First air date 1969 (as KAFE-FM) HAAT 572 meters Facility ID 63928 City of license Santa Fe Owner Univision Radio Branding KISS 97.3 | ERP 100,000 watts Class C Frequency 97.3 MHz Format Rhythmic Area Albuquerque, Santa Fe Slogan The Most Hip-Hop and R&B | |
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Broadcast area Santa Fe
Albuquerque, New Mexico | ||
KKSS (97.3 FM) is a commercial radio station located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, broadcasting to the Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico, area. KKSS airs a rhythmic Top 40 music format branded as "Kiss 97.3". Owned by Univision Radio, its studios are located in Northeast Albuquerque (a mile north of Central Avenue) and the transmitter tower is located west of Los Alamos.
Contents
History
KKSS signed on with the format in 1985, although at times they had detoured to mainstream Top 40 a few times, mostly when they got new competition (most of them short-lived). But that all changed when Univision bought the station in 2002 from Simmons Media Group and flipped it back to its current Rhythmic Top 40 direction after its former owners tried to make it a mainstream Top 40 again.
Today KKSS has managed to do successfully well with its mix of R&B-hip hop and rhythmic pop product, despite the competition it is getting from Rhythmic rival KAGM and mainstream Top 40 rivals KKOB-FM and KDLW, thus giving Albuquerque/Santa Fe the distinction of having the most Top 40s competing in one medium-sized market. It also has competition with R&B/Hip-Hop KZRR-HD2 & K265CA ("100.9 The Beat").
On April 4, 2014 three KKSS airstaff including program director and midday host DJ Lopez, Johnny V, and MQ had left the station to join KAGM (the three were later let go in December 2015 when KAGM revamped its direction) along with former KJFA personality Julian Robles who moves to KLVO at American General Media. This all comes amidst restructuring at Univision Radio which now has KKSS sharing on-air personalities and programming with sister station KBBT in San Antonio, Texas.
Current staff
Mornings: The Houseparty with Dana Cortez & Anthony A
Middays: Krystal
Afternoons: Nights: HammBurger
Weekends:
DJs:
Former staff
Mornings: Cadillac Jack, Chaz Malibu (now at KABG), Brody Scott
Middays: Brody Scott
Middays: Randy Savage
Middays: DJ Lopez (until April 2014)
Afternoons: Johnny V (until April 2014)
Afternoons: JJ Morgan
Afternoons: Kumbia Show (Until March 2016)
Nights: The 'Bad Boys' Carlos D (now at KKOB-FM), Big Moon & DJ Trauma
Nights: Joe Mama
Nights: MQ's Neighborhood (until April 2014)
Overnights: Kandi O