Update 1/10: As we first reported in late December, 92.5 will flip to Country “B92.5” at 5pm today. The station will launch with 10,000 songs in a row and feature Bobby Bones in mornings from 5-9am.
“Country music is the most exciting format in America today. Stars like Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Jason Aldean, Taylor Swift and Florida Georgia Line make it a must have format for listeners and advertisers alike,” said President and Market Manager Dave Milner.
“Pairing great music with the new Bobby Bones morning show and our exciting events like the iHeartRadio Country Festival, which we will be giving listeners exclusive opportunities to attend, allows us to bring a unique spin for Sacramento’s huge country fan base.”
Listen to the launch of “B92.5“ at FormatChange.com.
As we stated in our original report below, “B92.5” will become the third Country station in the Sacramento market joining CBS’ 105.1 KNCI and Entravision’s “101.9 The Wolf” KNTY.
Update 12/26: 93.1 KHLX began simulcasting KFBK and KFBK-FM at midnight as Clear Channel began the process of preparing 92.5 for a new format. The KFBK-FM and KHLX calls have swapped frequencies as well.
In a Facebook comment to a question asking why the move was taking place, the station stated:
We decided to make the change because the revenue and ratings did not justify continuing forward with Classic 93.1. We apologize for the inconvenience. After Christmas, 93.1 will be the new home of NewsRadio KFBK. We have something new and exciting planned for 92.5 that we’ll announce in the new year.
Listen to KHLX Become KFBK-FM on FormatChange.com.
Original Report 12/20: Back in August we reported that Clear Channel Sacramento VP/Programming Ken Charles had registered domains connected to a potential flip of Classic Hits “Classic 93.1” KHLX Pollock Pine to Country.
Clear Channel will indeed be adding a Country station to its Sacramento cluster, but it won’t be on the 93.1 frequency. The company has applied on to swap the call letters of KHLX and News/Talk 92.5 KFBK-FM and registered multiple domains for a new Country format on the 92.5 frequency: B925Country.com, B925FM.com, and B925FMCountry.com.
The moves would see the simulcast of News/Talk 1530 KFBK move to the 93.1 facility, which rimshots Sacramento from the west, while giving the stronger Class B in-market signal to what will be the third Country outlet in the market. CBS’ 105.1 KNCI is currently 6th overall with a 4.8 share, while Entravision’s “101.9 The Wolf” KNTY is 14th with a 3.0 share. KHLX’s Classic Hits format registered a 1.6 share in the November PPM’s.
Reports of a potential frequency change for KFBK-FM were first broached yesterday on the RadioInsight Community.
Cali Radio Spy 
michaelriverskramer 
You say that Clear Channel “will indeed” go Country on 92.5. Is this still confident speculation or have you been able to confirm this? If confirmed, or if it ends up being an accurate speculation, that will be very interesting “indeed.”
No move is 100% confirmed until it actually takes place, but the combination of the call letter swap, which confirms the move of KFBK-FM to 93.1, and domains with Country both now and in August make it very strong likelihood, which we’d place at 99% chance of happening based on previous domain reports we’ve made over the past seven years.
Clear Channel has been building up its younger-skewing Country stations this year to go along with the national rollout of Bobby Bones’ morning show. The letter branding here matches recent launches of “B93.9” in Raleigh and “G105.7” in Augusta.
All good points. I do think the speculation is accurate but I was just curious if someone had spoken to a source who confirmed it. I guess Sacramento will find out very soon.
The are also not clearing Ryan Seacrest in the market. B925fm may be their new name with country being a smoke screen. They gave up on. Country in SD some time back and left KSON alone with huge ratings. This is not Dallas or Nashville.