KQSM-FM (92.1

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 ...

) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

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 ...

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville () is the second-largest city in Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, and the biggest city in Northwest Arkansas. The city is on the outskirts of the Boston Mountains, deep within the Ozarks. Known as Washington until ...

, known as ''92.1 The Ticket.'' It is owned by

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 ...

and broadcasts a

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

. It has been the #1 rated sports radio station in

Northwest Arkansas Northwest Arkansas (NWA) is a metropolitan area and region in Arkansas within the Ozark Mountains. It includes four of the ten largest cities in the state: Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville, the surrounding towns of Benton an ...

in every ratings book (

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 ...

and Nielsen) in total listeners and average share since its inception in June 2009. KQSM-FM has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would hav ...

(ERP) of 7,600

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s. Its

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

is off Pug Gayer Road in Fayetteville. The

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

s and offices are on Frontage Road, off North College Road ( U.S. Route 71 Business) in Fayetteville.

Programming

Program Director Josh Bertaccini hosts "The Red Zone with JB" during weekday morning

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

. He also hosts "Razorback Recap" after every

Arkansas Razorbacks football The Arkansas Razorbacks football program represents the University of Arkansas in the sport of American football. The Razorbacks compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Weste ...

game. ''

The Jim Rome Show ''The Jim Rome Show'' is a sports radio talk show hosted by Jim Rome. It airs live for three hours each weekday from 9 a.m. to noon Pacific Time. The show is produced in Los Angeles, syndicated by CBS Sports Radio, and can be heard on affilia ...

'', based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, airs during middays. ''

The Paul Finebaum Show Paul Finebaum is an American sports author, former columnist, and television-radio personality. His primary focus is sports, particularly those in the Southeast. After many years as a reporter, columnist, and sports-talk radio host in the Birmin ...

'', focusing on

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) college sports, is heard weekday afternoons. Nights and weekends, KQSM-FM carries

CBS Sports Radio CBS Sports Radio is a sports radio network that debuted with hourly sports news updates on September 4, 2012, and with 24/7 programming on January 2, 2013. CBS Sports Radio is owned by Paramount Global and distributed by Westwood One. Programmin ...

. KQSM-FM broadcasts all

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

Razorbacks football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

games. In addition, The Ticket carries

Northwest Arkansas Naturals The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are a Minor League Baseball team based in Springdale, Arkansas, Springdale, Arkansas. The team is a member of the Texas League, and serves as the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The ...

minor league baseball broadcasts. The Naturals are the Double A affiliate of the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

. 92.1 The Ticket is also the exclusive radio home for

NFL on Westwood One ''The NFL on Westwood One Sports'' is the branding for Cumulus Broadcasting subsidiary Westwood One's radio coverage of the National Football League. These games are distributed throughout the United States and Canada (the latter through TSN Radio ...

broadcasts in Northwest Arkansas as well. Co-owned KYNG 1590 AM Ticket 2 runs CBS Sports Radio, sometimes picking up play-by-play games from KQSM-FM.

History

On , the station first

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...

the air. It was originally KFAY-FM, the

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

KFAY KFAY (1030 AM broadcasting, AM, "NewsTalk 1030") is a radio station serving the Fayetteville, Arkansas, area with a all-news radio, News/talk radio format. It is under ownership of Cumulus Media. 1030 AM is a United States clear-channel frequency ...

1250 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1250 kHz: 1250 AM is a Regional broadcast frequency. Argentina * Estirpe Nacional in San Justo Canada Mexico * XEDK-AM in Guadalajara, Jalisco * XETEJ-AM in Tejupilco, Mexico ...

. The two stations mostly

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

format and were owned by H. Weldon Stamps. KFAY-FM ran 3,000 watts, less than half of its current output. It later switched to an

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

format, separate from the AM station. In 1970, it switched to

Album Oriented Rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-oriente ...

as "92.1 The Keg" with the

call sign 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 unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

KKEG. Ten years later in 1980, the station dropped AOR and flipped to a

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 ...

format for only seven years. During its seven years as a Top 40 station, KKEG downgraded its Top 40 formula from mainstream to rock-leaned in late 1986 shortly after former

adult contemporary 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, quie ...

station KCIZ-FM flipped to mainstream Top 40/ CHR that same year. The following year in 1987, KKEG dropped its rock-leaned Top 40 format and returned back to its former AOR format. KKEG was acquired by

in 1999.Broadcasting Yearbook 2001 page D-30
/ref> On June 11, 2009, the KKEG call sign and rock music format were moved to 98.3 FM in

Bentonville, Arkansas Bentonville is the List of cities and towns in Arkansas, tenth-largest city in Arkansas, United States and the county seat of Benton County, Arkansas, Benton County. The city is centrally located in the county with Rogers, Arkansas, Rogers adja ...

. The KQSM-FM call sign that had previously been on 98.3 FM was then transferred to 92.1 FM and branded as "Sports Radio 92-1 The Ticket". In January 2013, parent company Cumulus Media entered into a partnership with the new

Network. Over 150 Cumulus sports stations around the U.S., including KQSM-FM, switched their network affiliation to CBS Sports Radio.

References

External links

* {{Cumulus Media QSM-FM CBS Sports Radio stations Radio stations established in 2009 Cumulus Media radio stations