KCXL is a locally owned Talk/Nostalgia station that serves the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, with Dance Hits overnight. From its tower in Liberty, Missouri, KCXL broadcasts all hours of the day. 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 1140AM also serves as a translator on K275BQ 102.9 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 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 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 stationKCTO 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. Surge runs from midnight to 6am nightly, and starts at 6pm on Sunday nights. This format is operated under a time brokerage agreement with North Carolina-based Surge Media, LLC which also operates WEGG under the same brand. Surge Media has stated that it will expand the Dance programming with every 1,000 additional likes to the Facebook page. 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.
