Update 9/10: As KIYS bid adieu to 101.9 at 12pm today, Clear Channel concurrently debuted CHR “101.9 Radio Now” KWNW in Memphis. More soon.
Update 9/9: The 101.9 move to Memphis is now imminent. KIYS will sign-off as “Kiss Jonesboro” on Friday 9/10 at 12pm. That format wiill reappear on Monday at 7am on 101.7 as KRLW moves in to take that spot in Jonesboro freeing 101.9 to debut in Memphis.
Update 8/6: Flinn has added the 96.1 simulcast to Q107.5 expanding the CHR format’s reach in the southern portions of the Memphis area. The AAA “Pig” format shifts to the audio of TV Channel 6 WPGF-LP at 87.7. The Pig format has bounced around the dial over the years, as it has spent time on 107.5, 1210, 96.1, and now 87.7 since its debut in 2001.
Original Post 7/18: Flinn Broadcasting is preparing for a CHR war in Memphis. With Clear Channel’s move of 101.9 KIYS Jonesboro, AR into Memphis appearing completion, Flinn has gone on the defensive registering a bunch of domains pertaining to “Kiss” and “Radio Now” branding for the station. Flinn has registered the following domains: 1019KissFMMemphis.com, 1019KissFMRadio.com, 1019KissMemphis.com, 1019KissRadio.com, Kiss1019FMMemphis.com, Kiss1019FMRadio.com, Kiss1019Memphis.com, KissMemphis.com, 1019RadioNow.com, Now1019.com, RadioNow1019.com, and MemphisRadioNow.com along with Facebook and Twitter accounts for many of those names.
Clear Channel does have some options if it plans on using the Kiss or RadioNow branding in Memphis. It snuck in a registration of RadioNowMemphis.com this week and retains ownership of Kiss1019FM.com and 1019KissFM.com from a now defunct format in Las Vegas.
Flinn also appears ready to add a simulcast to improve the signal of its CHR “Q107.5” WHBQ-FM. 107.5, licensed to Germantown, TN is a Class A rimshotting Memphis from the east. To help improve matters, Flinn could flip 96.1 WIVG Tunica, MS from AAA “The Memphis Pig” to a simulcast of WHBQ. Flinn has registered TheQMemphis.com, 961TheQ.com, and 1075TheQ.com.
101.9 is the current KIYS Jonesboro, AR which soon be relaunching from a new tower overlooking Memphis from the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River licensed to Crawfordsville, AR with 8500 watts from 482 feet above average terrain. The current “Kiss Jonesboro” format will remain in town, moving to KRLW Walnut Ridge, AR. When KIYS makes its move to Memphis, KRLW will move from 106.3 to 101.7 at the current KIYS tower, while upgrading from a Class A with 3000 watts at 200 feet to a Class C2 with 10.5kw at 1073 feet.
