KVDU

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KVDU

Houma, Louisiana (has applied to relocate city of license to Gonzales, Louisiana; approval pending)
Broadcast area	New Orleans metropolitan area Baton Rouge metropolitan area
Frequency	104.1 MHz
Branding	104.1 The Spot
Programming
Format	Adult hits
Ownership
Owner	iHeartMedia (iHM Licenses, LLC)
Sister stations	WNOE-FM, WODT, WQUE-FM, WRNO-FM, WYLD, WYLD-FM
History
First air date	November 15, 1968; 55 years ago (1968-11-15)
Former call signs	KHOM-FM (1968-1998) KUMX (1998-2001) KFXN-FM (2001-2002) KSTE-FM (2002-2005) KHEV (2005-2006) KYRK (2006-2010) KOBW (2010-2011)
Call sign meaning	Mimics "Voodoo"
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	34528
Class	C
ERP	100,000 watts
HAAT	593 meters (1,946 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	29°57′13″N 90°43′25″W / 29.95361°N 90.72361°W / 29.95361; -90.72361
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	1041thespot.iheart.com

KVDU (104.1 FM, "104.1 The Spot") is a commercial radio station licensed to Houma, Louisiana; it plans to change the city of license to Gonzales. It airs an adult hits radio format, switching to Christmas music for much of November and December. Owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., the station serves the Baton Rouge metropolitan area. Its studios are on Howard Avenue in the Central Business District of New Orleans.

KVDU is a Class C3 FM station, its transmitter is on Mancuso Lane in Baton Rouge.^[2]

History[edit]

MOR and Oldies[edit]

The station signed on the air on November 15, 1968. The station's original call sign was KHOM, with the call letters reflecting its Houma city of license.^[3] It broadcast from a 350-foot tower, only targeting the Houma area.

In 1989, it moved its antenna atop the 2,000-foot tower in Vacherie, also used by WCKW-FM (now WZRH). That allowed the signal to reach into the New Orleans and Baton Rouge markets. The more–powerful signal could also be heard in Lafayette, Louisiana, and even some counties in Mississippi. The station remained licensed to Houma, but dropped its middle of the road (MOR) radio format for oldies.

Top 40[edit]

In late 1994, after 97.1 WEZB ended its Top 40 format in favor of Hot talk, KHOM's owner, Raymond A. Saadi, decided to switch formats. He flipped KHOM to Top 40 as "Mix 104.1." The station kept the heritage KHOM call letters for several years. Then in 1998, changed them to KUMX to reflect the "Mix" identity. In February 1997, the station was acquired by San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications, a forerunner to today's iHeartMedia. The price tag was $8.75 million.^[4] Clear Channel also acquired other FM stations in the New Orleans market, including urban contemporary WQUE-FM, urban adult contemporary WYLD-FM, country music WNOE-FM, and alternative rock KKND (now owned by Cumulus). Under Clear Channel ownership, KUMX ran a small playlist, stressing repeated airing of the biggest current hits.

The move to Top 40 paid off in the ratings, and in the spring of 1996, WEZB switched back to its original Top 40 format and recaptured most of its old audience. On June 29, 2001, at 6 a.m., "Mix" signed off with "When It's Over" by Sugar Ray. It then began stunting by playing only construction sound effects.^[5]

Classic Rock, Adult Top 40 and Urban Gospel[edit]

At 5 p.m. on June 29, it debuted a classic rock format as "104-1 The Fox," under the new call sign KFXN-FM. The new format launched with an "All Beatles Weekend", beginning with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

On July 26, 2002, the station returned to Top 40 music as the adult-leaning "104.1 KISS-FM," under the new call sign KSTE-FM. However, "KISS-FM" did not catch on in the ratings.^[6] By November 2003, the format shifted to Rhythmic Top 40, then flipped to urban gospel in July 2005 as "Hallelujah 104.1," under new call letters KHEV.

After 16 months in the gospel format, Clear Channel decided to replace it with active rock on November 13, 2006. In the process, it inherited "The Rock of New Orleans" slogan from sister station WRNO-FM, which on the same day dropped its heritage rock/classic rock format for all-talk. On November 20, 2006, Clear Channel replaced the KHEV call sign with new call letters KYRK.

The Brew, Voodoo and The Spot[edit]

On July 1, 2010, at 3 p.m., after playing "It's The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by R.E.M., KYRK changed its format back to classic rock, this time branded as "104.1 The Brew". The first song on "The Brew" was "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC. The station's former active rock format was moved to its HD2 signal at that time.^[7] On July 19, 2010, KYRK changed call letters to KOBW to go with "The Brew" branding. "The Brew" was positioned as "Classic Rock for a New Generation", which played mostly late 60s, 70s, 80s, and early 90s classic rock tracks.

364 days later, on June 30, 2011, at noon, after again playing "It's The End of the World As We Know It", KOBW changed its format to a "GenX"-type adult top 40 format. It called itself "Voodoo 104" with an emphasis on retro-themed hits from the late 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, along with some current hits. It used the slogan "Retro, Rock, Dance, & Everything in Between". The first song on "Voodoo" was "Let's Get It Started" by The Black Eyed Peas.^[8] The following day, KOBW changed its call letters to KVDU to go with the "Voodoo 104" branding.

At the beginning of 2012, KVDU began shifting towards a conventional Adult Top 40 direction with most of the retro and "Gen X" songs being reduced. More currents were played, along with mixing rhythmic-leaning hits with Hot AC tracks. By early 2014, the station dropped the "Retro, Rock, Dance, & Everything in Between" slogan in favor of the new slogan "90s to Now."

On August 22, 2017, at 5 p.m., after playing "Say You Won't Let Go" by James Arthur, KVDU flipped to a rock-leaning adult hits format, branded as "104.1 The Spot." The first song on "The Spot" was "I Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty.^[9] The station uses the slogan "We Play Anything."

Tower collapse[edit]

During the impact of Hurricane Ida in August 2021, KVDU's tower, shared with Cumulus Media-owned WZRH, was destroyed. High winds knocked out the station's terrestrial broadcast although the station continued by streaming on the iHeartRadio app. Eventually the station was able to find a temporary transmitter.^[10]

It did not find a permanent new transmitter location until March of the following year, when it announced to the FCC its intention to change the city of license to Gonzales. This also had the effect of moving the station's signal closer to Baton Rouge.^[11] The shorter tower and relocation ended KVDU's ability to effectively cover the New Orleans radio market. The new signal is rumored to move to 103.7 WFFX which is planned to be moved from Hattiesburg, MS to New Orleans.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Official website
• KVDU in the FCC FM station database
• KVDU in Nielsen Audio's FM station database