Broadcast area Coachella Valley | Branding 98.5 The Bull | |
City Cathedral City, California Slogan 10 In-A-Row New Country and Greatest Hits Frequency 98.5 MHz (also on HD Radio) Translator(s) 107.3 K297BO (Palm Springs, relays HD2) | ||
KDES-FM 98.5 is a radio station in the Palm Springs area and the Coachella Valley of Southern California.
KDES-FM began in 1957 on the AM dial at 920 kHz and was affiliated with ABC Radio. KDES-FM went on-air in 1963, then adopted the top 40/pop music format in 1975. It switched to an oldies format in 1988. The AM station dropped oldies in 1995, replacing them with news/talk KPSI.
KDES-FM's studio headquarters are in Palm Springs California. KDES-FM's signal covers a 40-mile (64 km) radius area, from Beaumont to the Morongo Basin to the Imperial Valley.
Over the 20th Century, KDES-FM had shifted from conventional oldies (1950s-1960s) to more of a "Classic Hits" format by expanding its playlist to include more 1970s hits as well as 1980s hits.
In January 2010, KDES-FM announced plans to move its oldies format to KWXY-FM's former frequency. This decision brought an end to KWXY-FM's beautiful music format, which has moved to AM 1340. KDES vacated its original frequency of 104.7 on February 2. The frequency was sold and has been moved out of the market by its new owners.
On September 9, 2015, shortly after being sold to Alpha Media, KDES-FM began simulcasting KDGL, with a change to Country as "98.5 The Bull" to follow the next day, launching with the usual 10,000 songs in a row, with the first song being "This Is How We Roll" by Florida-Georgia Line.