Classical and beautiful The station
signed on the air on March 15, 1948. It was originally owned by the
McClatchy Company, publisher of
The Fresno Bee daily newspaper. FM 97.9 was originally the
sister station to
KMJ (580 AM), and had the
call sign KMJ-FM. Those call letters are now used on a co-owned station at
105.9 FM. Known as "Music 98", KMJ-FM broadcast classical music for much of its early years. Its studios were at 3636 North First Street. It later switched to
automated beautiful music.
Country music In 1981, the call sign was changed to KNAX and the format was flipped to
country music. KNAX's competition at that time was 1340
KMAK, an AM station that had adopted the country format around 1966. By 1985, KMAK had changed format to
News/Talk. That left 97.9 KNAX as the sole country outlet for the Fresno area. This lasted until 1992 when a station at 93.7 FM became "Kiss Country"
KSKS. Both stations co-existed until KNAX was sold to Henry Broadcasting, which also owned KSKS. Management did not want to have two country stations competing with each other. The format of KNAX was altered to a mix of
classic country with a few currents, while KSKS focused on contemporary country hits. KNAX adopted the nickname of "Kickin' Country 98", and the original KNAX logo was replaced. In July 1996, KNAX and
KRBT were sold from Osborn Communications to
American Radio Systems, which would then sell to
Infinity Broadcasting in 1998. Infinity Broadcasting was renamed
CBS Radio in 2005.
Rhythmic oldies On July 3, 1998, the owners decided to take KNAX in a different direction. The station dropped country music, switching to "
Jammin' Oldies" a mix of Classic
R&B,
soul music and
disco. The call letters became KMGV, and the moniker was changed to "Mega 97.9". In November 2006, Peak Broadcasting acquired KMGV and several other Fresno market stations from CBS Radio. On August 30, 2013, a deal was announced in which
Townsquare Media would purchase Peak Broadcasting, and then immediately swap Peak's Fresno stations, including KMGV, to
Cumulus Media in exchange for Cumulus' stations in
Dubuque, Iowa and
Poughkeepsie, New York. The deal was part of Cumulus' acquisition of
Dial Global; Peak, Townsquare, and Dial Global were all controlled by
Oaktree Capital Management. The sale to Cumulus was completed on November 14, 2013. ==References==