Former RKO Radio President Bruce Johnson became General Manager of KCMJ AM/FM in late 1994, just as the effects of deregulation began to take hold in Palm Springs. As clusters started forming in the market, Johnson quickly became convinced that the only way to stay viable would be to incorporate KCMJ into a cluster of its own with other radio stations.
The problem was that he could not convince the owners in New York to acquire more property. But he did persuade them to sell, and promptly went about searching for a financial suitor interested in acquiring KCMJ and other properties in Palm Springs.
After entertaining proposals from some of the heavyweight conglomerates in the industry, Johnson finally gravitated toward Morris Communications, on the basis of their commitment to expansion in broadcasting, and their reputation for fairness to employees. These efforts reached their culmination in November 1997.
In addition to KCMJ AM/FM, Morris also acquired 1010 KPSL, KSES FM (broadcast on three frequencies, 94.3FM, 103.9FM, and 106.9FM) and KNWZ, broadcast on 94.3FM and 1270AM. The cluster was complete with the acquisition of 93.7 KCLB and K-CLUB 970 AM.
With KCLB as a strong heritage rock station now in the fold, Morris saw the chance to recast KCMJ FM as Dance/Top 40 format with the KKUU calls, then ultimately as the Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Station it is today.
The top talent from KNWZ and KPSL were combined under the KNWZ aegis as the desert news/talk leader, moving first to 1010AM, then finally simulcast on 1140/970AM. The KPSL call letters were dropped in favor of KXPS, to accommodate a new sports talk format on 1270AM, and moving to the 1010 AM frequency. 1270 now runs Recuerdo programming. After the first few years as Adult Contemporary, KYOR was changed to KDGL and the Classic Hits Eagle took flight in December of 2003.