On March 15, 1972, Harwell Shepard decided to retire and sold KDNT to Bass Brothers Telecasting of Fort Worth, headed by president Mel Wheeler.  The Bass brothers were the multi-millionaire sons of Perry Richardson Bass; the Richardsons and the Bass family own much of the property that comprises downtown Fort Worth.  This early foray into broadcasting later expanded to several other stations scattered about the US; in 1987, they purchased KZEW-FM and KLDD-AM in Dallas from the Belo Corporation as part of the Bass' affiliation with newly-formed Anchor Media.

Bass switched the AM format to hard Top 40, and the FM to Top 40 Gold.  Both stations began broadcasting 24 hours a day.  Earl Rast, Hal Thompson and former KBOX GM Bob Bostian took over as co-general managers over the course of 1972-73.  Rast and Thompson quickly alienated the station's advertisers by tripling commercial rates; Bostian's big-market promotion and programming ideas fell on deaf ears

Meanwhile, Harwell Shepard gave up on retirement in 1973 and purchased a station in Maui, Hawaii.  He lived in Hawaii and operated the station until 1981, then sold it and returned to Denton.

Roger Daniel was the news director and one-man news department at the station from 1973-75:  "It was my first broadcasting job, and I made $450 a month gross.  Even in 1973, that was poverty wages. But it included the incredible perk of getting to drive the station's news car, a tomato red Pontiac LeMans with 'KDNT RADIO' in white, 18" letters on the side.  I thought it definitely made me a babe magnet!

"One night, it was pouring rain, and there was lots of flooding in town," Roger recalls.  "I decided to hit the streets and do some live reports.  My adrenalin rush for the hot story ended when I started down a flooded street, and my headlights began to disappear under water.  At the same time, I began to feel the rear end of the car start to float.  I put it in reverse and managed to get out without destroying the car!"

During 1975, North Texas State University students George Gimarc and Andy Waldrop moved their popular oldies program, "Jukebox Saturday Night," from campus station KNTU to KDNT-FM.  Gimarc would later become a successful radio programming innovator, creating the classic rock and alternative formats in the 1980s.  Waldrop continued in radio as well, handling on-air and management positions in various markets across Texas, eventually landing as the operations manager for Traffic.com in Houston.  He also hosts an oldies program, "Solid Gold Sunday," on KSHN-FM in Liberty, TX.  Later hosts of "Jukebox Saturday Night" included Texas radio vet Ray Whitworth and Dave Buell.

Mel Wheeler, a longtime Denton resident, left Bass Brothers Telecasting in 1975, formed "Mel Wheeler Inc.," and started buying stations of his own in 1976.  He approached his former employer about KDNT, and the Bass brothers sold the stations to Mel in October, 1976.  Wheeler enlisted his family to help the station in various key roles:  Wife Vinny handled accounting, son Clark was engineer (alongside longtime chief engineer Hal Whatley,) and son Steve handled other duties.  Years later, son Leonard would take the reins of his father's company when Mel retired.

The FM side was then flipped from Top 40 Gold to current Top 40, using the moniker, "K-106."  By 1977, in response to the dance music craze across the US, KDNT-FM changed to an all-disco format.

By 1978, however, the disco music was abandoned, and the FM side flipped to rock, and later to country in the same year.  Future station manager/faculty adviser for KNTU, Russ Campbell, was the news director.

On the last day of December, 1979, KDNT-FM became KDDC, while continuing its country format.  In the spring of 1980, Wheeler swapped FM frequencies with Gainesville neighbor White Fuel Corporation.  A revived KDNT-FM moved to 94.5, while White Fuel's station KGAF-FM assumed the KDDC calls and moved to 106.1.  It was a poor trade for Wheeler, as White Fuel sold 106.1 for $4 million two years later, and new owner Hicks Broadcasting aimed the station into the profitable Dallas-Fort Worth market.

Wheeler soon discovered that the new KDNT-94.5 is signally-challenged, and the Gainesville towers will barely reach into the coveted DFW market.  The frequency was basically landlocked between other stations that had FCC protection over their reaches, and subsequent power upgrades by later owners made little difference, even as late as 2002 and 2006.

In February, 1981, owner Mel Wheeler moved the studios out of their longtime home in downtown Denton to new studios on Teasley Lane.  This property had been the home to all three of KDNT's antennas since 1962.  Reportedly, Wheeler was tired of paying the ever-increasing expense of renting studios in downtown.  The property is given the new address of "1440 Wheeler Drive," in honor of owner Wheeler and the AM's frequency number.

