Punch Wars: KMXV (Mix 93.3) vs. KCJK (Hits 105) Kansas City

“This feels like the first day of school,” said KCJK (Hits 105) Kansas City morning man Tyler Frye, referring to the former 107.3 The Vibe’s first day simulcasting on the frequency that will become its new home.

The Cumulus CHR launched on 105.1 on August 11, displacing the well-regarded Hip-Hop/R&B outlet Power 105.1. The station will simulcast on both frequencies until Aug. 24 or, as the station’s Kraus in the House noted, until they could return the keys and get their security deposit back. Until then, he said, “we’ve got you surrounded.” (Kraus was filling in for ailing middayer Cassiday.)

Over at Steel City’s KMXV (Mix 93.3) Kansas City, PD/middayer Steve Serrano was having the first day of school for real. The next morning, he said “I thought it would get easier to drop off a five-year-old for kindergarten,” adding “good luck, Liberty School District!”

Mix 93.3 has been a big part of the (sometimes scant) good news for CHR over the last year. In Nielsen’s June PPM, it was No. 1 6-plus among published stations, having grown 5.9-7.0 since January. (Cumulus’s usually market-leading Classic Hits KCMO-FM is no longer published.) Mix has done that despite a competitor whose new signal now covers more of the market.

Because of the relaunch, Hits 105 is an unusual opportunity to hear a “new” CHR hosted and with first-day energy. In fact, both stations are energetically and aggressively produced with strong echoes of past CHR wars. “From the city where champions play and fountains rain,” says Hits’s new :00 ID, before announcing that it is “shaking speakers across the metro.”

Mix 93.3 has a combination of hot and observational sweepers. (The station’s :00 ID is a Reelworld One jingle/sponsorship combo. Jeff Berlin is the longtime voice of the station; Nick Draeger is also involved in station imaging.) One app promo, which also plugs the over-the-air frequency, declares the station to be “more like Mix 93-free! Am I right?” Another declares “Mix 93.3 is Kansas City.”

On Mix, longtime morning hosts Rocket & Theresa were giving away theater tickets on “’Wicked’ Wednesday.” Hits was teasing both Sombr and Kanye West flyaways.

The relaunch also provides an opportunity for this column to stage a CHR Punch Wars that we haven’t been able to for a while. I’ve listed the 14 songs that played on each station during the course of the 10 a.m. hour, August 11, so you can make the call on who had the best song at any moment. (The timing is inexact; I’ve just pitted each song in sequence against its counterpart, rather than breaking it out minute-by-minute.)