and KTCJ. A format change for WBOB was expected, and on April 15, 1997, at 1:03 p.m., after an hour of stunting, WBOB became WRQC, broadcasting an active rock format with Howard Stern in the morning. WRQC took to the air as Real Rock 100, and then Rock 100.3. Stern's show was a mild success in the market, but consistently finished second or third in the ratings, while only taking away a smaller than expected number of listeners from KQRS and Tom Barnard. In addition, like many other Stern affiliates, ratings for the station the rest of the day were poor, and not helped by KQRS' owners flipping its sister station, KEGE, to a similar hard rock format in 1997. WLOL WRQC and Stern left the Twin Cities airwaves on August 3, 1999, as the station began stunting by simulcasting co-owned KFAN (a harbinger of its future format). When the new format debuted two days later, the format was 1970s-era classic hits, which eventually went to full-blown classic hits, as Classic Hits 100.3 WLOL. Although ratings were decent initially, the station's overall performance was disappointing. During its period as WLOL, the station owners, Chancellor Broadcasting, merged with Capstar Broadcasting to form AMFM Inc., and the next year was absorbed into Clear Channel Communications (now its current owners, iHeartMedia). KJZI On June 19, 2003, at Noon, following a goodbye show, 100.3 changed to Smooth Jazz as Smooth Jazz 100.3 with new matching call letters KJZI. The last song on WLOL was "Tomorrow Never Knows" by The Beatles, while the first song on KJZI was Smooth Operator by Sade. This was the first smooth jazz station in the Twin Cities since KMJZ switched to Modern AC in 1998. When public broadcaster KBEM-FM, another jazz station, found itself in financial straits in early 2005, Clear Channel donated $25,000 to help keep it operating. KJZI and its sister station KTCZ carried announcements requesting support for KBEM-FM. The generous move was lauded by many in the media. KTLK-FM While satisfied with smooth jazz, Clear Channel was even more interested in launching a news/talk station in the Twin Cities, in order to air programming from company-owned Premiere Radio Networks and Fox News Radio. Having no available AM stations in the market on which they could run a news/talk format — (KFAN was already highly successful with their sports/talk format, and daytimer KFXN possessed too weak a