KSAJ-FM

KSAJ-FM (98.5 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Burlingame, Kansas, and serving the Topeka metropolitan area. It is owned by Alpha Media LLC,.[1] It airs an adult hits radio format, using the national "Jack FM" music service. The studios are on Executive Drive in Topeka.

KSAJ-FM
Broadcast areaTopeka metropolitan area
Frequency98.5 MHz
Branding98.5 Jack FM
Programming
FormatAdult hits
AffiliationsJack FM network
Ownership
Owner
KTPK, WIBW, WIBW-FM
History
First air date
December 10, 1968 (1968-12-10) (as KABI-FM Abilene at 98.3)
Former call signs
KABI-FM (1968-1985)
Former frequencies
98.3 MHz (1968-1985)
Call sign meaning
Salina-Abilene-Junction City
Technical information
Facility ID18055
ClassC2
ERP17,500 watts
HAAT256 meters (840 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
38°47′50.00552″N 97°13′2.07749″W
Links
WebcastListen Live
Listen Live on iHeartRadio
Website985jackfm.com

KSAJ-FM has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 17,500 watts. The transmitter is off SW Wanamaker Road near SW 4th Street in Topeka.[2]

History

KABI-FM

The station signed on the air on December 10, 1968 (1968-12-10).[3] It was originally on 98.3 MHz, a Class A station only powered at 3,000 watts. Its city of license was Abilene. Its call sign was KABI-FM, simulcast with KABI 1580 AM (now deleted), which had gone on the air five years earlier. KABI was a daytimer so KABI-FM continued its programming after sunset.

On April 1, 1985, the frequency was changed to 98.5 MHz. That was accompanied by an increase in power to 100,000 watts (ERP), and a physical move of the transmitter site from northwest Abilene to about 10 miles south of Abilene, east of K-15 on 1400 Avenue in rural Dickinson County.

Oldies

The call sign was switched to KSAJ-FM. The “SAJ” call letters stand for “Salina-Abilene-Junction City” – the primary cities of its coverage area. Also on April 1, 1985, sister station KABI 1580 AM changed its call letters to KSAJ. The two stations simulcast programming for about two more years.

In 1987, KSAJ 1580 returned to being KABI with separate programming. Meanwhile, KSAJ-FM began airing an oldies format, using ABC Radio Networks' "Good Time Oldies" satellite feed before switching to The True Oldies Channel, then switched back to Good Time Oldies in 2014.

Changes in ownership

In late 1991, KSAJ-FM and KABI were sold by broadcaster Norton Warner of Lincoln, Nebraska, to J.K. Vanier and Jerry Hinrikus of Salina, who later sold them to MCC Radio (Morris Communications) in January 2004. Then, on September 1, 2015, Alpha Media, LLC acquired the stations.

In October 2016, Alpha sold the company's Salina cluster (which KSAJ-FM was a part of) to Manhattan-based Rocking M Media.[4] However, KSAJ-FM was retained by Alpha, who announced plans to move the station into the Topeka market (with the process beginning in the late 1990s) and join it with WIBW and WIBW-FM, and KTPK. In February 2017, after the closing of the Salina cluster's sale to Rocking M, Alpha moved the KSAJ-FM studios from Abilene to Topeka. Initially, the station planned to relocate their transmitter to the tower of WIBW-FM/TV, located west of Topeka in rural Wabaunsee County, and reduce their power output 69,000 watts. However, due to co-channel interference concerns with KQKQ-FM in the Omaha-Council Bluffs market, KSAJ-FM changed transmitter sites, first to the site of WIBW (and reduced power to 25,000 watts), and then to the KTWU-TV/KWIC/KTOP-FM tower in northwest Topeka, and reduced power even further to 17,500 watts.

Jack FM

At 6 p.m. on November 10, 2017, KSAJ-FM shut down its Dickinson County transmitter. At the same time, it signed on a new Topeka transmitter. It changed its city of license to Burlingame, and began playing Christmas music as "Christmas 98.5." That continued until the day after Christmas.

At midnight on December 26, KSAJ-FM debuted its new adult hits format as "98.5 Jack FM."[5][6][7][8] It takes its programming from the Jack FM national feed. The service uses no DJs. Instead, the voice of "Jack" makes recorded announcements and quips between songs.

References

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