KUMT (107.9 FM) is a radio station licensed to Randolph, Utah, United States, and serving the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The station's transmitter is located on Humpy Peak in the Uinta Mountain range. Under the previous calls, KUDD and prior, the stations transmitter was located near Promontory Point, Utah, in Box Elder County.

KUMT
Broadcast areaSalt Lake City metropolitan area
Frequency107.9 MHz
BrandingBYU Radio
Programming
FormatTalk
AffiliationsBYU Radio
Ownership
OwnerBrigham Young University
History
First air date
1984 (as KRGO)
Former call signs
KRGO (1984–1986)
KRPN (1986–1992)
KZQQ-FM (2/1992-12/1992)
KRGQ-FM (1992–1995)
KRGO (1995–1996)
KRKR (1996–1998)
KSNU (1998–1999)
KWKD (11/1999-12/1999)
KSNU (1999–2000)
KFVR-FM (2000–2001)
KUDD (2001–2016)
Call sign meaning
Utah Mountain
(previous format)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID33438
ClassC
ERP89,000 watts
HAAT647 meters (2,123 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
40°52′16″N 110°59′46″W / 40.871056°N 110.996000°W / 40.871056; -110.996000
Repeater(s)See § Boosters
Links
Public license information
Webcastwww.byuradio.org/listen
Websitewww.byuradio.org

History

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Commercial (1984–2016)

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Country (1984–1986)

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The station was first licensed in 1984.[2] The station held the callsign KRGO, and aired a country music format, simulcasting sister station KRGO 1550.[3][4]

Oldies (1986–1992)

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On September 19, 1986, the station's callsign was changed to KRPN.[5] As KRPN, the station aired an oldies format, and was branded "WKRP".[6][7]

Hard rock (1992)

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On February 10, 1992, the station's callsign was changed to KZQQ-FM.[5] As KZQQ-FM in 1992, the station aired the Z Rock heavy metal format.[8]

Country (1992–1996)

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On September 14, 1992, the station adopted a country music format.[8] On December 28, 1992, the station's callsign was changed to KRGQ-FM, and on May 12, 1995, the station's callsign was changed to KRGO.[5]

Rock (1996–1997)

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On October 18, 1996, the station's callsign was changed to KRKR.[5] As KRKR, the station aired a rock format as "K-Rock".[9]

Adult standards (1997–1998)

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In July 1997, the station began airing the "Timeless" adult standards format, and was known as "Sunny 107.9".[9] On January 1, 1998, the station's callsign was changed to KSNU.[5]

Adult contemporary (1998–1999)

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In early August 1998, the station's format changed to adult contemporary as a simulcast of KOSY 106.5.[10]

Alternative (1999–2000)

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The simulcast ended in July 1999, when the station became "The Edge", which served as a placeholder format until the station's sale was consummated.[11][12]

Rhythmic oldies (2000–2001)

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On January 18, 2000, the station became KFVR-FM, and the station adopted a rhythmic oldies format as "Fever 107.9" "Utah's Movin' Oldies".[13]

Top 40 (2001–2016)

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In 2001, the station flipped to a top 40 format as "Power 107-9", "Utah's Hit Music Station". The KUDD call letters would be adopted during this time. With trying attempting to go after KZHT, they added a simulcast on the 103.9 frequency as "KMDG" to better cover the western area of Salt Lake. The general manager named the station "Dianna 107.9" briefly before rebranding as "Power".

The station shifted from a modern adult contemporary format to a top 40 (CHR) format in 2009.

On June 18, 2010, Millcreek, KUDD's owners, sold the station, along with KUUU and KYLZ to Simmons Media Group. Simmons continued to operate KUDD and its sister stations until they were sold to Broadway Media in 2014.[14]

Announcers at the time included Lexi, Banks, MJ, Dylan and Jake Stone.

Non-commercial (2016–present)

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Adult alternative (2016–2018)

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Logo as KUMT before the sale to BYU Radio.

