KBS Cool FM (), also known as KBS 2FM ) is a 24-hour

Hot AC 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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, ...

music and entertainment radio station of the

Korean Broadcasting System The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS; ) is the public broadcasting, national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters under the government of South Korea. The KBS ope ...

. It plays mostly older

K-pop K-pop (; an abbreviation of "Korean popular music") is a form of popular music originating in South Korea. It emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians taking influence from Western Electronic dance music, danc ...

Music from the 90s compared to KBS Happy FM which plays the latest K-pop tracks. Notable shows include '' Gayo Plaza'', '' Volume Up'' and ''

Kiss the Radio Kiss the Radio is a popular radio program broadcast on KBS Cool FM, airing from 22:10 to 00:00 KST every day. History ''Kiss the Radio'' began broadcasting in 2004 with singer-rapper Danny Ahn of first-generation boy band g.o.d as its first D ...

''.

History

TBC Radio Era

* 26 June 1965:

Tongyang Broadcasting Corporation Tongyang Broadcasting Company was a South Korean commercial television station which was merged by the government with KBS. It was owned by the Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chul and was a sister company to the JoongAng Ilbo. History Early d ...

() (Former body of

JTBC JTBC (shortened from Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company; ; stylized in all lowercase) is a South Korean nationwide pay television network. Its primary shareholder is JoongAng Holdings, with a 25% stake. It was launched on December 1, ...

.) was launched. * 27 June 1965: Radio Seoul Broadcasting () HLCD 639 kHz Started broadcasting. * 1966: Renamed as TBC Radio. 89.1 MHz FM Repeater (Standard FM) launched. Callsign changed to HLKC/HLKC-SFM * 1970: TBC Radio Started South Korea's First Stereo FM Broadcast. * 1 December 1980: TBC Radio forced to be merged into KBS Radio by the special law of Chun Doo-hwan as president of military authorities.

KBS 2FM Era

* 25 December 1980: Relaunched as KBS 2FM () with a Trot and Popular Music format. Callsign changed to HLKC-FM and 639 kHz AM Repeater stopped broadcasting with the frequency used to form KBS Radio 3. Airing of advertisements where abolished and started airing selected shows nationwide through Cross-Broadcast with the KBS Local FM Network (composed of former provincial TBC Radio stations.) along with

KBS 1FM KBS Classic FM (also known as ''KBS 1FM'') is a South Korean radio network operated by the Korean Broadcasting System. Most of the schedule is assigned to classical music, making it one of the few radio networks in the world that broadcast mainly ...

. * 24 December 1988: KBS 2FM Started Partial 24-hour Broadcast (Monday~Friday 24-hours and Saturday~Sunday 18-hours). * 30 May 1990: Transmission power increased ( TPO:1 kW ERP:173.5 kW → TPO:10 kW ERP:350 kW) * 1 October 1994: 24-hour Broadcast started.

Cool FM Era

* 1 January 2002: Commercial advertisements resume broadcast on 2FM and nationwide cross-broadcast with the Local FM network where abolished. * 10 October 2003: Relaunched as KBS Cool FM () * 3 March 2005: KBS Cool FM Opened its studio to the public along with

KBS Radio 2 KBS Radio 2 (; also known by its nickname Happy FM) is a K-Pop and entertainment network of the Korean Broadcasting System. Opened in 1933 on AM Radio, the network began utilising FM Radio frequencies 67 years later for a clearer audio reception. ...

. * 2006: Started visual radio (BORA) broadcasts on the internet. * 2 March 2010: KBS Moved Cool FM's radio transmitter from Mount Namsan to Mount Gwanaksan. * 2016: KBS 2FM Resumed national broadcasting of select programs through Cross-Broadcast with Local Radio 2 Stations with Park Myeong-su's Radio Show being the first show to be heard nationally.

Accessibility

FM Radio

Cool FM is available terrestrially in select cities including Seoul, Incheon, Chuncheon, Wonju, Hongcheon, Hoengseong, Cheorwon, Cheonan, Asan, Yesan, Hongseong, Dangjin, Seosan, Taean, Jincheon, Eumseong and Chungju. Outside of the main station's coverage area, Cool FM can be heard through local Happy FM stations at these times: 5:00~9:00AM KST, 11:00AM~2:00PM KST, and 6:00~8:00PM KST.

DMB Radio(U-KBS Music)

In other areas not reachable terrestrially, Cool FM's programs can be heard via U-KBS' DMB channels. * Seoul : CH 12B * Chuncheon : CH 13B * Daejeon/Cheongju : CH 11B * Gwangju/Jeonju: CH 12B/CH 8B/CH 7B * Daegu : CH 7B/CH 9B * Busan/Ulsan : CH 12B/CH 9B * Jeju : CH 13B/CH 8B

Trivia

* Despite being

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

's No.10 Radio Station 2FM Program ''Volume Up'' became the highest-rated radio program in its timeslot across both AM and FM bandwidths in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

Slogans

* 대한민국 뉴스, 드라마, 대중음악 라디오 방송국 89.1 메가 사이클 TBC 동양방송 (South Korea's News, Drama, Popular Music Station 89.1 Megahertz TBC Tongyang Broadcasting TBC Era Slogan until 1980) * 젊은 채널, 감성 채널 2FM (The Youth channel, The Emotional channel 2FM 2003~2014) * 대중음악 89.1 (Popular Music 89.1 1980~1999 2010~2014) * Today's Best Music 2FM (2014~Present)

Controversies

References

{{Korean Broadcasting System Radio stations in South Korea 2FM Radio stations established in 1980