KPRS is an

Urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...

radio station that broadcasts on the 103.3

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

frequency

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

. The station's playlist consists of hip-hop, R&B, and

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

music. According to the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

(FCC), it is the oldest continually

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

family-owned

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The station is owned by Carter Broadcast Group, and its studios are located in South Kansas City, as well as its transmitter (located separately).

History

In 1950, Andrew "Skip" Carter began operating KPRS as the nation's first Black radio station west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

with a transmitter donated by former

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

governor,

Alf Landon Alfred Mossman Landon (September 9, 1887October 12, 1987) was an American oilman and politician who served as the 26th governor of Kansas from 1933 to 1937. A member of the Republican Party, he was the party's nominee in the 1936 presidential ...

. KPRS debuted as a 500-watt daytimer at 1590 AM, with a playlist that consisted of R&B and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

. In 1951, KPRS opened its first studio at 12th and Walnut Street in Kansas City, Missouri. By 1952, Carter and Ed and Psyche Pate became business partners and purchased the station for $40,000 from the Johnson County Broadcasting Corporation. They moved KPRS to a new site at 2814 East 23rd Street in

. KPRS applied for an FM license on May 22, 1961, which was granted on December 20, 1961. KPRS-FM received its first license on May 16, 1963, and went on the air that year.Carter Broadcast Group History
/ref> In 1969, the Carters had controlling interest in the station. In 1971, KPRS (AM) moved its programming to the 103.3 frequency on the FM dial under the KPRS-FM call letters and moniker “K103” (which would later be rebranded as "Hot 103 Jamz" in the 1990s), while the 1590 frequency became an

urban gospel Urban/contemporary gospel is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the genre was well established by the end of the 1980s. The radio format is pitched prima ...

-formatted station. The studios and offices moved to the

Crown Center Crown Center is a shopping center and neighborhood located near Downtown Kansas City, Missouri between Gillham Road and Main Street to the east and west, and between OK/E 22nd St and E 27th St to the north and south. The shopping center is ...

and the Carters moved to Florida to open a new corporate headquarters. KPRS-FM would drop the -FM suffix on October 15, 1974, when its sister AM station changed its callsign to KPRT that same day.F.C.C.'s history cards for KPRT, p.4; retrieved September 25, 2019.
/ref> In 1975, KPRS became one of the first fully automated radio stations in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

, and in the country for that matter. DJs such as Chris King and Freddie Bell read news updates, while also announcing songs. (Bell called himself "Frederick" during newscasts.) Ensuring the business would remain a family-run entity, Michael Carter, Andrew's grandson, was named president of the company. One of his first moves was to take both stations back to the "live" formats. Michael Carter, who actually made his radio debut at age 8 on KPRS, also made KPRS a 24-hour station. In January 1988, station owner Andrew Carter died at his Florida home. The Black radio pioneer's legacy lived on and moved forward; to honor Carter's legacy, KPRS Broadcasting Corporation would change their name to the Carter Broadcast Group in 1993. His widow, Mildred Carter became chairperson of the board and the stations continued to grow and to solidify its standing in the Black community with various outreach programs and promotions. In 1990, KPRS jumped from 8th to 5th in the Kansas City market, according to the

Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...

s. Also in the 1990s, KPRS stopped playing what it perceived as negative hip-hop or

gangsta rap Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, emerged in the mid- to late 1980s as a controversial hip-hop subgenre whose lyrics assert the culture and values typical of American street gangs and street hustlers. Many gangsta rappe ...

and explicit and overtly sexual R&B. In 1995, KPRS picked up the Crystal Award from the National Association of Broadcasters. The Carter Broadcast Group celebrated its 45th anniversary in 1995, and had its highest ratings ever, reaching the number one slot for that year. In 2000, the company celebrated its 50th anniversary. In 2005, the station became an affiliate of the Steve Harvey Morning Show. The Carter Broadcast Group, owners of KPRS and KPRT, along with The Sherman Broadcast Group, were co-owners of an

Urban Contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...

station known as KSJM, “107-9 Jamz”, in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

. In late 2007, the two groups sold KSJM to The Ag Network Group, which dropped the Urban format for

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

KWLS KWLS (107.9 FM) is an American radio station that broadcasts a classic country format serving Winfield, Kansas. History 107.9 FM signed in 1980 as KWKS, an adult contemporary station licensed to and serving Winfield (as is stated in their call ...

"US-107.9" on January 19, 2008. In fall 2009, KPRS added more rhythmic/pop crossover titles from artists like

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

Miley Cyrus Miley Ray Cyrus ( ; born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her distinctive raspy voice, her music spans across varied styles and genres, including pop, country, rock, hip hop ...

Iyaz Keidran Jones (born 15 April 1987), better known by his stage name Iyaz, is a British Virgin Islands singer and songwriter, formerly signed with the record label Beluga Heights Records. He is known for his singles " Replay", "Solo" and " Pretty ...

Kesha Kesha Rose Sebert (; born March 1, 1987), formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. In 2005, at age 18, Kesha was signed to Kemosabe Records. Her first major success came in early 2009 after she was featured on America ...

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her Camp (style), campy style, she has been ...

, and

Jason DeRulo Jason Joel Desrouleaux (born September 21, 1989), known professionally as Jason Derulo (; formerly stylized as Derülo), is an American singer and songwriter.

. This was most likely due to the implementation of the PPM in the Kansas City Arbitron ratings. This caused significant controversy, as the only Hip Hop/R&B station in the Kansas City market was, in the eyes of many in its audience, attempting to lean Rhythmic to attract a female audience in addition to being more client-friendly towards different race groups. The station has since ended this tactic. In August 2010, the station dropped Steve Harvey due to low ratings, and was replaced by "More Music In The Mornings" with J.T. Quick. Morning drive-time ratings significantly improved. In April 2011, management made a change within the programming department by relieving operations manager Andre Carson, and replaced him with longtime music director Myron Fears. In July 2011, KPRS repositioned its DJ lineup to help improve its ratings. The morning show changed from "More Music In the Mornings" to "The Morning Jam", and was now hosted by station veterans Tony G and Sean Tyler. Julee Jonez hosts the mid-day show, while J.T. Quick moved from morning drive to afternoon drive, and the night show is rotated by Brian B. Shynin', Brooklyn Martino and Playmaker. In June 2012, KPRS returned to the #1 position in the Kansas City Arbitron ratings. Since September 2012, KPRS has been one of the Top 3 performing radio stations in Kansas City and one of the highest ratings performing urban-formatted radio stations in the United States. In 2016, KPRS launched an HD2 sub-channel, which aired a classic hip hop/R&B format. The station now airs an

Urban Oldies Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

format as "K-103.3 HD-2"

Competition

Appropriate for a heritage Urban station, KPRS continues to thrive well in the Kansas City market, even with its main current competitor

Urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

KMJK KMJK (107.3 FM) is an urban contemporary radio station serving the Kansas City metropolitan area. Licensed to North Kansas City, Missouri, the Cumulus Media, Inc. outlet operates at 107.3 MHz with an ERP of 100 kW from a transmitter ...

Station management

* Operations Manager Myron Fears * Community Relations/Public Affairs Director Rich McCauley * Station Voice Pat Garrett

References

External links

Official HOT 103 JAMZ WebsiteK-103.3 HD-2 Website

History cards for KPRS from the F.C.C.'s website.
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