KKPS (99.5 FM) "Fuego 99.5" is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

broadcasting a Bilingual Rhythmic CHR format. Licensed to

Brownsville, Texas Brownsville ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Cameron County, Texas, Cameron County, located on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border, border with Matamoros, Tamaulipas ...

, United States, the station serves the McAllen-Brownsville-Harlingen area. The station is currently owned by Entravision Holdings, LLC. It shares a studio with its sister stations, KFRQ, KNVO-FM, and KVLY, located in

McAllen, Texas McAllen is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Hidalgo County. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexican border. The city limits extend south to the Rio Grande, acros ...

, while its transmitter is located near Bluetown, Texas.

History

KRIX signed on in January 1978. The station was initially co-owned with KRIO and aired a rock format under the name "99X" through the 1980s. KRIX was sold twice in the decade, to H&H Communications in 1982 and Norman Drubner's Daytona Group in 1986. In February 1991, KRIX flipped to Rhythmic CHR as KRGY "Energy 99.5" under Sunbelt Media ownership. KRGY made an immediate dent in the ratings of established CHR station KBFM and boosted its own ratings from a 3.6 as KRIX in the summer of 1990 to 6.5 with the new format in 1991. Despite the improvement, KRGY relaunched again as KVSE "Sunny 99.5" on September 1, 1992. However, the format and call letters would be short-lived. On December 28, 1992, upon the acquisition of KVSE by Spectrum Broadcasting of the Valley, the station relaunched as a

Tejano Tejanos ( , ) are descendants of Texas Creoles and Mestizos who settled in Texas before its admission as an American state. The term is also sometimes applied to Texans of Mexican descent. Etymology The word ''Tejano'', with a ''J'' instead ...

-formatted station in Spanish known as ''Qué Pasa 99'' ("What's Up 99") with new KKPS call letters. In 2011, KKPS dropped most of the Tejano music content from the 1990s, thus becoming more of a

Regional Mexican Regional Mexican music refers collectively to the regional subgenres of the country music of Mexico and its derivatives from the Southwestern United States. Each subgenre is representative of a certain region and its popularity also varies by ...

radio station than just a Tejano radio station. The format change gave the American side of the Rio Grande Valley area two

radio stations, with KKPS competing against KGBT-FM. Later in the year, the station rebranded as ''La Nueva 99.5'' ("The New 99.5"). On January 8, 2018, another name change took place, this time to ''La Tricolor 99.5''. On March 30, 2020, Entravision dropped the La Tricolor format and branding for the Fuego format and branding found on sister stations KHHM in

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

and simulcaster KCVR-FM in

Modesto, California Modesto ( ; ) is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,069 according to 2022 United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau estimates, it is the List of cities and towns in Ca ...

, which broadcast a Bilingual Rhythmic CHR format. The change comes after the station received a 3.1 share in the Fall 2019 Nielsen Audio ratings, behind rival KGBT-FM, which received a 4.8 share.

References

External links

FCC History Cards for KKPS
KPS KPS Radio stations established in 1978 Entravision Communications stations 1978 establishments in Texas Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States {{Texas-radio-station-stub