KMVA (97.5 FM) is a

Rhythmic Hot AC Rhythmic adult contemporary, often abbreviated as rhythmic AC or RAC, is an adult contemporary radio format. The format focuses primarily on rhythmic hits aimed towards an adult audience, often resembling a mixture of the classic hits and hot adul ...

radio station in the

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, area. The station is licensed to Dewey-Humboldt and is owned by Riviera Broadcasting, LLC. KMVA forms a full-time simulcast with

KZON KZON (103.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Gilbert, Arizona, and broadcasting to the Phoenix metropolitan area. KZON airs a Rhythmic Hot AC radio format branded as "Hot 97.5/103.9" (simulcasting with KMVA 97.5 FM Dewey-Humboldt ...

Gilbert Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters * Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South ...

in order to cover the entire Phoenix metropolitan area.

History

In Flagstaff

In 1985, Santa Rosa Broadcasting obtained the construction permit for 97.5 in Flagstaff, as KENR, which came to air late in 1986 as a soft adult contemporary station. The station was acquired by KVNA and relaunched on January 15, 1988, as KVNA-FM, moving to a more regular adult contemporary sound. By 1992, it had shifted to

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

, branded as "The Heat"; when the Park Lane Group bought KVNA-AM-FM in 1995, the station flipped from adult alternative to adult contemporary "Sunny 97"; while some listeners lamented the change, Park Lane cited the lack of an AC station in the market for the move.

Move into Phoenix

Marathon Media, a company known for taking rural stations and moving them closer to larger metropolitan areas in order to sell them for a larger amount, purchased the station in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, and got approval to move the station to a site between Phoenix and Prescott to cover the Phoenix metropolitan area. On January 1, 2005, in order to remain in Flagstaff, the "Sunny" format moved to 100.1 FM, which changed its call letters from KLOD to become the new

KVNA-FM KVNA-FM (100.1 FM, "100.One") is a commercial radio station in Flagstaff, Arizona broadcasting an Adult Album Alternative format. It is one of six radio stations in the Flagstaff- Prescott region of Northern Arizona owned by the Yavapai Broadcas ...

. The new 97.5 facility first signed on in April

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

as KZLB, calling itself "97.5 Latino Beat," featuring a mix of Spanish-language pop and

Reggaeton Reggaeton (, ), also known as reggaetón and reguetón (), is a music style that originated in Panama during the late 1980s. It was later popularized in Puerto Rico. It has evolved from dancehall and has been influenced by American Hip hop m ...

. The station was in the middle of being sold at the time. KVIB 95.1, a station broadcasting from the same location with an identical format, signed on the air just one month later, thus forcing KZLB off the air for three months. 97.5 returned to the airwaves in late August with a format that consisted of a mix of classic and more recently recorded

Pop Standards Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...

and Swing music, known on-air as "Star 97.5" with the KRZS calls. KRZS flipped to Rhythmic AC as "Movin' 97.5" at 5PM on October 27, 2006. The last song on Star 97.5 was "

You Make Me Feel So Young "You Make Me Feel So Young" is a 1946 popular music, popular song composed by Josef Myrow, with lyrics written by Mack Gordon. It was introduced in the 1946 musical film ''Three Little Girls in Blue'', where it was sung by the characters performed ...

" by

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

, while the first song on Movin' 97.5 was " Bust a Move" by

Young MC Marvin Young (born May 10, 1967), better known by his stage name Young M.C., is a British-born American rapper, singer and actor. He is best known for his 1989 hit " Bust a Move". His debut album ''Stone Cold Rhymin found international accla ...

. The station's old website was still up, but left a goodbye message to its listeners as to why they made the decision to switch formats and hopes that they could find a new place for its displaced one. Throughout

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, the station began adding various

top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

pop and rock songs, moving more into a

Hot AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet s ...

direction but keeping some of the rhythmic material. During this period, the station aired

On Air With Ryan Seacrest ''On Air with Ryan Seacrest'' is a weekday syndicated radio program hosted by Ryan Seacrest. It was launched in 2004 as a drive time show at the same time on Los Angeles Top 40 station 102.7 KIIS-FM as the television show with the same name, ...

. On November 24, 2010, KMVA temporarily dropped its Top 40 format and began stunting with all-Christmas music. In addition, all references to "MOViN'" were omitted, an indication that KMVA will flip to a new format after the Holidays. On December 20, 2010, Trumper revealed that at midnight on December 25, 2010, KMVA would officially become Hot 97.5, a

with a unique mix of Top 40 and Hot AC currents. The first three songs on "Hot" were "

Raise Your Glass "Raise Your Glass" is a song by American singer Pink from her first greatest hits compilation '' Greatest Hits... So Far!!!'' (2010). The song was written by Pink, Max Martin and Karl " Shellback" Schuster, and produced by the latter two, who ar ...

" by

P!nk Alecia Beth Moore Hart (born September 8, 1979), known professionally as Pink (stylized as P!nk), is an American singer, songwriter, actress and dancer. She was originally a member of the girl group Choice. In 1995, LaFace Records saw potential ...

, "

September September is the ninth month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the third of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the fourth of five months to have a length of fewer than 31 days. September in the Northern H ...

" by Daughtry, and "

Viva La Vida "Viva la Vida" (, ; ) is a song by British rock band Coldplay. It was written by all members of the band for their fourth album, ''Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends'' (2008). The lyrics to the song contain historical and Christian refe ...

" by

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...

. Both Elvis Duran and Ryan Seacrest's shows were retained at KMVA after the transition. The station was added again to

Mediabase Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytic ...

panel as of July

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Hot 97.5/103.9

In early 2012, KMVA shifted its direction towards a Dance presentation and became more music intensive with the addition of more Dance hits, along with a new slogan "The Hits and Dance Channel" to reflect the adjusted changes. It also dropped Elvis Duran for a music-driven morning show that same year. By 2013, the Dance product was phased out for more Hot AC product, but remained within the Top 40/CHR realm. However, by the Fall of 2013, KMVA returned to an Adult Top 40 direction altogether. On December 27, 2013, Trumper Communications and Riviera Broadcasting Group announced that they would merge their Adult Top 40 outlets into one simulcast, with KMVA and KEXX becoming "Hot 97.5/103.9 Trending Radio." The combined signals made their launch on December 31, 2013. On March 14, 2014, the sale of KMVA by Trumper Communications to Riviera Broadcasting was consummated at a price of $11,270,000. On June 17, 2022, at noon, KMVA and KZON shifted to rhythmic hot AC, keeping the "Hot" branding and adopting the "Rhythm of the Valley" positioner, with the first song being "

Hot in Herre "Hot in Herre" is a song by American rapper Nelly, released as the first single from his second studio album ''Nellyville'' (2002). It was released on May 7, 2002, by Universal Records. It was written by Nelly, Charles Brown, and the producers ...

" by

Nelly Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, actor and entrepreneur. He embarked on his music career with the hip hop group St. Lunatics in 1993 and signed to Universal ...

.Hot 97.5/103.9 Phoenix Relaunches as the Rhythm of the Valley
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References

External links

HOT 97.5/103.9
{{coord, 34.235, N, 112.368, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title MVA Rhythmic contemporary radio stations in the United States