KGGL

On October 15, 1975, Rex Jensen filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a construction permit to build a new radio station on 93.3 MHz in Missoula, with transmitter on Big Sky Mountain.[1] The permit was granted on May 25, 1976, with the commission dismissing complaints by several other Missoula broadcasters that the new facility would cause interference to their operations.[2] While the station was intended to launch that fall, equipment delivery and bad weather in the eastern United States prompted the project to be shelved for the winter; KDXT made its debut on April 29, 1977. Having been transferred to the Jensen Broadcasting Company[1] (owned by Rex and his brother Jack), the station started with an automated rock/adult contemporary hybrid format.[3]

The Jensens sold the station in February 1979 to a joint venture with Robert E. Ingstad of North Dakota, who became the sole owner in 1980[1] before KDXT and sister station KGRZ (1450 AM) were sold to Wind Point 1970 Holding Company, which was owned by the S.C. Johnson Company, in 1982.[4] The two stations were then sold to Sunbrook Communications in 1986; during this time, the station dominated the Missoula radio market.[5]

Sunbrook sold its radio properties—ten in Montana and a pair in Wenatchee, Washington—to Seattle-based Fisher Broadcasting in 1994, with Sunbrook becoming a division of Fisher after the sale was completed.[6] With the contemporary hit format long associated with KDXT in a national slump, Fisher opted to make a major change. It flipped KGGL to country, taking on established country outlet KYSS, in September 1995. This left Missoula without a station in the contemporary hit radio format.[5] The format change was a successful one: the fall 2005 Eastlan radio ratings for Missoula showed KGGL tied with public radio station KUFM and beating third-place KYSS.[7]

In a 24-station sale that was only partially completed, Fisher sold many of its small-market radio properties to Cherry Creek Radio in 2006 in order to fund an expansion into Spanish-language television in major Pacific Northwest markets. The 24 stations contributed just one-fourth of the radio division's revenue, with Fisher's three Seattle stations comprising the rest.[8]