KPNT


KPNT is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Collinsville, Illinois, and broadcasting to Greater St. Louis. It mainly airs an alternative rock radio format, with some elements of active rock. It is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting. It is home to the Rizzuto Show, Donny Fandango and Lux.
KPNT has studios and offices in Creve Coeur. The transmitter is off Mackenzie Road in Shrewsbury, just outside the St. Louis city limits, on a tower used by numerous local TV and FM stations. KPNT broadcasts in HD, and simulcasts the sports talk programming of KFNS "590 The Fan" on its HD2 subchannel.

History

KPNT is considered a "move-in" station. In March 1967, the station signed on in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, about 50 miles south of St. Louis. It had the call sign KSGM-FM and was simulcast with its sister station, AM 980 KSGM. The call letters stood for K Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. KSGM-FM broadcast at 27,000 watts from a 285-foot antenna, with only limited coverage of the southern part of the St. Louis radio market.
In 1987, KSGM-FM was bought by Channel One Communications, for $7.5 million. The power was boosted to 100,000 watts, giving the station coverage of the St. Louis metropolitan area. Channel One launched a hot adult contemporary music format with the new call letters, KSTZ, and was known as "Kiss FM".
On March 6, 1991, KSTZ was rebranded as "The Fox" with an album oriented rock format and new set of call letters, KFXB. KFXB began a simulcast on sister station WFXB.
The simulcast was broken on February 17, 1993, when KFXB adopted the current call sign, KPNT, with a modern rock music format, partly inspired by the success of St. Louis' first full-time alternative rock music station, 89.7 KYMC, a small non-profit station broadcasting out of Ballwin, Missouri. The first song on "The Point" was "Radio Song" by R.E.M..
In 2006, KPNT expanded the playlist to include a wider variety of active rock artists while maintaining a strong emphasis on alternative artists. The new slogan, "Everything Alternative", was adopted to promote this change.
In January 2013, KPNT moved its city of license from Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, to Collinsville, Illinois, and its transmitter moved north from Jefferson County, Missouri to St. Louis. The license for this change was issued by the Federal Communications Commission on February 27, 2015. The station was required to reduce its effective radiated power from 100,000 watts to 54,000 watts and height above average terrain from more than 1,300 feet to 835 feet, but the trade was considered beneficial to KPNT by moving its transmitter within the immediate St. Louis metropolitan area, now using a TV and FM tower off Mackenzie Road.
In 2014 the station introduce the Rizzuto Show as their morning program. The show has won numerous awards and dominated the regions ratings. The Rizzuto Show Podcast was the number one podcast in Missouri and Illinois for the 2019 year. The personalities are host Scott Rizzuto, Tony Patrico, author Jeff Burton, musician Moon Valjean of Greek Fire / Goldfinger and King Scott.
In August 2018 KPNT started phasing out the “Everything Alternative” slogan and started using “St Louis’ Rock Alternative”

Specialty programming

A feature known as "My Shuffle" was promoted on their website allowing listeners to create their own five-song playlist. Some of the listener's five-song playlists air on KPNT during a show known as the "My Shuffle Lunch" program which airs at 12:00PM or during specialty "My Shuffle Weekends."

Former personalities

KPNT is also well known for promoting an annual music festival known as Pointfest.

Compilation albums

KPNT produced a series of compilation albums, featuring tracks submitted by local up and coming artists from throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area. This series of albums is known as Pointessential. Bands featured in the Pointessential series before they became well known have included Gravity Kills, The Urge, Stir, Modern Day Zero, Cavo, and Autovein. The CD series was an annual release from 1994 through 1999. After KPNT was sold to Emmis Communications, the series was temporarily suspended. It was brought back again in 2002 after a three-year break when the station renewed its commitment to the local music scene in St. Louis.
In May 1995, KPNT reported that R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry had died, reportedly receiving the information from Warner Music Group via fax. It was later revealed to be a hoax. Berry had recently undergone an operation to relieve an aneurysm he suffered during the band's tour in support of Monster.