There were a LOT of channel changes around the country in the 90s as class As discovered opportunities whether on their own channels or adjacents. Most of these opened up after the expiration of the 10 mile buffer originally granted to Class Cs under 80-90 to allow them flexibility to find sites to build 300 meter or higher towers.
Here are some more examples of Docket 80-90 enabled changes of the 90s from the midwest:
KOKX-FM Keokuk IA was on an original class A only channel, 95.3 when several of its co-channel neighbors started leaving that channel. KOKX saw an opening to clear a couple other neighboring As off of 95.3, allowing KOKX to go C1 100 kW on 95.3. As a result, 95.3 KCII-FM Washington IA was moved to 106.1 as an A, and 95.3 KMAQ-FM Maquoketa IA was moved to 95.1 as an A.
The owners of KLBA 1370 Albia IA, a four tower 500 watt class D, sought to have an FM dropped in to that community in the early 90s. At the same time, KMEM-FM Memphis MO an existing station on the original-A-only 96.7 sought to move from 3 kW as A to a 25 kW C3 on the same freq., 96.7. Memphis is about 60 miles SE of Albia. Albia is about 60 miles SE of Des Moines and about 90 miles SW of Cedar Rapids. 96.7 was the only channel that would work at Albia, where Memphis had another option to go C3 using 100.5. KLBA eventually got 96.7 as a C3, a few years later its four towers on 1370 were cut down, and KMEM got 100.5 as a C3
KGLO, a long time 5 kW day and night operation on 1300, Mason City IA was a late comer to FM in the post 1962 Table of Allocations era. (KGLO had an FM in the early 50s, but it also had KGLO-TV, today's KIMT. KGLO couldn't be bothered with the FM, so the first KGLO-FM was turned back to the FCC and went dark) In the 80's, KGLO bought a class A CP on 93.5, KIAI Mason City and identified an opportunity to move to 2nd adjacent 93.9 as a C1. Problem was that KRNA Iowa City was a class C on 93.9, about 130 miles SE of Mason City. KRNA chose not to preserve its full class C status and went to class C1. Result: KIAI got its C1 on 93.9, and KRNA was bumped up one notch to 94.1 as a C1. This was a win-win for both stations, KIAI got an upgrade and KRNA was able to lose a 10.6 MHz, 30 mile site restriction from KDAT 104.5 C1 Cedar Rapids, enabling KRNA to move 7 miles closer to cedar Rapids with a 299 meter max. HAAT tower, a nice boost from about 180 meters/590 ft from the old tower.
Then there were the stations that missed opportunity, like KXOF Bloomfield IA. It started out life in the early 80's as a little county-seat station on the true class A frequency of 106.3. Friends of mine tried to buy KXOF in 1985, but they couldn't get it done. It didn't help that they we were only in our 20s then, and KXOF's manager at the time didn't want the owners to take an offer from a bunch of under-capitalized kids. Had they been able to buy KXOF, they would have been poised to move down a notch to 106.1, become a C2 or C1 and been able to serve the nearby larger town of Ottumwa pop. 26,000. Had Ottumwa's KBIZ/KTWA been awake in 1985, they would have bought KXOF as it had the best upgrade potential in the area. KTWA's class A 92.7 would have been sent to Bloomfield and spun off (only 1 FM per market then) and KTWA would have been able to build out 106.1 to a C1. Instead KTWA settled for a C2 on 92.7, fighting off a challenge from a 92.7 in Galesburg IL that wanted to upgrade.
Fast forward a few years into the early 90s, and KXOF's opportunities were dashed. See the KOKX paragraph above. Keokuk, Bloomfield and Washington formed a triangle about 60 - 65 miles from each other. Today KXOF is KOJY, a 73.215 short-spaced C3 on 106.9. It limits its ability to get a really good signal into Ottumwa. So it stays with a niche format of southern gospel.
