KSKS (93.7 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

. The station is owned by

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 8 ...

and it airs a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...

branded as "Kiss Country". Its studios are at the Radio City building on Shaw Avenue in North Fresno and its

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...

is off Auberry Road in

Meadow Lakes, California Meadow Lakes is an unincorporated community in Fresno County, California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is ...

. KSKS has local DJs during the day, and in the evening, airs the syndicated ''Nash Nights with Shawn Parr'' from

Nash FM Nash or NASH may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Nash, Buckinghamshire * Nash, London, a hamlet near Keston in the London Borough of Bromley *Nash, Newport, Wales * Nash, south Shropshire, a small village and parish in southern Shropshire * Nas ...

, a subsidiary of Cumulus Media. KSKS is licensed to broadcast in the HD (digital hybrid) format. As one of the oldest FM stations in the Fresno

media market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

, the station is considered a

grandfathered A grandfather clause, also known as grandfather policy, grandfathering, or grandfathered in, is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Those exempt from t ...

superpower station, as its

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would h ...

is 68,000 watts at a

height above average terrain Height above average terrain (HAAT), or (less popularly) effective height above average terrain (EHAAT), is the vertical position of an antenna site is above the surrounding landscape. HAAT is used extensively in FM radio and television, as it i ...

of 580 meters (1,903 feet). (Stations at that height in

Central California Central California is generally thought of as the middle third of the state, north of Southern California, which includes Los Angeles, and south of Northern California, which includes San Francisco. It includes the northern portion of the S ...

should run less than 3,000 watts, according to current

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

rules for Class B regions; however, KSKS went on the air in 1946, founded before the rules were put in place.) Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 page C-19

History

KRFM were the original

call letters In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

when the station first

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature, placing one's name on a document * Signature (disambiguation) * Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice * Digital signature A digi ...

in 1946. The first owner was Paul Bartlett, a Fresno radio station pioneer. The station's studios were originally at the transmitter site in Meadow Lakes. The station was acquired by the owner of KFRE (940 AM, now

KYNO KYNO (940 AM) is a radio station licensed to Fresno, California and is owned by John Ostlund and Katrina Ostlund. KYNO airs an oldies format, switching to Christmas music for much of December. KYNO's radio studios and offices are on Fulton ...

) and KFRE-TV (now

KFSN-TV KFSN-TV (channel 30) is a television station in Fresno, California, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. It is owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, and maintains studios on G Street in do ...

), which originally operated on

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

channel 12, later

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

channel 30. The station took the call sign KFRE-FM. All three co-owned stations were sold by Triangle Publications in 1971. Because the stations were sold to separate companies, and the owners of the AM station kept the KFRE call sign, the FM station took new call letters, KFYE, as a mostly-instrumental

beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator mu ...

outlet. Through the 1980s, the station added more vocals as an

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, ...

station. In 1992, KFYE completed the transition to an

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

format known as "Y-94." In the 1980s, Ray Appleton hosted "Lunchtime at the Oldies" on Y-94. Ray would go on to become a popular talk show host at KMJ. On November 16, 2006,

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broad ...

announced the sale of KSKS and its other Fresno-area stations to Peak Broadcasting. On August 30, 2013, a deal was announced in which

Townsquare Media Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...

would purchase Peak Broadcasting, and then immediately swap Peak's Fresno stations, including KSKS, to

in exchange for Cumulus' stations in

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...

and

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeeps ...

. The deal was part of Cumulus' acquisition of

Dial Global Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The company ...

. Peak, Townsquare, and Dial Global were all controlled by Oaktree Capital Management. The sale to Cumulus was completed on November 14, 2013.

References

External links

Official Website
*

{{coord, 37.077, N, 119.435, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title

SKS The SKS (russian: Самозарядный карабин системы Симонова, Samozaryadny Karabin sistemy Simonova, 1945, self-loading carbine of (the) Simonov system, 1945) is a semi-automatic rifle designed by Soviet small arms ...

Cumulus Media radio stations