WXOS

WXOS
City East St. Louis, Illinois
Broadcast area Greater St. Louis
Branding 101 ESPN
Slogan St. Louis' Sports Station
Frequency 101.1 MHz FM (also on HD Radio) 101.1-2 FM ESPNEWS
First air date May 13, 1966 (as WMRY)
Format Sports talk
ERP 100,000 watts
HAAT 300.4 meters
Class C1
Facility ID 56512
Transmitter coordinates 38°28′56″N 90°23′53″W / 38.48222°N 90.39806°W / 38.48222; -90.39806
Callsign meaning X's and O'S (icons representing players in football play diagrams)
Former callsigns WMRY (1966-1989)
WSNL (1989-1991)
WFXB (1991-1994)
WVRV (1994-2006)
WMVN (2006-2008)[1]
Affiliations ESPN Radio
Owner Hubbard Broadcasting
(St. Louis FCC License Sub, LLC)
Sister stations WIL-FM, WARH
Webcast Listen Live
Website 101sports.com

WXOS (101.1 FM) is a commercial radio station located in Creve Coeur, Missouri, broadcasting to the Greater St. Louis area. Its studios are located on Olive Boulevard in St. Louis, while its transmitter is located in south St. Louis County near Concord.

Current programming

D'Marco Farr (right) and Randy Karraker.

WXOS, an ESPN Radio affiliate, carries Mike and Mike in the Morning, and other ESPN shows at night and weekends. Local shows includes The Kevin Wheeler Show, followed by "The Turn" with former St.Louis Cardinals outfielder Chris Duncan and Anthony Stalter. Afternoon drive is called "The Fast Lane" with Randy Karraker and former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Brad Thompson. Weekend show hosts include Tony Softli, Alvin Reid, Marty Jenkins.

WXOS held the radio rights to the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League from 2009 to 2015 after which they relocated to Los Angeles. Rams games were previously aired on KLOU. It also acquired the rights to Saint Louis Billikens basketball from KFNS. Play-by-play announcer Bob Ramsey joined 101 ESPN as a member of the Fast Lane when the station launched. 101 ESPN also airs the College Football Playoff, the World Series, the NBA Finals, and other events from ESPN Radio.

Sportswriter and The Fast Lane Producer Michelle Smallmon has been filling the spot left by Duncan on The Fast Lane. However, that spot is now being permanently filled by Brad Thompson.[2]

History

WXOS has adopted several call letters and formats since it began airing on May 13, 1966. The station first broadcast under WMRY and had studios based out of the Our Lady of the Snows shrine near Belleville. The station, however, never broadcast a religious format. Rather, they aired non-commercial pop music with periodic positive motivational messages from different faiths interspersed. In the mid-1980s, the station became a commercial station, and aired a progressive rock format. Their studios were relocated to an office park in St. Louis County, Missouri. In January 1991, the station flipped to soft AC as "Sunny 101", WSNL. Two months later, the station flipped to "mellow rock" as WFXB, "The Fox", and simulcasted on KFXB (105.7 FM). In February 1993, the simulcasting ended, though 101.1 would continue to carry the mellow rock format, which would evolve to a AAA format, and then an "Arrow"-type classic hits format, while still being called "The Fox." On November 24, 1994, the station would return to AAA as "101 The River" and the WVRV call letters.[3] By Summer of 1997, the format evolved to modern AC.[4] In 2004, the format shifted to adult top 40, but retained the "River" moniker and call letters.

MoViN' logo (2006-2008)

On September 8, 2006, at 11:00 a.m., WVRV changed its format to Rhythmic adult contemporary, changed its moniker to "MOViN 101.1", and adopted the slogan of "Makes You Feel Good." The first song on "MOViN" was "Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch.[5] They were the fourth station to adopt the "MOViN" moniker, after KQMV Seattle, KMVN-FM Los Angeles and KYMV Salt Lake City. The announcement was made with no prior notification to its on air personalities, and they were dismissed on short notice, as is the norm in format switches. The station announced that it would go 90 days without personalities before DJs would be announced. Under the Rhythmic AC format, the station's playlist consisted of "adult rhythmic hits from today, the 1980s and 1990s, plus a sprinkling of rhythmic classics." The station would change call letters to WMVN shortly afterward.

The first on-air DJs were former Steve & DC castmember Jill Devine (10a-3p), Mysti (2-7p) and Raven Rush (7p-mid), who joined on December 15. On February 12, 2007, former KYKY morning show co-host Steph Duran joined MOViN' for mornings. Prior to joining WMVN, Duran had been at KZON and KUPD in Phoenix. She was joined on September 1, 2007 by co host Eric Schmidt. Schmidt had previously worked at WMVN sister station WARH. A veteran of the St. Louis market he had also worked at WVRV, KPNT, WXTM, WMLL, KCLC, and KFAV. WMVN was programmed by Jules Riley, who also programs WARH.

After an economic-related shakeup on March 3, 2008, Mysti and Raven Rush were let go. Schmidt moved to the 2-7p slot and Steph Duran took a solo morning shift. The format was shifted to Hot AC after this.

On September 22, 2008, it was announced that WMVN would flip to an all-sports format on January 1, 2009, featuring a combination of local and ESPN Radio programming. The station would also change call letters to the current WXOS.[6] To prepare for the change, on October 10, WMVN began stunting with all-Christmas music, which lasted until the full format flip occurred.[7]

Bonneville International announced the sale of WXOS, as well as 16 other stations, to Twin Cities-based Hubbard Broadcasting on January 19, 2011.[8] The sale was completed on April 29, 2011.[9]

References

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