The station's equipment in the 1980s left something to be desired.  Steve Eberhart, webmaster of "The History of KLIF" and a longtime radio pro in DFW, explains:  "In the 80s, they used a McMartin 8-channel mono board.  I never worked there, but had buddies (including former WFAA news anchor Michael Rey) who did, and would hang out there from time to time.  They also used Gates CB100 turntables and ITC 3D cart machines."

Wheeler sold both KDNT-AM and FM to Garland, TX resident Galen O. Gilbert (dba "KDNT Radio, Inc." and later as "Galen O. Gilbert and Associates" and also as "Community Service Radio Group") for $1 million on November 17, 1984.  By then, the AM side broadcasted an easy listening format.  Mel Wheeler continued buying and selling stations; after his retirement and later death in June, 1997, his son Leonard assumed ownership of the group, which still thrives today.

Longtime newscaster and salesman Buford Harrell died on July 15, 1985, at age 76; Harrell logged 34 years with the stations.  The same year, Dennis Grandcolas was the station manager, Jeffery Bennett was the new FM program director (who returned KDNT-FM to a country format,) and Bill Van Ness and future KRLD & TSN sports reporter Roger Emrich (the "Rajmahal") were the morning show personalities.  Emrich was also sports director.  Joe Short was the general manager; Scott Sommer was the AM's program director.  Future KILT- Houston's "Rowdy Yates," Josh Holstead, was a disc jockey, as were Dale Olsen, Bob Barry, Hal Murray, Kathy Machi and Jeff Lyons.  KDNT-FM was nicknamed, "94-and-a-half Country."

KDNT-FM became KZRK-FM on July 4, 1987 and broadcasted the Satellite Music Network's new active rock/metal "Z-Rock" format.  It was the 53rd Texas affiliate of the six year-old SMN, and nine disc jockeys at the former KDNT-FM were canned.  Dennis Grandcolas, station manager, told the Dallas Morning News that, "Of course, when you become an affiliate, you have to do some restructuring.  We became an affiliate because it is cost-effective.  The payroll goes down.  You have to ask yourself as a business, what is cost-effective and what's the future.  The release of those people creates jobs for others."  Two large carousel cart machines were installed at the station to allow the spots and IDs to run via automation.  Although the specialized format quickly attracted a cult following of "headbangers," the signal was still too weak for most DFW listeners to receive.  Attempts to peddle advertising in DFW netted little interest.  Meanwhile, KDNT-AM flipped from easy listening to news/talk during the day and Satellite Music Network's "Country Gold" at night and on weekends.  "Car Show" (similar to "Car Talk") and "Waxworks" were weekend staples.  Brian Gann was the program director.

Meanwhile, the area's radio landscape was changing:  Denton gained another radio station on September 25, 1988, with the premiere of KWDC-FM at 99.1.  It was owned by longtime DFW sportscaster and University of North Texas instructor Bill Mercer and radio vet Fred Graham, but was quickly sold and became KJZY-"Jazzy 99.1" on October 3.  (Mercer was still concurrently handling UNT sports play-by-play duties for KDNT.)  With NTSU's (now UNT's) KNTU-FM, Denton had the distinction of having two of only 19 pure jazz-formatted stations in the US.  The station's tower, constructed north of Denton, became a springboard for numerous rimshot stations to beam in to DFW during the 1990s and 2000s.  Auctions of advertiser giveaways to listeners became a regular mid-day program on the AM side in 1988.

By 1988, the station's listenership was dwindling, and weekend board operator/newscaster Mike Shannon often toyed with the idea of asking ANYONE listening to call in on the request line...just to see if someone was actually tuned in.  At least one person was:  "One night on my shift, a somewhat frantic older woman called the station, and wanted to know exactly why some helicopter was flying over her house!  I couldn't convince her that we'd probably be the last ones to know anything.  She was determined that it was a manhunt, and she told me she'd already locked her doors and windows.  Trying to contain my laughter, I looked up the number for the police department (these were pre-911 days) and referred her to them.  I bet they appreciated that!"  Webmaster Mike Shannon offers some more not-so-great memories of his brief stay at KDNT...click here!

