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|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Greater San Diego |
| Frequency | 93.3MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | Channel 9-3-3 |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | Contemporary hit radio |
| Subchannels | HD2:LGBTQ community,dance ("Pride Radio") |
| Affiliations | Premiere Networks |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KGB,KGB-FM,KIOZ,KLSD,KMYI,KOGO,KSSX | |
| History | |
First air date | 1961 (as KUFM) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | K-Hits (reference to station's Top 40 format) |
| Technical information | |
| Facility ID | 20697 |
| Class | B |
| ERP | 50,000 watts |
| HAAT | 147 meters (482 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 32°43′48″N117°05′2″W / 32.73000°N 117.08389°W /32.73000; -117.08389 |
| Links | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | channel933 |
KHTS-FM (93.3MHz) is acontemporary hit radio station that is licensed toEl Cajon, California, and serves theSan Diego market. The station is owned byiHeartMedia, through licensee iHM Licenses, LLC, and is branded as "Channel 9-3-3". The station's studios are located in San Diego'sSerra Mesa area, while the transmitter is located in Chollas View, which is east ofBalboa Park and west ofEmerald Hills, sharing facilities withKLSD. The station is available onHD Radio; the HD2 subchannel airs anLGBT-leaningdance hits format, carrying iHeart'sPride Radio network.
The station signed on in 1961 as KUFM, later becoming KECR, then KECR-FM. For most of its existence prior to 1995, the station was owned by the religiousFamily Radio organization and aired itstalk radio programming. Originally, the station maintained a localized board operator to air local news and weather, but when satellite technology became available, it became a repeater forKEAR in San Francisco. This religious format continued until 1995, whenJacor Communications purchased KECR-FM for $13.8 million.[1] Family Radio now broadcasts in San Diego onKECR (910 AM). This acquisition marked Jacor's entry into San Diego. Shortly after the acquisition closed, the station acquired the KHTS callsign.
In March 1996, KHTS beganstunting with asimulcast ofTampa, Florida-basedWFLZ (coincidentally, also on 93.3 FM in that market) in an early form ofvoicetracking, allowing Jacor to plan for and hire for a new station without having to depend on a commercial-free "many-songs-in-a-row" gimmick during the transition period.[2] This brought personalities such asBubba The Love Sponge to the market, along with WFLZ referencing San Diego weather and events in their programming. This also allowed sufficient time to finish construction on the studios, which at the time, were located on Pacific Highway, about a mile fromPechanga Arena. The simulcast was broken on August 30, with the stunting shifting to a 43-hour loop of remixes of the then-popular song "Macarena" byLos Del Rio.
On September 1, at 10 a.m., the stunting shifted to a broadcast of that day'sSan Diego Chargers game in place ofXETRA, which is required by law to carry Mexican presidential addresses under its Mexican radio license. At 4 p.m. that day, KHTS officially flipped to a dance-heavyrhythmic contemporary format, branded as "Channel 9-3-3".[3] The station would also air attack liners against rivalsXHITZ,KFMB-FM, andKKLQ; the latter two have since changed formats.
By summer 1998, KHTS would move away from its dance-heavy approach to a more mainstream direction due to the Nationwide/Jacor merger. The merger would have brought KKLQ into the same ownership, but that station was spun off to Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (nowUnivision Radio) in order to comply with theFCC ownership limits.[4] During the first week of August in 1998, KHTS flipped to its present CHR format, inheriting the playlist from KKLQ (nowKLNV). The station also launchedClub 9-3-3, a dance mix show featuring dance remixes of contemporary hits. By 2000, outdoor advertising firmClear Channel (through itsradio and communications division) took ownership of the station. During this time, the station's transmitter was on Mount San Miguel, given El Cajon being itscity of license. In 2001, the transmitter moved to its present site, sharing an antenna with sister stationKLSD, in order to provide better coverage of the San Diego metropolitan area.[5] The station's studios were also moved to their present location in Serra Mesa. Despite all these changes, the station remains licensed to El Cajon.
On May 28, 2003, the station's callsign received the -FM suffix, becoming KHTS-FM. This was a legal change in order to avoid confusion ofan AM talk radio station with the same call letters.[6] The callsign meaning also became "Hits" to reference the Top 40 format. From 2001 until 2009, the station was the San Diego home for AJ Machado, at which time the morning show was called “AJ's Playhouse”. In 2004, the station beganRDS broadcasting in preparation for a commencement ofHD Radio broadcasting in 2005, showing song titles and other text information on certified devices. The technology was also fitted to sister stationKGB-FM, and has since been fitted to the other three FM sisters in the cluster.
In 2006, the station added notable personality Geena The Latina, who came in fromKIIS-FM, to co-host themorning drive with AJ Machado.[7]
During theHarris Fire in October 2007, KHTS-FM suspended all music programming to air news updates from AM sister stationKOGO, which applied to all of its sister stations. In addition, the news updates included theWitch Fire. This began on October 21, while normal programming resumed on the 24th at 11 pm.
The station began to maintain a rhythmic-leaning direction (with occasionalalternative music tracks) in 2013 while continuing to air dance mixes on weekends. This was mainly to compete with KEGY, but also due to XHITZ de-emphasizing hip-hop around this time.
On September 16, 2014, Clear Channel spun off its radio and communications divisions into a new company; KHTS-FM then became a part of iHeartMedia, its present owner. At the same time, the station began airing programming fromiHeartRadio. The station also unveiled a new logo, using the green and purple from the previous logo, but now adding a green decimal point for its frequency. Despite this, the numbers are still pronounced individually.
In July 2017, the station became the San Diego affiliate forAmerican Top 40, and in February 2018, the station began airing the weekly, network-wideiHeartRadio Countdown show, hosted by KIIS-FM personalityJoJo Wright.
In early 2020, iHeartMedia announced major personality layoffs across their portfolio of stations. On January 20, 2020, it was confirmed on social media that KHTS-FM had been affected, as Kramer from the Kramer and Geena morning show was out as morning host.[8] Two days later, it was announced that Frankie V would reunite with Geena after five years away at sister stationsWJMN in Boston andKSSX in San Diego in the morning slot with "The Geena the Latina and Frankie Morning Show."[9]
The following lists notable past airstaff, as calculated by theWayback Machine:
For its entire run, the station was the San Diego affiliate for theEvolution Beatport Show. This show ended its run in December 2016.
KHTS-FM was amongst the firstHD Radio stations in San Diego. The HD2 subchannel carriesPride Radio — anLGBT lifestyle network featuringdance hits. Previously it carried a Latin CHR stream branded as Mega from 2005 until 2013.[20]
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