KVLY signed on September 12, 1974, as KESI, owned by Lloyd Hawkins. He also owned KURV 710 AM, but after a fire destroyed the building both stations were housed in, Hawkins sold KESI, an "Easy Listening" format using an automation system and the Bonneville Beautiful Music format, to Henry B. Tippie. Tippie purchased the old Yazoo lawnmower sales and service building and renovated the building using the plans of chief engineer Mike Hales, who also designed the studios of KURV after the fire. Tippie then purchased radio station KRIO in McAllen and also KNCN, C101, in Corpus Christi.
Format
Initially, KVLY used to be a traditional Soft Adult Contemporary radio station, playing well-known hits dating back to the 1960s, even including a nightly "love songs" program. However, in recent years, KVLY began playing more contemporary hit radio. Then in 2008, KVLY cancelled "Love Songs" in favor of more upbeat music and the new "Top 8 at 8:00". KVLY-FM was classified as a Hot Adult Contemporary radio station with a target audience of Adults 18-49. On August 31, 2009 KVLY-FM moved the Billy Bush show to 10pm in favor of a new local love songs program titled "Heartbeats", airing from 7-10pm. The Billy Bush show returned to the 7pm-11pm hours in July 2010. In August 2010 the station started playing more top hits, becoming more of a Mainstream Top 40 than a Modern AC. This is done in order to compete with rivals KBFM and XHAVO-FM. Mediabase & Nielsen BDS have since moved KVLY to the Contemporary Hit Radio panel by February 2011. In April 2011 KVLY ushered in a new program branded as "The Nightly Hook-Up" which consisted of the only live music mixing week nights and during the weekends. This was done in order to compete with rival KBFM and their pre-recorded mixshow in the evenings. The original programming for "The Nightly Hook-Up" began from the 10pm - Midnight slot weeknights and 6pm - Midnight on Saturday nights. The show was eventually added to the 5pm hour weekdays in order to counter other rival's shows at this time. On September 19, 2011 saw an increase in listeners and "The Nightly Hook-Up" was moved to the prime time slot weeknights during the premiere of "Nani's Neighborhood" from 8pm - 10pm, while keeping all other original times of "The Nightly Hook-Up" as established, thus sparking a "mix war" with rival KBFM. "The Nightly Hook-Up" was the only "live" mixshow in the McAllen-Brownsville-Harlingen market that allows listeners to instantly call in and request a song to be "mixed" in. In August 2011, Entravision Communications added Radio Production Director, AJ Leal to head up the Valley's only live mid-day program in the McAllen-Brownsville-Harlingen Radio market, instituting a new show, "New At Noon" in Spring 2012. The show's mission is to introduce never-before-heard songs first. In 2012, Program Director Alex Duran, gave the go-ahead to utilize AJ Leal's production capabilities to energize the imaging effect of 107.9 Mix FM and introduced a new "Mainstream Top 40" sound. In February 2015, AJ Leal was quietly removed from all duties at 107.9 Mix FM due to legal issues and was replaced with other on air personalities filling in the noon spot. Unlike many Top 40 radio stations the station includes some reggaeton and bachata songs, as well some non-top 40 music material, such as Red by Taylor Swift, and some songs that are no longer played on Top 40 radio stations, on its playlist. In December 2017 staff was notified of budget cuts and thus led to the release of several on air talents from KVLY and sister stations within the company. KVLY recently carried The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show, replacing the local morning show of Alex and Meridee, before changing back to its previous AC format. On April 13, 2020 KVLY changed their format from Contemporary hit radio back to their previous Adult Contemporary format, branded as "107.9 RGV FM". The change comes two weeks after sister station KKPS changed their format from Regional Mexican to Bilingual Rhythmic CHR. Sister station KFRQ also shifted their format from Active rock to Classic rock the same day, but retaining the “Q94.5” name. With the change, The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show was dropped and long time afternoon host Roxy was moved to mornings. KVLY had previously aired the AC format under the “Mix 107.9” name from the early 2000’s until the late 2000’s.
Branding names
KVLY's branding name was Mix 107.9 KVLY, but in March 2009 they changed the branding name to 107.9 Mix FM. In April 2020 they changed the branding name to 107.9 RGV FM.
Slogans
KVLY's slogan was "The Most Hit Music", but in January 2009 the slogan was changed to "The Valley's #1 Hit Music Station". And changed once again in August 2009 to "Today's Modern Music". The slogan "The Valley's #1 Hit Music Station" was reintroduced in 2011 and "The Valley's Hit Music Channel" was added in mid-2012. With the station changing back to its previous AC format, the “More Hits. More Variety.” slogan was introduced in April 2020.
