KSSX

KSSX

Carlsbad, California
Broadcast area	San Diego, California
Frequency	95.7 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding	95.7 KISS FM
Programming
Format	Rhythmic CHR
Ownership
Owner	iHeartMedia, Inc.
Sister stations	KGB-FM, KHTS-FM, KIOZ, KLSD, KMYI, KOGO
History
First air date	August 22, 1965
Former call signs	KARL (1965-1979) KKOS (1979-1995) KUPR (1995-1997) KMCG (1997-1998) KMSX (1998-2001) KJQY (2001-2002) KOCL (2002-2004) KUSS (2004-2011) KOGO-FM (2011-2013)
Former frequencies	95.9 MHz (1965-1995)
Call sign meaning	KISS X
Technical information
Facility ID	67664
Class	B
ERP	28,000 watts
HAAT	202 meters
Links
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	957kissfm.com

KSSX (95.7 FM), also known as 95.7 KISS-FM, is a Rythmic CHR formatted radio station design for San Diego and licensed to Carlsbad, California. KSSX is one of the seven San Diego stations owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc.. The station's studios are located in San Diego's Kearny Mesa neighborhood on the northeast side, and the transmitter is in La Jolla.

History

This station has its roots as a Class A (local) station at 95.9 MHz known as KKOS, which was previously known as KARL (a MOR station from 1965-1979) and KUPR. During this period the station had various formats, including adult contemporary, CHR, and AAA.

On September 15, 1995, the station upgraded to Class B status, moved to 95.7 MHz, and became KUPR, still keeping the AAA format. In November 1996, the station stunted by playing 10,000 country songs in a row, using the name they would adopt to their eventual flip to country, as "New Country 95.7". On March 5, 1997, the station became KMCG "Magic 95.7" with an urban adult contemporary format.

The station was sold by Nationwide Communications to Jacor/Citicasters (later to be acquired by Clear Channel Communications), and subsequently on October 5, 1998, it became KMSX "Mix 95.7" (meanwhile the "Magic" R&B format was moved to 92.5 XHRM). KMSX began with an adult contemporary music format and then changed to 1980s music on November 10, 2000. On November 21, 2001, the station swapped formats and call letters with "K-Joy" 94.1 (also owned by Clear Channel), and became KJQY, playing oldies from the 1960s and 1970s. On January 3, 2002, the station became known as KOCL "Kool 95.7", until January 5, 2004, when Clear Channel moved the oldies format to 99.3 FM (which then changed on September 1, 2005 to a Spanish oldies station, "La Preciosa" XHOCL-FM). The country music format on 99.3 was moved here, and 95.7 FM became KUSS "US 95.7".

The country format on KUSS disappeared on November 7, 2011, in favor of simulcasting KOGO (AM 600). The final song on "New Country" was "The Dance" by Garth Brooks. On November 14, 2011, KUSS changed their call letters to KOGO-FM.

The simulcast ended on November 16, 2012, when KOGO-FM began airing a stunt of Christmas music. This was most likely due to the fact that, unlike many other talk radio stations across America that simulcast programming on the FM dial, the FM simulcast never improved KOGO's ratings. The stunt lasted until December 26, 2012, when, after playing "Silent Night" by Josh Groban, the station flipped to Rhythmic Oldies, branded as "95.7 KISS FM", with a logo based on sister station KIIS-FM in Los Angeles and format mirrored in the style of KISQ/San Francisco, WMOV-FM/Norfolk, and KHHT/Los Angeles. "KISS FM" launched with "Kiss" by Prince, followed by "You Should Be Dancing" by the Bee Gees. KOGO-FM is currently competing against longtime Rhythmic Oldies outlet XHRM-FM, who started their format on 95.7 in 1997 before moving to 92.5 FM in 1998. KOGO-FM plays more soft rock than XHRM-FM, which has a heavy Hispanic composition added to their music mix.

In mid-February 2013, the station began including more 1990s, 2000s and recurrent songs, prompting a shift towards Rhythmic Adult Contemporary. On February 22, KOGO-FM changed their call letters to KSSX to match the "KISS" branding. After being jockless for the first three months, the station added Chio (formerly of XHITZ-FM) as their morning show host on April 8, as well as adding Sean Sarille to evenings (he has since departed from the station), Shelley Wade in middays, Louie Cruz in afternoons and Beto Perez in nights.

Format Changes

On November 16, 2013, KSSX flipped once again to Christmas music, but has kept the "KISS-FM" name and "The Rhythm Of San Diego" slogan. At Midnight on December 26, they reverted back to Rhythmic AC. In the process, the station also unveiled a new slogan: "Today's Rhythm and All the Best Throwbacks", and adjusted their format by dropping the pre-1989 songs from their playlist to focus on the 1990s, 2000s and current material. It later on incorporated more current hip hop titles to give San Diego a presence , as longtime station XHITZ-FM "Z90" de-emphasized its rhythmic direction in 2013 for more pop titles. Today the station is more a Rythmic CHR format.

Clear Channel changed their name to iHeartMedia on September 16, 2014 after its successful iHeartRadio streaming platform, where KSSX streams online.

Airstaff

The current lineup (As of April 2014) is as follows:

• Morning Show (6am-10am): Chio In The Morning - Chio Acosta
• Mid-Day (10am-3pm): Shelley Wade
• Afternoon Drive (3pm-8pm): Louie Cruz
• Nighttime (8pm-12am): Beto Perez
• Midnight (12am-6am): Lisa St. Regis
• Program Director: Louie Cruz

Former Logo

External links

• Facility details for Facility ID KSSX ({{{2}}}) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• {{{2}}} in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
• SDRadio.net
• IHeartMedia
• FCC Callsign History