KHKS (106.1 FM) is a

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...

station licensed to

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, Denton County. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the List of cities in Texas by population, 20th-most populous city in Texas, the List of Un ...

. Branded "

KISS-FM KISS-FM (99.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station in San Antonio, Texas. It airs a mainstream rock format and is owned by Cox Media Group. The studios and offices are located on Datapoint Drive in Northwest San Antonio near the South Texas M ...

" the station serves the

Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas and the Southern United States, ...

, and is owned by

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

. The station is flagship of the nationally syndicated '' Kidd Kraddick Morning Show''. Its studios are on Dallas Parkway in

Farmers Branch Farmers Branch, officially the City of Farmers Branch, is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States. It is an Inner suburb, inner-ring suburb of Dallas and is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its population was 35,991 at the 2020 cen ...

. KHKS has an

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 ha ...

(ERP) of 100,000 watts, the maximum for most U.S. FM stations. Its

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

site is on West Belt Line Road in Cedar Hill.

History

Early years

KDNT-FM was established in June 1948, at 106.3 on the FM dial and moved to the current 106.1 frequency in 1962. The station was a simulcast of KDNT (AM) during its early years. KDNT-FM went through a number of different formats during the late 1970s and early 1980s, including a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

hybrid,

disco music Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightlife, particularly in African-American, Italian-American, Gay and Latino communities. Its sound features four-on-the-floor ...

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

, and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

. The station's calls changed to KDDC in 1980, and then to KIXK at the start of 1981. KIXK's format remained country (as "Kix 106") until changing to oldies/classic hits in December 1982.

The first "Kiss" era

In September 1984, KIXK flipped to Top 40/CHR as ''Kiss 106 FM'', KTKS. At this time, 106.1 was owned by ABC Radio until being purchased by Capital Cities in 1985.

106.1 The Oasis

In late-June 1987, the station's CHR format began slowly leaning towards

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

, retaining its Kiss branding under the slogan "The Fresh One". At midnight on September 30, 1987, KTKS began stunting with birds chirping and nature sounds. At noon the same day, the station flipped to

new-age music New-age is a genre of music intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management to bring about a state of ecstasy rather tha ...

–

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, smooth jazz radio became the successor to e ...

as KOAI "106.1 The Oasis".

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as several ...

acquired KOAI in 1989. In October 1992, Gannett reached a deal with Granum Communications to move the smooth jazz format to 107.5 (now KMVK), where it remained until the fall of 2006.

The revived "Kiss FM"

On November 1, 1992, at 1:11 am, the CHR/Top 40 format and "Kiss FM" branding were revived as ''106.1 Kiss FM'' with the KHKS calls. The first song on the revived "Kiss FM" was

Wilson Phillips Wilson Phillips is an American pop vocal group formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The group consists of sisters Carnie and Wendy Wilson, the daughters of Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, and Chynna Phillips, the daughter of John and Michelle Phi ...

' version of "

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort ...

". Gannett would sell the station to Chancellor Broadcasting in April 1997; after a subsequent series of mergers and buyouts, KHKS came under the ownership of San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications (now

,) in 2000. Since its launch, KHKS has been the flagship station of The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show, which began nationwide syndication in 2001. From September 7–10, 2010, the station was slightly rebranded to "06.1 Kiss FM" (leaving out the first "1") as part of its $5,000 contest. That same year, KHKS ran a new initiative where they broadcast commercial free every Monday. However, during that time, they've been known to stretch a song out a little by repeating the chorus of a song twice. From 2005 to 2009, KHKS was the only top 40 station in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

, although it had always been leaning rhythmic since then. From 2009 to

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, it was competing head-on with

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdi ...

-owned KLIF-FM, which leaned more adult CHR. In November 2014, KLIF-FM flipped to a

classic hip-hop Classic hip hop is a music radio format focusing primarily on hip hop music from the 1980s, 1990s, and the early to mid-2000s. Although stations with such a format date back as far as 2004, the format was first popularized in October 2014, after ...

format for the holiday season before flipping to

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contemporary r ...

full-time, leaving KHKS as the sole Top 40/CHR station in the Metroplex once again. KHKS, however, regained KLIF-FM as its competitor, as ''Hot 93.3'' has returned to their previous Top 40/CHR format. It also competed with CBS Radio-owned KVIL from October 2016 to November 2017.

KHKS-HD2

106.1-HD2 (

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...

) first launched in 2004, as "Kiss-FM En Espanol", targeting an Hispanic audience with Hispanic rhythmic format. That format was jettisoned in favor of

Pride Radio Pride Radio (United States) is an LGBTQ+ electronic dance music and top 40 radio network launched by Clear Channel Communications Format Lab under the direction of Michael Albl, who conceived the format, on terrestrial HD2 & HD3 stations and on ...

, in late 2006, with a format intended for the

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

community. "Pride Radio" was then moved to its sister station KDMX on 102.9-HD2 in favor of "Wild Radio" in early 2008, running "Party Mix" ( rhythmic CHR) music similar to the "Kiss FM" playlist. However, since March 28, 2011, it has been replaced by Pride Radio, marking the format's return to that particular frequency.

References

External links

* * * ( Guide to reading History Cards)