City Carlsbad, California Branding Jam'n 95.7 | Broadcast area San Diego, California | |
Slogan Today's Hip Hop and R&B Frequency 95.7 MHz (also on HD Radio) First air date August 22, 1965 (as KARL at 95.9) | ||
KSSX (95.7 FM), also known as Jam'n 95.7, is a radio station located in San Diego, California. The station airs an Urban Contemporary format, and is one of seven stations in the market owned and operated by iHeartMedia. The station's studios are located in San Diego's Kearny Mesa neighborhood on the northeast side, and the transmitter is in La Jolla.
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Early years
This station has its roots as a Class A (local) station at 95.9 MHz known as KKOS, which was previously known as KARL (a MOR station from 1965-1979) and KUPR. During this period the station had various formats, including adult contemporary, CHR, and AAA.
However, an interference problem in Mexico ended up resulting in changes to KKOS. At the time, a Tijuana station broadcast on 95.7, XHKY-FM. XHKY was causing interference to KKOS. Ultimately, KKOS and XHKY reached a deal, which was agreed to by the FCC and SCT; 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 Tecate, moved to 95.3 MHz.
The day of the frequency change, KKOS became KUPR, still keeping the AAA format. On November 22, 1996, the station began stunting with country as "Your New Country, 95.7 KUPR". On March 5, 1997, the station flipped to Urban AC as "Magic 95.7" under new callsign KMCG.
Mix/K-Joy/Kool/New Country
The station was sold by Nationwide Communications to Jacor/Citicasters. On September 7, 1998, the "Magic" format would move to 92.5. After a 15-day period of simulcasting on both frequencies, on September 22, 95.7 flipped to Hot AC as "Mix 95.7" with the callsign changed to KMSX. The format was shifted to all-1980s' hits on November 11, 2000, a day after KBZT adopted the format. On November 21, 2001, the station swapped positions with KJQY and flipped to oldies as "K-Joy 95.7". 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 (rechristened XHOCL-FM), and 95.7 adopted XHHCR's country format as "US 95.7" (the callsign was then changed to KUSS). The station would rebrand as "New Country 95.7" in September 2008.
KOGO-FM
On November 7, 2011, at 7 AM, after playing "The Dance" by Garth Brooks, 95.7 began simulcasting KOGO as "News/Talk FM 95.7 and AM 600 KOGO". On the 14th, KUSS changed their call letters to KOGO-FM. Unlike many news/talk stations, the FM addition did nothing to help KOGO's ratings.
KISS-FM
Thus, the simulcast ended on November 16, 2012 at 7 PM, when KOGO-FM began stunting with Christmas music as "Holiday 95.7" (though it was promoted on-air as simply "95-7 FM"). On December 26, 2012 at 9:57 AM, after playing "Silent Night" by Josh Groban, the station flipped to Rhythmic Oldies as "95.7 KISS-FM, with "Kiss" by Prince and "You Should Be Dancing" by the Bee Gees being the first two songs played. In mid-February 2013, the station began including more 1990s, 2000s and recurrent songs, shifting towards Rhythmic AC. On February 22, KOGO-FM changed their call letters to KSSX. After being jockless for the first three months, the station added Chio (formerly of XHITZ-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 Rhythmic Hot AC, 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". Since then, KSSX has shifted towards Rhythmic Top 40 by incorporating more current hip hop, as XHITZ-FM de-emphasized hip hop in 2013 and began moving towards a more Mainstream Top 40 direction.
Jam'n
On May 27, 2016, at 3 PM, after playing "Ignition" by R. Kelly, KSSX officially made the transition to Urban Contemporary (with an emphasis on Hip-Hop and R&B), and relaunched as "Jam'n 95.7". The first song on "Jam'n" was "The Next Episode" by Dr. Dre. The move allows the station to serve as a flanker for KHTS, as the stations are competing against XHITZ-FM and KEGY. The flip brings the format back to the market for the first time since June 1993, when XHRM-FM flipped to Alternative Rock.