KYXY (96.5 FM) is a commercial

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 ...

owned by

Audacy, Inc. Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corp., it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning over 220 radio stations across 47 media ...

KYXY is licensed to

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, with its studios in the city's Stonecrest area. 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 in

La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood in San Diego, California, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. The climate is mild, with an average daily temperature o ...

, on the

KGTV Tower KGTV Tower is an self-support Dresser-Ideco television tower in the La Jolla area of San Diego, California, United States. History KGTV Tower (originally KFSD-TV tower, later KOGO-TV) was built in 1953, by then owner Thomas Sharp (founder of Sha ...

which it shares with

KGTV KGTV (channel 10) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Air Way in the Riverview-Webster section of San Diego, and its ...

and several other San Diego FM stations. KYXY airs an mainstream adult contemporary

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, ...

. KyXy 96.5 broadcasts in

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 ...

. The programming on the station's HD2 channel was ''FlashBack ALT'', airing

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

music of the 1980s and 1990s. It has since been turned off. KYXY was also the San Diego

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

affiliate (on HD Radio) until June 2018.

History

KYXY first

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 ...

in 1960 as KFMX. It changed its callsign to KYXY (pronounced "kick-see") in the late 1960s after being bought by Walter Nelskog, who also owned stations

KIXI KIXI (880 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station licensed to Mercer Island, Washington, Mercer Island/Seattle, Seattle, Washington. It operates 24 hours a day with a daytime power of 50,000 watts and a nighttime power of 10,000 watts from a tra ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and KYXI in Portland. The station has kept the same KYXY

call letters 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 Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be fo ...

ever since. It was an independent FM station, carrying a middle of the road music format, which was described as "Good Music." KYXY transitioned 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 late 1970s and has mostly retained the format. However, the station has become more upbeat within the last decade in an effort to attract younger listeners. Since 1981, the KFMX calls have been assigned to a

mainstream rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent a cross between classic rock, active rock and alternativ ...

station in

Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...

. On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with

Entercom Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corp., it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning over 220 radio stations across 47 media ...

. The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was completed on November 17. In January 2018, KYXY moved out of its longtime Linda Vista studios and re-located to Stonecrest. The station most recently adopted its current slogan in January 2019.

Special programming

*As a mainstream AC station, KYXY plays all Christmas songs from mid-November until Christmas night. *In June 2009, the weekend after Michael Jackson's death, the station paid tribute to the singer by playing continuous

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

and Jackson 5 hits. At one time, KYXY aired the syndicated

Delilah Delilah ( ; , meaning "delicate";Gesenius's ''Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon'' ; ) is a woman mentioned in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. She is loved by Samson, a Nazirite who possesses great strength and serves as t ...

's in evenings, but dropped the program as the station moved to a more upbeat direction. From 2005 to 2008, ''Love Songs with Kris Toledo'' aired Monday-Friday 7 p.m. to midnight, hosted live by Kristin Cruz. Previously, the syndicated ''Intelligence for Your Life'' with

John Tesh John Frank Tesh Jr. (born July 9, 1952) is an American musician and radio and television presenter. He wrote the '' NBA on NBC'' basketball theme " Roundball Rock", and hosts the ''Intelligence for Your Life'' radio show. In addition, since 20 ...

aired in evenings, and returned in May 2020.

HD programming

KYXY formerly broadcast ''The Crossing'', a

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...

format that was operated by

Azusa Pacific University Azusa Pacific University (APU) is a private evangelical research university in Azusa, California, United States. The university was founded in 1899 in Whittier, California, with classes first held on March 3, 1900, and degrees offered in 193 ...

, on its HD2 subchannel. The HD3 subchannel started broadcasting classic alternative in 2018, first as ''96.5 The Flash'' (in reference to former alternative station XHRM from the mid-1990s), and then as ''FlashBack ALT''. As of 2020, "The Crossing" is no longer a part of KYXY programming, which resulted in moving ''Flashback ALT'' to the HD2 and switching the HD3 off. As of 2023, "FlashBack ALT" is no longer a part of KYXY programming.

References

External links

* * {{Entercom YXY Mainstream adult contemporary radio stations in the United States Audacy, Inc. radio stations Radio stations established in 1960 1960 establishments in California