Austin Radio: JB And Sandy Returning To The Air

Longtime Austin radio hosts JB Hager and Sandy McIlree will return to Austin’s airwaves at 6 a.m. Monday on The Fringe, a new radio station set to launch at 10 a.m. Saturday with a weekend-long preview, according to austin360.com.

Hager and McIlree both exited KAMX 94.7 FM Mix late last year after a contract dispute. They’d been on the air together for almost two decades.

Details on The Fringe, including the type of music it will play and the frequency it will occupy on the radio dial, remain scarce. Citing competitive reasons, members of station management, including longtime Austin broadcaster Bob Cole, have been cautious not to provide too many details thus far.

Cole and his business partners currently control several Austin-area FM frequencies, including three that air eclectic country station KOKE 98.5 FM,  99.3 FM and 105.3 FM. He’s also a part of the team that has been running KTXX 104.9 FM The Horn, a hybrid sports talk and classic hits station, since the beginning of the year.

Several web addresses registered late last week, including 1053TheFringe.com and Fringe1053.com, appear to indicate The Fringe will take over KOKE-FM’s 105.3 FM frequency.

In a recent interview with the American-Statesman, The Fringe program director and afternoon host Ray Seggern, former host of the weekly “Chillville” program on alternative rock station 101X, promised the station would play music that was “off the beaten path.”

After being off the air for more than four months, Hager says he’s eager to start his new gig. What’s he been doing with his free time? “Driving my family nuts,” Hager said.

When listeners tune in Monday, Hager says they’ll hear a show that’s similar in many ways to the one they previously hosted – but with more personality and conversation.

“It will be us, but the handcuffs will be off,” he said.

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