KSSK-FM

590 Beginnings

The AM side of the stations first signed on the air on Friday, May 11, 1922 as KDYX.^[5] The governor of Hawaii was the first to greet the audiences. Along with KDYX, rival AM station KGU signed on the same day.^[6] KSSK's rise to the top in the Honolulu market started when the station's call letters were KGMB.

Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, KGMB had been asked to broadcast music in order to provide long-range guidance to a flight of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses on their way to Hawaii from the mainland. Ironically, the Japanese aircraft picked up the same broadcasts and used them for guidance while they approached the islands. During the attack, KGMB dispatched reports to CBS Radio, which in turn were cited on-air by John Charles Daly, who anchored the network's coverage of that day's news.

The AM station was home to Hal J. Akuhead Pupule Lewis, better known as Aku. Upon Aku's passing in 1983, the station (now known as KSSK) moved afternoon personality Michael W. Perry to the morning slot and paired him with morning show substitute (while Aku was ill), Larry Price, a former National Football League player and head coach of the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football team. The pairing was known as "Perry & Price".

92.3 Beginnings

On December 30, 1976, FM station 92.3 KULA first signed on.^[7] It was the sister station to AM 940 KAHU (now KKNE). KULA was an automated radio station playing Top 40 music provided by TM Programming. Its daily operations were run by one of its only two employees: Kawika Maszak, who programmed the automation computer to play commercial breaks.

In 1979, Heftel Broadcasting purchased the station, pairing it with 590 KSSK, which Heftel had owned since 1965.^[8] The company was owned by Cecil Heftel, a Hawaii businessman and one-time congressman. Heftel moved the station's studios to Honolulu and ended the automation, hiring a staff of DJs. The format later switched to soft adult contemporary using the slogan "Light Rock, Less Talk." In the late 1980s, KULA moved back to Top 40, becoming KXPW "Power 92," under long time Top 40 programmer, Jay Stone (now deceased). Power 92 later switched its moniker to "92X," with Brad Barrett as program director.

In 1993, New-Tex Communications bought both 590 KSSK and 92.3 KXPW for $7.5 million.^[9] At the time, 590 KSSK was the market's #1 station and the new owners wanted to capitalize on that success, especially as music listening was shifting to FM. KXPW became KSSK-FM, moving back to an adult contemporary sound and simulcasting part of the day with KSSK, including the top-rated "Perry & Price" morning show. Eventually the simulcast became a 24-hour operation.

In 2000, Clear Channel Communications acquired KSSK-AM-FM. In 2014, the company was renamed iHeartMedia, Inc.