Cumulus Media has launched a new Contemporary Hits format in Des Moines to begin the Memorial Day weekend, competing with iHeartMedia and Saga Broadcasting’s existing CHR formats in the city.
“98.3 The Vibe” (KWQW Boone-Des Moines) is now “your music, your vibe,” dropping a Classic Hip-Hop format that had run since 2015 under the same slogan. The new format debuted Friday, May 28.
The 41kW/165m signal of “The Vibe” competes with iHeart’s 100kW “107.5 Kiss FM” (KKDM Des Moines) and Saga Broadcasting’s 250-Watt “Hits 99.9” (K260AM and KIOA-HD2 Des Moines).
KKDM ranked second in the market among publicly-listed stations in Nielsen Audio’s most recent 12+ average quarter hour shares. Ratings for the Saga stations are not publicly released. Under its previous format, KWQW had been the lowest-rated core commercial FM station in the market among the publicly-available ratings.
The launch of a third CHR outlet in Des Moines is quite a shift from a quarter century ago, when there was no Top 40 station in the city.