KBAT (99.9 FM), branded as K-BAT 99.9. is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

licensed to

Monahans, Texas Monahans is a city in Ward and Winkler counties in Texas, United States, that is the county seat of Ward County. A very small portion of the city extends into Winkler County. The population was 6,953 at the 2010 census. In 2020, the popula ...

that serves the

Midland–Odessa metropolitan area Midland–Odessa is a metropolitan area located in The Texas Plains approximately half-way between El Paso and Fort Worth, Texas. This combined statistical area (CSA) is made up of two metropolitan statistical areas (the Midland MSA and the O ...

with a

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

format. The station is under ownership of

Townsquare Media Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

. Its studios are located on Highway 191 just west of Midland (its

city of license In U.S., Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broadcast ...

) in rural Midland County. The station's transmitter is located just southwest of

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

History

KBAT call letters were originally located on 93.3 FM and were moved over to 99.9 FM on September 13, 2005 to re-launch the rock station format the

call letters In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be fo ...

had and made famous from 1985 to 1998. Re-launched on September 15, 2005 as "The Basin's Real Rock 99.9 K-BAT." You can listen to them online at http://kbat.com/listen-live. Prior to changing to rock in September, 2005 the station was known as KGEE "Joy 99.9" and broadcast a

contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

format for about a year. Prior to that, it had been

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

as KGEE "KG-100" since signing on in the early 1980s. KBAT-FM was put on the air by Bob Hicks, owner of KWEL-AM. Hicks put KBAT on the air in 1973 as the first completely automated 100,000-watt station in Texas. The format was country using the

Drake-Chenault Drake-Chenault Enterprises (originally American Independent Radio Inc.) was a radio syndication company that specialized in automation on FM radio stations. The company was founded in the late-1960s by radio programmer and deejay Bill Drake ...

programming. Hicks bought KWEL-AM in 1969 from Winston J (Buddy) Deane who owned KOTN-AM in

Pine Bluff, Arkansas Pine Bluff, officially the City of Pine Bluff, is the List of municipalities in Arkansas, tenth-most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County, Arkansas, Jefferson County. The population of the city wa ...

. Both KWEL-AM and KBAT-FM were located in the Downtowner Motor Inn in Downtown Midland, Texas. The studios were later moved to a location on Andrews Highway in Midland. KGEE began as a sister station to KVKM (AM) Monahans, TX in 1982. The original CP was issued to KVKM and called for a 100 kW signal at a few hundred feet from the KVKM tower between Monahans and Kermit. That was never built. The CP was modified to specify a 500 tower near Penwell and Duro. Studios were in Monhans at KVKM, then an additional set of studios were built in Odessa, and the Monahans studios were dismantled once

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

rules changed in 1986. On January 8, 2018 KBAT shifted their format from

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. US rad ...

to classic rock.KBAT Flips to Classic Rock
Radioinsight - January 10, 2018 During the 1960s KBAT-AM was a

top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently 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. "To ...

station broadcasting out of

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

References

External links

KBAT official website
Classic rock radio stations in the United States

BAT Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

Townsquare Media radio stations Monahans, Texas {{Texas-radio-station-stub