KSOC

History

94.5 FM signed on in 1958 as KGAF-FM and AM 1580 as an oldies format. The station was owned by the Leonard Brothers and the transmitter was east of Gainesville. KGAF would last until the 1980s when the 94.5 frequency would be sold off.

KDNT

94.5 was then sold to Mel Wheeler, who owned 106.1 (now KHKS). KDNT broadcast a country format, which was previously on 106.1. The country format would be moved to the newly acquired 94.5 frequency. 94.5 would never claim good ratings in the Dallas-Fort Worth market due to the location of the tower east of Gainesville which would have a rimshot signal into the Metroplex.

KZRK

In July 1987, with KSCS and KPLX competing for the country audience and were city-grade signals, KDNT and its country format were dropped and became KZRK "Z-Rock 94-5". Wheeler, owner of KDNT, had died and the station was sold once again.

KDGE

On June 30, 1989, after Ed Wodka bought the station, KZRK changed call letters to KDGE, adjusted the format to alternative rock, and rebranded the station as "94.5 The Edge". The first song on "The Edge" was "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" by The Ramones. Bonneville International bought the station in late 1994, while Evergreen Media would purchase it in 1996; Evergreen would merge with Chancellor Media in 1998. Chancellor would look to improve 94.5's current ERP at 78,000 watts. Part of the station's signal woes were solved when KDGE relocated its transmitter to its current location and increase the power to 98,000 watts.

KTXQ

In October 2000, Clear Channel Communications would purchase AMFM (KDGE's owners at the time), which put them over current ownership limits. To resolve this, 94.5 FM and the intellectual property of rhythmic oldies-formatted sister station KTXQ, "Magic 102", were sold to Radio One. On November 9, 2000, at 6 a.m., KTXQ swapped formats and frequencies with KDGE, and the station's name was changed to Magic 94.5. The last song on 94.5 The Edge was "How Soon Is Now?" by The Smiths, while the first song on Magic 94.5 was "I Would Die 4 U" by Prince.

Urban AC years

On April 22, 2002, after stunting for a few days using the branding "Joyner 94.5", KTXQ shifted to Urban AC as KSOC 94.5 K-Soul playing current R&B and classic soul. It was home to two syndicated shows: The Tom Joyner Morning Show (which previously aired on KKDA/K-104 and then-Urban AC rival KRNB-FM) and Love, Lust and Lies with Michael Baisden in the afternoons.

On July 18, 2011, KSOC dropped the "K-Soul" branding after 9 years. However, the format continued to run, although jockless at the time with Michael Baisden dropped from the station's schedule. The staff of KSOC has indicated that changes are coming to the station, and they've accepted feedback from their listeners.

At 5 PM on July 29, 2011, KSOC rebranded as Old School 94.5, although the station's format remained urban adult contemporary per Mediabase & Nielsen BDS. The last song of "K-Soul" was A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke, followed by the first song of the new format being Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now by McFadden & Whitehead. KSOC's playlist has a diverse mix of classic R&B and soul music from the 1960s to early 1990s, much similar to its "Magic 102/94.5" predecessors, with fewer currents. As of October 2011, Tom Joyner has returned to the morning drive, Janet G handles the 9AM to 2PM shift, and Kenny J handles the 2PM to 7PM slot. The launch was helped by former radio personalities Skip Murphy & Company (previously on KKDA-FM).

On January 22, 2014, at 9 AM, following the Tom Joyner Morning Show, KSOC returned to the "K-Soul" branding, this time as K-Soul 94.5, launching with 94 hours of commercial-free music. While keeping a gold based presentation, KSOC updated its library to bring back tracks from the 1990s and 2000s. As of late March 2014, KSOC simulcasts on sister station KBFB's secondary HD broadcast on 97.9 HD2 for those in the immediate DFW area and southern neighbors who are not in this station's pre-determined coverage area.

Flip to Old School Hip-Hop

On November 14, 2014, at 6 PM, KSOC changed their format to classic hip hop, branded as Boom 94.5. As before, they provided 94 hours of commercial-free music. With the recent format change, the syndicated "Tom Joyner Morning Show", for which K-Soul was the home station, was dropped, a change he noted the following Monday morning on his show, where he told DFW listeners to download the free app for the iPhone or Android or listen on a different affiliate. A month after the format switch, ratings have jumped from a 2.8 share to a 3.4 according to Nielsen & Mediabase (who oddly enough kept KSOC in the Urban AC panel), cracking the Top 10 station list above its urban counterpart KBFB.

On October 10, 2016, KSOC expanded their library by adding some R&B songs from the 1990s and early 2000s, and tweaked their slogan to "Classic Hip-Hop and Throwback R&B".