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|---|---|
| Broadcast area | San Diego, California |
| Frequency | 95.7MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | Jam'n 95-7 |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | Rhythmic contemporary |
| Subchannels | HD2:Black Information Network |
| Affiliations | Black Information Network |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KGB,KGB-FM,KHTS-FM,KIOZ,KLSD,KMYI,KOGO | |
| History | |
First air date | 1965; 60 years ago (1965) |
Former call signs |
|
Former frequencies | 95.9 MHz (1965–1995) |
Call sign meaning | Sounds like "KISS" (former branding) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 67664 |
| Class | B |
| ERP | 30,000watts |
| HAAT | 202 meters (663 ft) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | jamn957.iheart.com |
KSSX (95.7FM) is acommercialradio station located inSan Diego, California, although the station is legally licensed to serveCarlsbad, in nearby North County. The station airs arhythmic contemporaryformat, and is one of seven stations in the market owned and operated byiHeartMedia. The station's studios are located in San Diego'sKearny Mesa neighborhood on the northeast side, and the transmitter is atop Mt. Soledad, located inLa Jolla.
Although the station began broadcasting on 95.7 in 1995, it has its origins as aClass A (local) station on 95.9MHz known as KARL, (aMOR station from 1965 to 1979), then KKOS. During this period the station had various formats, includingadult contemporary,CHR, andAAA.
However, an interference problem in Mexico ended up resulting in changes to KKOS. At the time, Califórmula owned a Tijuana station broadcasting on 95.7,XHKY-FM, and was causing interference to KKOS and co-channelKFSH-FM inAnaheim. Ultimately, KKOS and XHKY reached a deal, which was agreed to by theFCC andSCT; on September 15, 1995, XHKY moved to 99.3 at 25,000 watts, KKOS moved to 95.7 at 25,000 watts, and the previous occupant of 99.3,XHATE-FM in Tecate, moved to 95.3 MHz.[2] On the day of the frequency change, KKOS became KUPR, still keeping the AAA format.
On November 22, 1996, the station beganstunting withcountry as "Your New Country, 95.7 KUPR".[3]
On March 5, 1997, the station flipped toUrban AC asMagic 95.7 under new callsign KMCG.[4]
The station was sold byNationwide Communications toJacor/Citicasters. On September 7, 1998, the "Magic" format would move toXHRM (92.5 FM). After a 15-day period of simulcasting on both frequencies, on September 22, 95.7 flipped toHot AC as "Mix 95.7" with the callsign changed to KMSX.[5]
The format was shifted toall-1980s' hits on November 11, 2000, a day afterKBZT adopted the format.[6]
On November 21, 2001, KMSX swapped frequencies withKJQY and flipped to oldies as "K-Joy 95.7".[7] On January 3, 2002, the station rebranded as "Kool 95.7" (with new callsign KOCL).
On January 5, 2004, “Kool” moved to XHHCR-FM 99.3 (rechristenedXHOCL-FM), and 95.7 adopted 99.3's country format asUS 95.7 (the callsign was then changed to KUSS).[8] The station would rebrand as "New Country 95.7" in September 2008.
On November 7, 2011, at 7 a.m., after playing "The Dance" byGarth Brooks, 95.7 began simulcastingKOGO as "News/Talk FM 95.7 and AM 600 KOGO". On the 14th, the callsign KUSS was changed to KOGO-FM. Unlike many news/talk stations, the FM addition did nothing to help KOGO's ratings; in fact, theydeclined after the addition of the simulcast, dropping from a 3.9 in the September 2011 Nielsen ratings (the last prior to the simulcast) to a 3.0 in the October 2012 ratings (the last during the simulcast).[9][10]
The simulcast with KOGO ended on November 16, 2012, at 7 p.m., when KOGO-FM beganstunting withChristmas music asHoliday 95.7 (though it was promoted on-air as simply "95-7 FM").[11][12] The KOGO simulcast moved toKMYI's HD2 channel.
On December 26, 2012, at 9:57 a.m., after playing "Silent Night" byJosh Groban, the station flipped torhythmic oldies as "95.7 KISS-FM", with "Kiss" byPrince and "You Should Be Dancing" bythe Bee Gees being the first two songs played.[13][14] In mid-February 2013, the station began including more 1990s, 2000s and recurrent songs, and shifted towardsrhythmic adult contemporary. On February 22, KOGO-FM changed their call letters to KSSX. After being jockless for the first three months, the station added Chio (formerly ofXHITZ-FM) as their morning show host on April 8, as well as Sean Sarille in evenings (he has since departed from the station), Shelley Wade in middays, Louie Cruz in afternoons and Beto Perez in nights.
On November 16, 2013, KSSX flipped once again to Christmas music, but kept the "KISS-FM" name and "The Rhythm of San Diego" slogan. At Midnight on December 26, the station completely shifted to arhythmic adult contemporary direction, dropping the pre-1989 songs from their playlist to focus on the 1990s, 2000s and current material, and changed their slogan to "Today's Rhythm and All the Best Throwbacks".[15][16] Since then, KSSX has shifted towardsrhythmic top 40 by incorporating more currenthip hop, asXHITZ-FM de-emphasized hip hop in 2013 and began moving towards a more Mainstream Top 40 direction.
On September 16, 2014, Clear Channel spun off its radio and communications division; the spun off entity was renamediHeartMedia.
On May 27, 2016, KSSX airstaff announced the station was going to start "Jam'n" for theMemorial Day weekend at 3 p.m. that day. At that time, after playing "Ignition" byR. Kelly, KSSX rebranded as "Jam'n 95.7" under the direction of program director Rob Scorpio.[17][18] "The Next Episode" byDr. Dre and "Work" byRihanna were the first two songs played.[19] Under the new format, KSSX is the second station in San Diego to adopt theJammin brand (though asJam'n), which was previously utilized by XHITZ off and on from the 1990s through the 2010s.
KSSX utilizes two HD subchannels. The HD1 subchannel is the same Rhythmic radio format as its standard FM signal, as required by law. For the longest time, operation of the HD2 subchannel was contracted to theEMF, and like most HD capable urban stations, carried theAir 1 network. On February 1, 2019, operation of the HD2 subchannel passed to the Association For Community Education, which now repeats the programming ofKMRO and carries that station's Spanish-language religious programming; in effect, now carrying the Nueva Vida (Spanish for New Life) network, the affiliation moved from AM stationKSDO. FM translator 98.5 K253AD relayed the HD2 subchannel,[20] as KSSX already reaches North County, having Carlsbad as its city of license.
In the light of theGeorge Floyd protests, iHeart terminated the agreement with the Association for Community Education in June 2020, and replaced it withnews radio. It began airing programming from theBlack Information Network later that summer.[21] The relay was dropped on the translator in early 2021, when it began simulcastingKARJ's HD3 subchannel; KSSX-HD2 now simulcastsKFOO, the Inland Empire BIN affiliate.
As of 2020, KSSX primarily competes withXHITZ-FM.
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