KLLI.
Another controversial show that aired on KEGL was Kramer and Twitch (hosted by Keith Kramer and Tony "Twitch" Longo) in evenings, who had started on KEGL's sister station KDMX, but were moved to the rock formatted KEGL because they were more suited for that genre. In 2001, a prank was aired on the show stating that Britney Spears was dead in an accident, to the horror of her fans. The phony report, which made it around the world in less than 24 hours (being reported on Australian news reports), also falsely stated that her then-boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, was critically injured in the wreck. Trouble followed, including hundreds of calls to local law enforcement agencies,[6] and Kramer and Twitch were fired from KEGL. Both would go their separate ways as they ventured into other markets.
HD Radio[edit]
KEGL-HD2[edit]
The station's HD2 subchannel (HD Radio needed) previously aired a commercial-free version of "The Eagle". In 2011, it began carrying iHeartRadio's "Slippery When Wet", a station airing classic metal music.[26][27] As of Summer 2019, "Slippery When Wet" was discontinued and replaced by "The Breeze", a soft adult contemporary format formerly on KEGL's HD3 spot. In May 2022, KEGL-HD2's signal was silenced with no programming replacement.
On September 30, 2022, KEGL's HD2 was reactivated to carry a continuation of the station's former active rock format as "97.1 HD2 the Eagle".
KEGL-HD3[edit]
Sometime in late 2018, KEGL launched an HD3 subchannel, carrying iHeartRadio's "The Breeze" format of soft adult contemporary music. "The Breeze" later moved to KEGL's HD2 subchannel, leaving KEGL-HD3 with no programming replacement.
