KKSY-FM (96.5

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

"Kiss Country") is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

FM radio station in

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. The population was 137,710 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Iowa, second-most populous city in Iowa. The city lies o ...

. It broadcasts a

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 ...

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 broadcasting, ...

and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. KKSY carries the syndicated ''

Bobby Bones Show ''The Bobby Bones Show'' is an American, nationally Broadcast syndication, syndicated country music radio show aired during the morning hours. The Bobby Bones Show, which originally aired from Austin, Texas, now broadcasts from studios at WSIX-F ...

'' in morning

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

and '' After Midnite with Granger Smith'' overnight. KKSY-FM 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 FM stations. The

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 ...

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

and studios are on Old Marion Road and Collins Road NE ( Iowa Highway 100) in Cedar Rapids, co-located with the

for

KGAN KGAN (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States, serving Eastern Iowa as an affiliate of CBS and Fox. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to Dabl affiliate KFXA (c ...

channel 2.

History

Easy listening and beautiful music

The station

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air on February 27, 1963, as WMT-FM, the

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

to WMT (600 AM), the oldest station in Cedar Rapids. At first the two stations

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

. By the late 1960s, WMT-FM had its own format:

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

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

. There were 90-minute classical music segments in the morning and evening with regular programs of jazz and

show tunes A show tune is a song originally written as part of the score of a work of musical theatre or musical film, especially if the piece in question has become a standard, more or less detached in most people's minds from the original context. Th ...

from

Broadway musicals Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), many of the extant or closed Broadway venues use or used the spelling ''Theatr ...

. Some of those early announcers were Keith Webster, Bill Dutcher, Don John Ross, Bill Grubbe, and Jim Wicks as well as other WMT announcers who took the helm of hosting on FM. WMT-FM would simulcast the 15-minute newscasts of WMT AM several times a day. In the 1970s, WMT-FM became a full-time beautiful music station. It played quarter hour sweeps of soft instrumentals, with some

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

and Broadway show tunes.

Adult contemporary

In an effort to sound younger, WMT-FM added more soft vocals to its easy listening sound. But by the 1980s, the audience for beautiful music was aging. WMT-FM switched 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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

format in 1982. It was the dominant AC station for the Cedar Rapids market. The amount of adult contemporary stations in the Cedar Rapids market (excluding Waterloo) was upgraded from one to three when WMT AM flipped from MOR to adult contemporary in 1986, and KCRG returned to its adult contemporary format after a nearly three-year hiatus in January 1987. Both WMT and KCRG's adult contemporary formats did not last long. WMT-FM became the only (and dominant) AC station in the Cedar Rapids market after WMT AM flipped back to MOR in late 1988 and KCRG flipped 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 ...

in 1989. WMT-FM's studios have been located at Broadcast Park on Collins Road in Cedar Rapids, along with WMT and TV station

(the former WMT-TV), since it signed on. Until the 1970s, the studios of WMT radio were located on the fifth floor of the historic Paramount Theatre building in downtown Cedar Rapids. It was one of the few stations with a callsign beginning with W located west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. By the early 2000s, WMT-FM stepped up the tempo of its

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player, either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs that can be played once or in a loop. ...

and transitioned to

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, ...

. The station was known for its "time warp weekends" and long-standing tradition of being heavily involved in the Cedar Rapids community. The station hosted "Uptown Friday Nights" every Friday night in downtown Cedar Rapids. WMT-FM often joined up with WMT for special promotional events, and simulcasts during severe weather conditions.

Country music

WMT-FM ended its longtime hot adult contemporary format on December 27, 2011. Its owner,

Clear Channel Communications 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 ...

, transferred the country format from co-owned KKSY 95.7 FM, to 96.5 MHz. The

call sign 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 as ...

on 96.5 was changed to KKSY-FM. For several weeks, there was a temporary

period. The 95.7 facility began to simulcast WMT on January 2, 2012, and eventually took the KWMG call letters on January 17, 2012. In 2014, Clear Channel changed its name to iHeartMedia, Inc. As an iHeart Country station, KKSY carries '' The Bobby Bones Show'' Monday through Saturday mornings from

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. In overnights, KKSY carries '' After Midnite with Granger Smith''. Both shows are syndicated by co-owned Premiere Networks.

References

External links

* {{IHeartMedia KSY-FM Mass media in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1963 1963 establishments in Iowa IHeartMedia radio stations