ESPN Radio affiliate in East St. Louis, Illinois
WXOS
(101.1
FM
) is a commercial
radio station
affiliated with
ESPN Radio
and licensed to
East St. Louis, Illinois
, broadcasting to the
Greater St. Louis
area. Owned by
Hubbard Broadcasting
, its studio facilities are located on Olive Boulevard in St. Louis, while its transmitter is located in south
St. Louis County
near
Concord
.
Programming
[
edit
]
WXOS, an
ESPN Radio
affiliate, carries ESPN shows on nights and weekends. The station is the flagship station for the
St. Louis Blues
.
[2]
It also previously held the rights to
Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball
which it acquired from
KFNS
, until 2020 saw the Bills move to
KMOX
. Play-by-play announcer Bob Ramsey joined 101 ESPN as a member of the Fast Lane when the station launched. 101 ESPN also airs the
College Football Playoff
, the
World Series
, the
NBA Finals
, and other events from
ESPN Radio
.
Sportswriter and The Fast Lane Producer Michelle Smallmon had been filling the spot left by
Chris Duncan
on The Fast Lane. However, that spot was permanently filled by
Brad Thompson
in 2014.
[3]
Smallmon later became a co-host on "The Bernie Miklasz Show" in 2018 but left the show in 2019. As of May 2020,
Randy Karraker
and Smallmon co-host the station's morning drive program, "Karraker & Smallmon".
WXOS held the radio rights to the
St. Louis Rams
of the
National Football League
from
2009
to
2015
after which they relocated to Los Angeles. Rams games were previously aired on
KLOU
.
History
[
edit
]
Early years
[
edit
]
WXOS has adopted several
call letters
and formats since it began airing on May 13, 1966. The station first broadcast under WMRY and had studios based out of the Our Lady of the Snows shrine near
Belleville
. The station, however, never broadcast a religious format. Rather, they aired non-commercial pop music with periodic positive motivational messages from different faiths interspersed. In the mid-1980s, the station became a commercial station, and aired a
progressive rock
format. Their studios were relocated to an office park in St. Louis County, Missouri.
1991?1994: Various rock formats
[
edit
]
In January 1991, the station flipped to
soft AC
as "Sunny 101", WSNL. Two months later, the station flipped to "mellow rock" as WFXB, "The Fox", and simulcast on
KFXB
(105.7 FM). In February 1993, the simulcasting ended, though 101.1 would continue to carry the mellow rock format, which would evolve to a
AAA
format, and then an "
Arrow
"-type
classic hits
format, while still being called "The Fox".
1994?2006: "The River"
[
edit
]
On November 24, 1994, the station would return to AAA as "101 The River" and the WVRV call letters.
[4]
By Summer of 1997, the format evolved to
modern AC
.
[5]
In 2004, the format shifted to
adult top 40
, but retained the "River" moniker and call letters.
2006?2008: "Movin"
[
edit
]
On September 8, 2006, at 11:00 a.m., WVRV changed its format to
rhythmic adult contemporary
, changed its moniker to "MOViN 101.1", and adopted the slogan of "Makes You Feel Good". The first song on "MOViN" was "
Good Vibrations
" by
Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch
.
[6]
They were the fourth station to adopt the "MOViN" moniker, after
KQMV
in
Seattle
,
KMVN
in Los Angeles and
KYMV
in
Salt Lake City
. The announcement was made with no prior notification to its on-air personalities, and they were dismissed on short notice, as is the norm in format switches. The station announced that it would go 90 days without personalities before DJs would be announced. Under the Rhythmic AC format, the station's playlist consisted of "adult rhythmic hits from today, the 1980s and 1990s, plus a sprinkling of rhythmic classics." The station would change call letters to WMVN shortly afterward.
The first on-air DJs were former
Steve & DC
castmember Jill Devine,
Mysti
and Raven Rush, who joined on December 15. On February 12, 2007, former
KYKY
morning show co-host Steph Duran joined MOViN' for mornings. Prior to joining WMVN, Duran had been at
KZON
and
KUPD
in
Phoenix
. She was joined on September 1, 2007, by co host Eric Schmidt. Schmidt had previously worked at WMVN sister station
WARH
. A veteran of the St. Louis market he had also worked at WVRV,
KPNT
,
WXTM
,
WMLL
,
KCLC
, and
KFAV
. WMVN was programmed by Jules Riley, who also programs WARH.
After an economic-related shakeup on March 3, 2008, Mysti and Raven Rush were let go. Schmidt moved to the afternoon drive slot and Steph Duran took a solo morning shift. The format was shifted to
hot adult contemporary
after this.
2009-present: "ESPN 101"
[
edit
]
On September 22, 2008, it was announced that WMVN would flip to an all-sports format on January 1, 2009, featuring a combination of local and
ESPN Radio
programming. The station would also change call letters to the current WXOS.
[7]
To prepare for the change, on October 10, WMVN began
stunting
with all-
Christmas music
, which lasted until the full format flip occurred.
[8]
Bonneville International
announced the sale of WXOS, as well as 16 other stations, to
Twin Cities
-based
Hubbard Broadcasting
on January 19, 2011.
[9]
The sale was completed on April 29, 2011.
[10]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Call Sign History"
.
FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database
.
- ^
"Blues create new broadcast partnership with 101 ESPN"
.
NHL.com
. Retrieved
January 31,
2019
.
- ^
"Brad Thompson, Kevin Wheeler Join 101ESPN/St. Louis Lineup"
.
- ^
"
'The River' Runs Through Detroit And St. Louis"
(PDF)
. Radio & Records. November 25, 1994. p. 3
. Retrieved
September 11,
2023
.
- ^
"CHR For St. Louis' Big Kids"
(PDF)
. Radio & Records. July 3, 1998. p. 73
. Retrieved
September 11,
2023
.
- ^
"The River Runs Dry"
.
- ^
"FM station (101.1) moves into sports-talk radio field"
.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
. September 22, 2008.
- ^
"It's a very early Christmas in St. Louis ? on "Movin'""
.
Radio-Info.com
. October 10, 2008
. Retrieved
October 10,
2008
.
- ^
"$505M sale: Bonneville sells Chicago, D.C., St. Louis and Cincinnati to Hubbard"
.
Radio-Info.com
. January 19, 2011. Archived from
the original
on January 21, 2011
. Retrieved
January 19,
2011
.
- ^
"Hubbard deal to purchase Bonneville stations closes"
.
Radio Ink
. May 2, 2011. Archived from
the original
on March 12, 2012
. Retrieved
May 2,
2011
.
External links
[
edit
]
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