K103 - KEZS-FM

A country music-formatted station operating at 102.9 MHz with a transmission power of 100,000 watts, broadcasting from a tower shared with KBSI near its home market. The station's signal reaches a notably broad geographic footprint, covering southern Illinois, Southeast Missouri, northeast Arkansas, the Missouri Bootheel, Western Kentucky, and the northern portion of West Tennessee. Programming centers on mainstream contemporary country artists, including acts such as Thomas Rhett, Kane Brown, and Florida Georgia Line. The station's ownership history reflects the consolidation patterns that characterized the American radio industry in the early 2000s. In December 2003, River Radio — operating under the corporate umbrella of Max Media LLC, with John Trinder serving as president and COO — agreed to acquire KEZS-FM along with sixteen other stations as part of a larger transaction valued at approximately $43 million. The seller was the Zimmer Radio Group, owned by James L. Zimmer, which had assembled a cluster of stations concentrated in Missouri and surrounding states. This sale transferred a portfolio of seventeen stations in a single deal, reflecting the regulatory environment of the period that permitted such large-scale consolidation within regional radio markets.