KSSX

KSSX

Carlsbad, California
Broadcast area	San Diego, California
Frequency	95.7 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding	95.7 KISS FM
Programming
Format	Urban Contemporary
Ownership
Owner	iHeartMedia (Citicasters Licenses, 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	27,800 watts
HAAT	202 meters
Links
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	957kissfm.com

KSSX (95.7 FM), also known as 95.7 KISS-FM, is an Urban Contemporary radio station located in San Diego, California, and is one of seven stations in the market owned and operated by iHeartMedia. 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 as "Your New Country, 95.7 KUPR". On March 5, 1997, the station flipped to Urban AC as "Magic 95.7" under new callsign KMCG.

The station was sold by Nationwide Communications to Jacor/Citicasters, and on October 5, 1998, Magic moved to 92.5, and 95.7 flipped to AC as "Mix 95.7" with the callsign changed to KMSX. The format was shifted to 80s music on November 11, 2000, a day after KBZT adopted the format. On November 21, 2001, the station swapped positions with KJQY and flipped to oldies as "K-Joy 95.7". On January 3, 2002, the station rebranded as "Kool 95.7" (with new callsign KOCL). On January 5, 2004, Kool moved to XHOCL-FM, and 95.7 adopted XHOCL's country format as "US 95.7" (the callsign was then changed to KUSS). The station would rebrand as "New Country 95.7" in September 2008.

On November 7th, 2011, at 7AM, after playing "The Dance" by Garth Brooks, 95.7 began simulcasting KOGO as "News/Talk FM 95.7 and AM 600 KOGO". On the 14th, KUSS changed their call letters to KOGO-FM. Unlike many news/talk stations, the FM addition did nothing to help KOGO's ratings.

Thus, the simulcast ended on November 16, 2012 at 7PM, when KOGO-FM began stunting with Christmas music as "Holiday 95.7" (though it was promoted on-air as simply "95-7 FM"). On December 26, 2012 at 9:57 AM, after playing "Silent Night" by Josh Groban, the station flipped to Rhythmic Oldies as "95.7 KISS FM". "KISS FM" launched with "Kiss" by Prince, followed by "You Should Be Dancing" by the Bee Gees. In mid-February 2013, the station began including more 1990s, 2000s and recurrent songs, shifting towards Rhythmic AC. On February 22, KOGO-FM changed their call letters to KSSX. 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 Sean Sarille in evenings (he has since departed from the station), Shelley Wade in middays, Louie Cruz in afternoons and Beto Perez in nights.

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, the station completely shifted to Rhythmic AC, dropping the pre-1989 songs from their playlist to focus on the 1990s, 2000s and current material. Since then, KSSX has shifted towards Urban Contemporary by incorporating more current hip hop as XHITZ-FM de-emphasized hip hop in 2013, making KSSX the only Urban Contemporary-formatted radio station in the San Diego market.

Former logo

External links

• KSSX in the FCC FM station database
• KSSX in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
• SDRadio.net
• IHeartMedia
• FCC Callsign History