City Tacoma, Washington Format Christian radio | First air date 1949 (as KTOY) ERP 23,000 watts | |
Broadcast area Seattle metropolitan area Frequency 91.7 MHz FM (also on HD Radio) | ||
KYFQ (91.7 FM) is a radio station licensed to serve Tacoma, Washington. The station is owned by Bible Broadcasting Network, Inc.
History
The station began as KTOY in 1949 by the Tacoma School District at its vocational school, which became Bates Technical College in 1991. During the day it was operated by Bates Technical College broadcasting students studying under former KJR DJ Lee Perkins. During the late 1970s until the mid-1980s, starting at midnight on Friday and lasting until 6:00 p.m. Sunday, KTOY broadcast hip-hop (including electro) and urban music under the slogan "Giving You The Music of Tomorrow, Today." (During 1983-1984, the late night hip-hop program's slogan was "R&B's best in the Pacific Northwest." It was often used during station IDs.) This format lasted from 1978 to 1984. By 1985, the format was no longer the entire weekend and by 1986, the station changed call letters to KTPS-FM and then KBTC from Bates Technical College. The station only played hip-hop and urban music on Sunday for two hours in the form of a top 20 countdown.
KBTC was sold to Public Radio Capital, which then leased the frequency to KEXP. KEXP wished to extend its signal into the South Sound, and simulcast its regular program on the station, changing its call letters to KXOT.
On November 3, 2005, KEXP announced it was terminating operation on KXOT at the end of the calendar year due to a financial crunch. However, KEXP continued to simulcast on KXOT into 2006 while Public Radio Capital looked for a new provider. On May 24, 2006, KUOW announced it signed a new lease with PRC. KXOT returned to broadcast over the air, programmed by KUOW, in August 2006.
On May 15, 2012, PRC announced that they would drop its KUOW2 programming on 91.7 on June 29. However, this would be delayed until July 2. The station went silent at midnight on that day, as the station was awaiting a new programming provider.
On January 7, 2013, the station returned to the air, from their new transmitter site on Gold Mountain, simulcasting audio from Washington State's public affairs government television channel TVW.
The Bible Broadcasting Network announced on February 4, 2015 that it would purchase KXOT from PRC for $2.4 million. PRC then took the station off-the-air until the completion of the sale; upon taking control on May 13, BBN relaunched the station as KYFQ.