KKSY-FM

KKSY-FM (96.5 FM, "96.5 Kiss Country") is a 100,000 watt radio station in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It is a country music formatted station owned by iHeartMedia, Inc..

For the former KKSY in Anamosa, Iowa, see KOSY-FM.
KKSY-FM
CityCedar Rapids, Iowa
Broadcast areaCedar Rapids, Iowa
Branding96.5 Kiss Country
SloganIowa's New Country
Frequency96.5 MHz
First air dateFebruary 27, 1963 (1963-02-27)
FormatCountry
ERP100,000 watts
HAAT158 meters
ClassC1
Facility ID73594
Transmitter coordinates42°1′40″N 91°38′25″W
Call sign meaningKisS CountrY.
Former call signsWMT-FM (1963-2012)
OwneriHeartMedia, Inc.
(Citicasters Licenses, Inc.)
Sister stationsKKRQ, KMJM, KOSY-FM, KXIC, WMT
WebcastListen Live
Website965kisscountry.iheart.com

History

KKSY-FM signed on February 27, 1963, as WMT-FM at 96.5 FM with an easy listening, jazz and classical music format. There were 90-minute classical music segments in the morning and evening with regular programs of jazz and music from Broadway musicals. Some of those early announcers were Keith Webster, Bill Dutcher, Don John Ross, Bill Grubbe, and Jim Wicks as well as other WMT announcers who took the helm of hosting on FM. In the early days, programming was totally separate from WMT radio but in the late 1960s, WMT-FM started simulcasting the 15-minute newscasts of WMT AM 600 several times a day. In the 1970s, it became a full-time "beautiful music" station before adopting an adult contemporary format in the early 1980s in an era when many beautiful music stations went to a soft rock or more contemporary format. WMT-FM's studios have been located at Broadcast Park on Collins Road in Cedar Rapids, along with its AM sister station WMT and TV station KGAN (the former WMT-TV), since it signed on. Until the 1970s, the studios of WMT radio was located on the fifth floor of the historic Paramount Theater building in downtown Cedar Rapids.[1] It was one of the few stations with a callsign beginning with W located west of the Mississippi River.

The station was known for their "time warp weekends" and long-standing tradition of being heavily involved in the Cedar Rapids community. The station hosts "Uptown Friday Nights" every Friday night in downtown Cedar Rapids. The station often joins up with WMT for special promotional events, and simulcasts during severe weather conditions.

WMT-FM ended its longtime hot adult contemporary format on December 27, 2011, when Clear Channel transferred the country format from KKSY (95.7 FM); after a temporary simulcast period,[2][3] 95.7 FM began to simulcast WMT on January 2, 2012 and eventually took the KWMG call letters on January 17, 2012.[4]

References
  1. Danek, Ernie (1980). Cedar Rapids: Tall Corn and High Technology. Woodland Hills, CA: Windsor Publications. pp. 140–141. ISBN 0-89781-021-X.
  2. DeWitte, Dave (December 27, 2011). "Mix 96.5 Becomes History as Clear Channel Opts for Country Format". KCRG-TV9. Archived from the original on May 16, 2012. Retrieved December 27, 2011.
  3. "WMT Shares KKSY's Country Format". All Access. December 27, 2011. Retrieved December 27, 2011.
  4. Venta, Lance (January 2, 2012). "WMT-FM Becomes Kiss Country, 95.7 Becomes WMT-FM". RadioInsight. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
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