KOLW (97.5 FM) was 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 classic hits format branded as "97.5 Kool FM". Licensed to

Basin City, Washington Basin City () is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Franklin County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,092 at the 2010 census, up from 968 at the 2000 census. History The town of Basin City was lai ...

, United States, the station served the Tri-Cities area. The station was last owned by The Tri Cities Divestiture Trust, a divesiture trust for

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 wit ...

History

The station was started by P-N-P Broadcasting, Inc. and was issued a construction permit as a Class A station on 97.7 MHz assigned to

Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...

in June 1988. The call sign was later changed to KZLO and then to KZLN-FM. The permit was later modified to Class C3 on 97.5 MHz and signed on the air in February 1992. The station was affiliated with the ABC Pure Gold Network, and identified as "Sizzlin' Hot Oldies 97.5", serving the Columbia Basin. The station was sold to Verl Wheeler of KEYG in

Grand Coulee Grand Coulee is an ancient river bed in the U.S. state of Washington. This National Natural Landmark stretches for about southwest from Grand Coulee Dam to Soap Lake, being bisected by Dry Falls into the Upper and Lower Grand Coulee. Geo ...

in 1996. The station was later sold again, and the city of license was changed to Basin City and upgraded to a Class C1 station. The call letters were changed again on January 14, 2004, to KHTO. On October 31, 2004, KHTO changed call letters to the current KOLW. On April 8, 2012, KOLW changed its branding from "Cool 97.5" to "97.5 Kool FM", tweaking its classic hits playlist from the 1960s and the 1970s into the 1970s through the 1980s. Hot975

On September 19, 2013, at 3:00 p.m., KOLW flipped to Rhythmic CHR as "Hot 97.5". On March 1, 2019, KOLW began stunting with construction sounds and riddles in between songs, teasing a relaunch on the following Monday, March 4, at 6 a.m., with the debut of a new morning show. One of the riddles, "Of no use for one, yet absolute bliss to two," was related to 975KissFM.com, a domain discovered by radio industry website ''RadioInsight'' in January. The domain previously led to KOLW's former website. At the announced time, the stunting ended and KOLW relaunched as "97.5 Kiss FM", with the syndicated ''Brooke & Jubal in the Morning'' as its new morning show. On June 17, 2022

placed KOLW into The Tri Cities Divestiture Trust, as part of its acquisition of Cherry Creek Broadcasting. On July 1, 2022, KOLW flipped back to classic hits as "97.5 Kool FM", while the Rhythmic CHR format and "Kiss FM" branding were moved to newly acquired 105.3

KONA-FM KONA-FM (105.3 MHz) is a radio station broadcasting a top 40 (CHR) format. Licensed to Kennewick, Washington, United States, the station serves the Tri-Cities area. The station is owned by Townsquare Media and features programming from Compa ...

. In January 2024, KOLW went silent. The license was surrendered for cancellation that June.

References

External links

{{Tri-Cities Radio OLW Radio stations established in 1992 1992 establishments in Washington (state) Radio stations disestablished in 2024 2024 disestablishments in Washington (state) Defunct radio stations in the United States OLW