WDKS (106.1 FM) is a Class 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 ...

licensed to

Newburgh, Indiana Newburgh is an incorporated town in Ohio Township, Warrick County, Indiana, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 3,325 as of the 2010 census, although the town is part of the larger Evansville metropolitan area, which recor ...

and serving

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 118,414 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is Indiana's List of cities in Indiana, third-most populous city after India ...

. They are owned by

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 ...

, which acquired the station from

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 ...

in 2003. WDKS broadcasts in HD.http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?realid=420 HD Radio Guide for Evansville, IN

History

WDKS first signed on the air on November 1, 1990 as WEKX and later changed call letters to WSYZ in 1991 and WJPS in 1992. Originally an FM Talk station, they eventually switched to an

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...

format with the call letters WDKS in 1997. Under the ownership of then-parent Clear Channel, and the direction of Program Director Jeremy 'Thompson' Fenech, WDKS switched formats to

Top 40 Mainstream Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/ CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played on a panel of Top 40 radio stations in the U ...

and was rebranded as 106.1 Kiss FM in 2001, putting them in direct competition with the more established rival WSTO. Rick Dees in the Morning replaced Bob & Sheri when Kiss 106 became KISS-FM. After Clear Channel spun WDKS and its sister stations to Regent Communications (now Townsquare Media) in 2003, Regent retained WDKS's format and the "KISS-FM" trademark. On February 12, 2007, WDKS' musical direction initially leaned more Rhythmic, but after a month into the new direction the Pop/Rock product once again showed up on the station, only to once again move back toward a Rhythmic direction the following August. The shift to Rhythmic resulted in WDKS filling this format void in Evansville. But by March 2008, WDKS returned to a Top 40/CHR direction. The station added

Kidd Kraddick David Peter Cradick (August 22, 1959 – July 27, 2013) was an American radio host and television personality, known as Kidd Kraddick. His nationally syndicated morning radio show, '' The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show'', is based in Irving, ...

's morning show in May 2008. In 2012 the Kidd Kraddick morning show was dropped, and now The Robs Radio Show with Kat Mykals runs every morning from 6 to 10AM. Notable personalities on KISS include The Rob, Kat Mykals, Chandelle, Ryan O' Bryan, Melissa Awesome, and Nino InCognito.

References

Previous logos

External links

KISS-FM 106.1's websiteTownsquare Media Website
* {{coord, 37, 52, 57, N, 87, 32, 28, W, region:US-IN_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title DKS Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1990 Townsquare Media radio stations