In October, 1989, KDNT-AM flipped formats from part-SMN "Country Gold" and part-news/talk to exclusively news-talk.  Many shows were syndicated from the ABC Talk Network, and included Cerie Segal's "Travel Talk" (began in June, 1991,) "Sally Jessy Raphael," "Tom Snyder" and "The Debra Norville Show."  A local program, "Legal Talk," was added to AM lineup, as were the news programs "Good Morning North Texas," "The Breakfast Club" and "Noon News Watch."  SM Dennis Grandcolas explained other changes to The Dallas Morning News:  "It will be like KRLD in the morning and KLIF at night.  We'll have information and news in the early morning, and talk from mid-morning on."  Programming also included a call-in sports show overnights, and others covering money, health and fitness, garden, music, religious, politics, home repair--"even a show, hosted by Michael Gold, to help listeners find long-lost friends and relatives and stage actual reunions," Grandcolas said.  And hour-long local newscasts ran at noon and 5PM weekdays.  "I think we're going to surprise some folks," Dennis continued," We are going to zero in on Denton County, which, at the moment, is not being targeted.  But we expect to pick up listeners from all over the place.  Our goal isn't to be a dominant force in Dallas, but we will be a factor."  Grandcolas did not give credence to nearby KNTU's hourlong newscasts and regular local public affairs programming.

Brule Eagan worked parttime at KDNT from 1988-90:  "My wife at the time was attending UNT, and I needed a gig, so (news director) Brian Gann hired me.  It was the most horrible experience of my 28-year career!  I'm sure that when Bette Davis uttered that famous 'What a dump' line, she had already visited the station for motivation.  Until then, I had no idea there was a radio station anywhere that had absolutely no audience.  How my checks didn't bounce is a mystery to me to this day!   By the way, it was the last station I could smoke in."

Denton station KJZY flipped formats and brought KDNT's former "Z-Rock" broadcasts back to local airwaves in November, 1991, as KDZR-FM.  Bruce Michaels was now KDNT's operations manager, and Dean Minnick was the general manager.  Joe Dodd and future Tulsa weatherman Alan Crone joined the station; "The Dodd Files" and "The Alan Crone Talk Show" became regular local programs, as well as Carl Martin's political show, "The Denton County Party Line."

KDNT-AM was sold to Rodriguez Broadcasting on December 1, 1993, for $650,000 and flipped to Tejano country "Kick" format (Rodriguez already owned KLTY in Arlington, and had just purchased KAND-Corsicana and changed it to "Kick" as well.)  Most of the eight remaining KDNT employees retired, but three were transferred to Galen Gilbert's Community Service Radio Group in Sulphur Springs, TX.  KDNT still held its license for a short time thereafter pending the FCC's final approval, and took advantage with a one-time-only resurrection of the station on December 9, to broadcast "The Alan Crone Talk Show."  The show was brought back for one final airing to discuss important Denton ISD issues, and even used the KDNT calls!  (The Denton Record- Chronicle's headline read, "KDNT Not Dead Yet.")  Throughout 1993, KDNT's syndicated programming came from American Forum Radio; show hosts included Pat Buchanan and Larry King.

Talk show host Joe Dodd told the Dallas Morning News in 1993 that, with the city's loss of KDNT, the city's residents would no longer have a platform for their opinions.  "It was the closest thing we had to a town forum.  Not only do we lose a local forum, but we don't get anything in return to fill the void that will be left after KDNT is gone."

On March 15, 1994, KDNT was renamed KICI and continued its Spanish broadcasting; it soon vacated the 1440 Wheeler Dr studios in Denton and relocated to Dallas.  It simulcasted KAND 107.9 FM (as part of the multi-station rimshot simulcast of co-owned KHCK.)  Somewhere in the process, Rodriguez Broadcasting flipped the station for a quick profit and sold it to Mortenson Broadcasting.  Also in 1994, former KDNT employee Carl Martin died on November 14 of lung cancer at age 65.

KICI became KINF on March 15, 1996, exactly two years after the KICI calls were activated.  KINF became KTNO on July 11, 1997, broadcasting the "Radio Vida" format, consisting of Spanish Religious programming.

KDNT/KZRK-FM successor KDGE bailed out of 94.5's incurable weak signal and traded for the 102.1 frequency on November 10, 2000.  Ratings went from #30 to Top 10 within six months, and 94.5's successor KTXQ (later KSOC) floundered immediately.

In 2002, KTNO petitioned the FCC to move their city of license from Denton to University Park, TX.

The KDNT call letters are reassigned for the first time, given to a low-power TV station in Durant, OK on August 25, 2004.  The calls are now said to stand for "Durant."

In October, 2005, the Wheeler studios and towers were razed for construction of an elementary school, known first as "Elementary School #19" and now "L. A. Nelson Jr. Elementary School," under the revised address of 3909 Teasley Lane.  It opened in August, 2007.  Nelson was an attorney and former mayor of Denton who died in 2006.  The school district has already expressed interest in assembling a permanent display at the new school that will honor the history of the property and KDNT.

Although the Wheeler Drive designation is dropped, a new 167-acre housing development near the station site is named "Wheeler Ridge."