KCXL (1140 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Liberty, Missouri, and serving the Kansas City metropolitan area.
On September 7, 1966, Clay Broadcasters, Inc., a consortium of six local businessmen, obtained a construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build a new 500-watt, daytime-only station in Liberty.
[8] Joe Abernathy, the general manager who ran the KFIX stations (and hired Rush Limbaugh under the name "Jeff Christie" as a late-night host on the FM side), was blamed by Strauss for financial mismanagement of the pair.
Morning host Mike Murphy could not join for five months due to contractual obligations, and early issues with the FM signal kept listeners away.
[12] The call letters were changed to KKCI in 1982 when Golden East Broadcasting purchased KLDY and KSAS and converted both stations to a simulcast.
[13] Golden East put the AM station on the market and found a buyer in 1984: Elbert Anderson, the black owner of a local Coca-Cola bottling company.
[14] However, because the signal was limited to the suburban Northland, it eventually fell short competing with longtime FM urban station KPRS.
In a time brokerage agreement with RM Broadcasting, KCXL began airing Radio Sputnik six hours a day beginning on January 1, 2020.
[22][23][24][25] The time brokerage agreement pays KCXL $100,217 per year,[26] and Schartel later acknowledged he signed it largely for financial reasons.