Fresh Jingles For A Fresh-faced iHeartRadio FM’s Reboot

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In late July, it was revealed that one of America’s most popular morning show hosts was set to return to the FM dial. This time, however, it involved a new on-air partner (his wife) and a new broadcast home — one owned by iHeartRadio.


With Jubal Fresh‘s next career chapter set to be written, the nation’s largest audio media company turned to a Hilversum, Holland-based jingles maker to create “compelling audio” for a whole new brand in Seattle.


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The new audio identifiers come courtesy of Pure Jingles, a Dutch outfit that already works with iHeart for its Spanish Contemporary WZTU-FM “Tú 94.9” in Miami and Rhythmic Hot AC in New York, WKTU-FM 103.5. In the U.S., other stations using Pure Jingles’ works include Univision Radio‘s WAMR-FM “Amor” in Miami.

The jingles, which can be heard here, are the hallmark of a rebranding for KBKS-FM, which is now “Hits 106.1.” Many of the jingles note that it is the new home for The Jubal Show.

“Hits” is the successor of “106.1 KISS FM,” which first took on the Top 40 format in May 1997 under EZ Communications. Shortly thereafter, EZ merged with American Radio Systems, and ARS then merged with Infinity Broadcasting. By the end of 2008, Infinity (now a part of CBS Radio) swapped KBKS to iHeart, which has owned it ever since.

The Jubal Show arrived on August 20, 2020, along with the Hits rebranding.

“iHeartMedia commissioned us to create compelling audio for their new brand, built around air personality Jubal Fresh,” Pure Jingles notes. “Aiming higher than the Space Needle, they wanted jingles that are HITS.”

Jubal is one of the most popular air personalities to emerge from Seattle since Bob Rivers first came on the scene. Jubal is a stand-up comedian, and with his former partner at KQMV quickly gained a national audience.

“I’m going back to Kiss because when I left 10 years ago, I didn’t get the chance to clean out my desk, and I just want my favorite pen back,” joked Jubal, who added that the “amazing opportunity to work for, and with, the best in the business at iHeartMedia” was likely too hard to pass up. “I’m constantly trying to evolve and grow and find new innovative ways to entertain my audiences and iHeart is always on the cutting edge. This new chapter is going to be bananas. Plus, I get my pen back!”

The vociferous disappointment of his departure from “Brooke & Jubal” was made known by many RBR+TVBR readers, making our April 2020 story one of the most-read RBR.com stories ever.

In his time at KQMV and with Hubbard, Jubal received an array of awards and accolades celebrating his on-air career, including the National Radio Hall of Fame “One to Watch” Award and the prestigious Marconi Award for “Large Market Personality of the Year.”