KPTT

KMYR/KHOW-FM

On December 15, 1966, the station signed on as KMYR.^[1] The station originally broadcast at 95.5 MHz at 51,000 watts, about half the power it has today. It was owned by Karlo Broadcasting, Ltd. KMYR aired middle of the road music and carried news from ABC Radio.

KMYR moved to its current frequency, 95.7 MHz, in 1970, and also increased its power to current level, 100,000 watts.^[2] In 1975, it was acquired by Doubleday, a publishing and broadcasting company, which had bought one of Denver's top AM stations, KHOW, in 1968. KMYR's call sign was switched to KHOW-FM. The two stations simulcasted some of their news and music, but Federal Communications Commission rules at the time required AM and FM stations to broadcast separate programming for most of the day.

From 1977 to 1980, it aired a Top 40 format as KXKX. In 1980, the station returned to the KHOW-FM call letters, and flipped to a progressive rock format.

96 KPKE and Sunny 95.7

On July 19, 1983, the station returned to Top 40 music as the "All Hit 96 KPKE." ^[3] For a time, KPKE had some of the highest ratings in the market.^[4] In April 1986, Legacy Broadcasting, owned by Robert F.X. Sillerman, bought KPKE and KHOW.

In June 1987, KPKE changed to soft adult contemporary, this time as KSYY, "Sunny 95.7."^[5][6] Over the next several years, KHOW and KSYY changed hands several times. In April 1988, the stations were bought by Metropolitan Broadcasting, formerly Metromedia. Two months later, Command Communications bought the stations. In November 1989, Viacom bought KHOW and KSYY. On February 4, 1991, KSYY changed call letters back to KHOW-FM.

Smooth Jazz 95.7

In October 1993, shortly after Noble Broadcast Group acquired the station, KHOW-FM adopted a smooth jazz format and the call letters KHIH.^[7][8] (KHIH was on 94.7 FM until Salem purchased the station that same month and dropped it for a religious format.)

In 1996, Noble merged with Jacor, taking advantage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, allowing one company to own several radio stations in the same market, no longer limited to one AM and one FM. In 1999, Jacor merged with Clear Channel Communications, now known as iHeartMedia.

95.7 Kiss FM and Mega 95-7

On September 1, 2000, 95.7 returned to contemporary hits as KFMD, "95.7 KISS FM", giving the market its first Mainstream Top 40 outlet since KHHT's demise in 1997. (The smooth jazz format was picked up by KCKK 104.3 later that day.)^[9] But with competition from Rhythmic Top 40 KQKS and Adult Top 40 KALC, the ratings for KFMD were not very good. On April 27, 2005, KFMD flipped to KMGG, playing Hispanic Urban music as "Mega 95.7."^[10]

KMGG was one of four FM stations targeting the Mile High City's Hispanic population, the other three being KJMN, KKCS and KXPK. But unlike the latter three, KMGG was more focused on the bilingual-speaking second and third generation Hispanics. KMGG took advantage of KQKS's decision to hold off on certain Reggaeton and Hispanic hip-hop tracks. However, this didn't help the station's popularity, as KMGG was continually ranked low in the Arbitron ratings.

The Party as Rhythmic AC

On September 18, 2006, at Midnight, after ending its "Sunday Night Sabor" show and playing "My Way" by Frank Sinatra, KMGG became KPTT, a Rhythmic Adult Contemporary format targeting females ages 25–49, and branded as "95.7 The Party." The first song was P!nk's "Get The Party Started."^[11][12]

When it was airing the format, KPTT was more hip-hop friendly (and at times even leaning towards a Rhythmic Top 40), playing old school and some disco music and R&B. KPTT targeted the market's White, Hispanic, and small African-American audiences, as well as the older audience of KQKS, and was the first adult-oriented rhythmic outlet in the market since KDJM flipped in December 2005.

KPTT aired a Sunday-Thursday night slow jams program called "Between The Sheets." The station also served as the Denver outlet for Whoopi Goldberg's national morning show, "Wake Up with Whoopi", which was syndicated by Premiere Networks, co-owned with KPTT by Clear Channel Communications.^[13] The show was cancelled in 2008.

Switching Between Top 40 and Rhythmic

During the summer of 2009, KPTT transitioned from rhythmic AC to rhythmic hot AC, and then to a rhythmic-leaning Top 40/CHR format.^[14] Morning show host Issa, who took over the morning drive slot after the cancellation of Whoopi's show, was moved to middays and was replaced by Johnjay & Rich, who are syndicated from KZZP in Phoenix, Arizona.

By March 2010, KPTT shifted to Rhythmic Top 40 altogether, thus putting it in direct competition with KQKS. On November 1, 2010, Johnjay & Rich were dropped from morning drive and were replaced with a music-intensive morning show hosted by former night host Chino. At the same time, the station introduced a new logo, which was loosely based on sister KYLD in San Francisco. This shift to Rhythmic Top 40 proved to be successful for a few years, giving KQKS a serious competitor.

In the fall of 2014, KPTT evolved back to a more mainstream Top 40 direction with the inclusion of pop tracks in its playlist, while maintaining a Rhythmic presentation. The adjustment helped the station overtake KQKS in terms of ratings and audience cumes. The transition became official in April 2015, when Billboard moved KPTT from the Rhythmic panel to the Top 40/CHR panel. Mediabase followed suit in May 2015. The following month, KPTT adopted the slogan "Denver's #1 Hit Music Station." In November 2015, the station brought in a new morning show, JJ & Deanna.