On December 2, 2015, Broadway stated that it would donate KUDD to Community Wireless of Park City, Inc., which in turn would move KPCW-FM down from 91.9 to 91.7 while the Mix format would move to 105.1. The move took place on March 31, 2016 at 10:51 AM; the last song on "Mix" on 107.9 was "My House" by Flo Rida. 107.9 adopted the new callsign KUMT.[15][16]

On April 25, 2016, KUMT flipped to an adult album alternative format, branded as "107.9 The Mountain".[17]

On May 6, 2016, KUMT ended its "Mountain" AAA format after ten days with the format. After a few days of stunting, KUMT would return to AAA and the "Mountain" branding, now under the operation of Community Wireless.[18]

BYU radio (2018–present)

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Logo of BYU Radio before 2019.

On April 26, 2018, Brigham Young University announced it would acquire KUMT for an undisclosed amount. The university uses KUMT as a full-time outlet for its campus-run radio network BYU Radio. The university had originally planned to drop KBYU-FM's classical music format in favor of BYU Radio, but the plans were met with criticism by listeners.[19][20] The purchase was consummated on August 31, 2018, at a price of $875,000. BYU Radio programming officially began airing on the station September 17, 2018. KUMT airs all BYU Radio programming except football and men's basketball (which are broadcast by de facto commercial sister station KSL). In 2019 KUMT officially became the flagship station for BYU women's soccer followed by BYU Baseball in 2020. As a result BYU Radio no longer streams those events on KBYU-HD 2. However they are streamed on the BYU Sports Radio app, and most are simulcast on ESPN 960.

Boosters

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Call sign Frequency City of license FID ERP (W) HAAT Class FCC info
KUMT-FM1 107.9 FM Salt Lake City, Utah 106586 2,100 296 m (971 ft) D LMS
KUMT-FM2 107.9 FM Ogden, Utah 122080 500 28 m (92 ft) D LMS
KUMT-FM4 107.9 FM Bountiful, Utah 136266 2,200 217 m (712 ft) D LMS
KUMT-FM5 107.9 FM Provo, Utah 198318 1,750 −161 m (−528 ft) D LMS

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KUMT". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ Application Search Details, fcc.gov. Accessed September 14, 2015
  3. ^ "Ratings Report", Radio & Records, April 1985. p. 123. Accessed September 14, 2015
  4. ^ "Ratings Report & Directory", Radio & Records, April 1986. p. 142. Accessed September 14, 2015
  5. ^ a b c d e "Call Sign History", fcc.gov. Accessed August 20, 2015
  6. ^ Lynn Arave, "AM Radio. When was the last time you listened to it?", Deseret News, February 10, 1989. Accessed September 14, 2015
  7. ^ Radio Log, Deseret News, March 27, 1991. Accessed September 14, 2015
  8. ^ a b Lynn Arave, "Hans Petersen's Return May be Just What Doctor Ordered for AM", Deseret News, September 18, 1992. Accessed August 21, 2015
  9. ^ a b Lynn Arave, "'K-Rock' vanishes as S.L. tunes in 2 new stations", Deseret News, July 25, 1997. Accessed August 20, 2015
  10. ^ Ivan Lincoln, "KSNU music revamp was unnerving", Deseret News, August 9, 1998. Accessed August 20, 2015
  11. ^ Lynn Arave, "KALL's latest stunt: Barberi wants to be on Hatch ticket", Deseret News, July 9, 1999. Accessed August 20, 2015
  12. ^ Lynn Arave, "Tunis falls victim to the changes at KALL and KNRS", Deseret News, July 30, 1999. Accessed August 20, 2015
  13. ^ Lynn Arave, "Ex-traffic reporter now in KFVR a.m. driver seat", Deseret News, May 5, 2000. Accessed August 20, 2015
  14. ^ "SIMMONS BUYS THREE IN SLC" Archived 2010-06-20 at the Wayback Machine From Radio Ink (June 18, 2010)
  15. ^ "Broadway Media To Donate 107.9 KUDD Salt Lake City; Upgrade 92.5 KUUU" from Radioinsight (December 2, 2015)
  16. ^ Mix 107.9 Moves To 105.1
  17. ^ 107.9 The Mountain Rises in Salt Lake City Radioinsight - April 25, 2016
  18. ^ 107.9 The Mountain Salt Lake City Comes To Quick End Radioinsight - May 6, 2016
  19. ^ "After protests, Utah's KBYU-FM will keep playing classical music". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  20. ^ Pierce, Scott D. (October 23, 2017). "KBYU-TV will no longer be a PBS station in 2018 — and KBYU-FM will abandon classical music". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
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