102.7 Lincoln

As with most FM stations that began as 'afterthoughts' to their AM predecessors, the history of KFOR-FM is buried deep in the memories of people who are long gone.
KFRX started out on it's own, as a light music station. The call letters were KWHG FM with studios in the Baker's printing building downtown. The original transmitter was located near Sawyer Snell field in SW Lincoln and still exists today as a cell phone site.

When it was acquired by KFOR, it became KFOR-FM, and later KFRX "X103".

In the infancy of KFRX, formats were not nearly as refined as they are today. KFRX played Top 40, with a tendency to slant towards rock. Slogans like "KFRX Lincoln's Rockin Best" were used, as well as programming concepts like "Mini-concert weekends" (Three songs in a row by the same group or artist).
With the introduction of Digital Tuning, and radios that read the exact frequency (displaying 102.7, as opposed to twisting that big knob that landed a dial marker somewhere near 103) many station moved from their "103 FM" slogans to a more specific "102.7". As this change occured, and KFRX was developing into a very strong top 40 station, they pulled a stunt that is one of the few, yet most memorable marketting gimmicks of their history.

When you talk to people who worked at KFRX you get a little different story than you might hear from people who remember the perceived final days of KFRX.

A Top 40 competitor, B-104 was about to debut. Lincoln's heritage CHR station would not take this sittind down. According to Larry Freeze, KFRX began promoting the fact that "All Hit 103 would play it's last song (on a certain time and Time & Date)". This sort of staging is often used when a station is changing formats and call letters, or is moving to an entirely different position on the dial. KFRX never claimed it was 'leaving the air' or changing formats. J.J. Cook, who was Operations Manager for KFOR/KFRX says there were three reasons for the stunting:

1. We knew the Agnews were going to put B-104,1 on as a CHR, so I wanted to steal their thunder as the 'New Station'.

2. Because of the heritage of the station, there is nothing more emotional than having your 'best freind' tell you they are leaving. KFRX was in 3rd place in the market at the time, behind KFOR (which it had never beaten) and the old Q102. We ran clips of old promotions and lists of all the things KFRX did for the community; simply to make sure people realized that we were part of their life. We unplugged the phones and ran the promos for about a week..We took the jocks off over the weekend. It took the city by surprise and everyone was talking about us..just what we wanted.

3. We changed the dial frequency because of the digital car radios and because Summit Broadcasting, who then owned the station, had done some research on Arbitron diary mentions.

A few listeners from time to time have indicated negative feelings toward the stunt. KFRX kept their same format, same call letters, and simply became "102.7 KFRX". While it's still talked about, it hasn't hurt the success of the station. Today it holds strong as Lincoln's undisputed most listened to FM radio station.
Today radio 'stunting' has become common and more creative. In 1995 KYNN used a computerized voice to 'countdown' the days, hours and minutes to a new radio station. The latest trends include playing a song over and over to introduce a format change, or clashing two formats (such as playing the heaviest, hardest, most offensive song without warning when switching from a format like classical to alternative or rock).

KFRX hasn't changed and maintains it's strong community minded/Top-40 identity in Lincoln today (Not something a lot of 'hip' Hit Radio stations due these days.) KFRX's first competition locally was "B-104", when came and went in the early 90's. Today Clear Channel's KISS 104.1 (Ironically, the old B-104 after a few format changes) is competing head on with 102.7 once again...and KFRX is far ahead of them.
Incidentally, from it's early Top 40 days "KFRX" was intended to stand for "The Fox", but that never materialized. However, this may explain the image of a fox which appears on their billboard advertising.
102.7 KFRX is currently part of "Three Eagles" communications which also owns their original sister station, KFOR 1240 am.