Goodbye, Vibe: Cumulus Gets Groovy In Ventura

CAMARILLO, CALIF. — It was “Oxnard’s Hit Music Station” and competed against a locally owned broadcast group for Contemporary Hit Radio listeners in the shadow of Los Angeles FMs. Now, this Class A FM covering most of Ventura County, Calif., is devoting its airtime to the Top 40 hits of yesteryear while keeping Los Angeles Dodgers broadcasts.

Cumulus Media-owned KVYB-FM 106.3, licensed to Oak View, Calif., and using a 960-watt signal from a peak above the city of Ventura, is now Oldies and using programming from “The True Oldies Channel.”

The station’s new moniker is “Groovy 106.3,” shedding its previous branding as “106.3 The Vibe.” It had competed against KFYV “Live 105.5,” owned by Point Broadcasting.

With the format change, Cumulus brings a format to a portion of the Central Coast designed by Scott Shannon once distributed by Cumulus (prior to mid-2014) that is now offered to stations by Local Radio Networks (LRN). “The True Oldies Channel” was once heard on KBOX-FM 104.1 in Santa Maria-Lompoc, Calif., a market sandwiched between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.

KVYB’s history dates to January 1982, when it debuted as KMGQ-FM as an Adult Contemporary radio station. In December 1999, Cumulus acquired the station as part of a $41 million transaction marking the company’s first purchase in the West Coast of the U.S. At the time, call letters KKSB and a Country format were in place. Cumulus attempted a Top 40 format, switched it to Classic Hits, and by March 2005 opted to shift the Smooth Jazz programming to the station from KRUZ-FM, then using 97.5 MHz. The Smooth Jazz format would last until September 2010, when Classic Rock was attempted under the KRRF calls. By February 2017, the KRUZ call letters arrived at 106.3 MHz as the station tried classic Hip-Hop as “Spin FM.” On June 29, 2019, “The Vibe” arrived, as did the KVYB calls previously at 103.3 MHz.