Broadcast area Greater St. Louis ERP 90,000 watts Class C1 Frequency 98.1 MHz FM Format Adult contemporary music Branding Y98 | First air date 1960 (as KSTL-FM) HAAT 309 meters Facility ID 20358 City of license St. Louis Owner CBS Radio Slogan Today's Best Music' | |
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Area St. Louis MO-IL, Metropolitan Statistical Area | ||
KYKY is an FM radio station serving the St. Louis, Missouri radio market. The current format of the station is Hot Adult Contemporary. It operates at 98.1 MHz. KYKY is owned by CBS Radio, which also owns soft rock station KEZK-FM and the market's dominant news, talk and sports station, KMOX-AM. KYKY operates from studios located on Market Street, and transmits from an FM radio tower in Shrewsbury.
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History
KYKY began as KSTL-FM around 1960; KSTL-FM was sold in 1967 and changed to KRCH-FM, but changed its call letters to KSLQ five years later when it was purchased by Bartell Broadcasting. Bartell owned legendary Top 40 stations such as KCBQ in San Diego and WOKY in Milwaukee, and was enjoying huge ratings with WDRQ-FM in Detroit in the fast-growing FM Top 40 format of the 1970s. KSLQ later adjusted its format to adult contemporary around 1981 and the call letters were changed once more in October 1982 to the current KYKY. Shortly thereafter, KYKY was purchased by EZ Communications, which maintained the Adult Contemporary format, which would evolve towards Hot AC around 1984.
In 1997, EZ Communications was purchased by American Radio Systems, who would later merge with Infinity Broadcasting, later known as CBS Radio. Since March 1979, KYKY has been the home of the Phillips & Company (originally Phillips & Wall) morning show, hosted by long-time St. Louis radio host Guy Phillips. Phillips was inducted into the St. Louis Radio Hall of fame in 2005. In January 2010, KYKY's slogan was changed from "Your Music, Your Y98" to "More Music. Better Variety". As of December 2010, KYKY is making changes to become more Adult Top 40 leaning and has changed their slogan to "Today's Best Music".
Special events
In September 2005, KYKY, KEZK (Soft Rock, 102.5FM), and television partners KSDK and KETC simulcast a telethon for Hurricane Katrina relief that raised more than $5 million. The telethon featured an appearance by John Goodman, a native of Affton, Missouri who now calls New Orleans, Louisiana home and whose family was actually missing for a time during the storm's peak. Sheryl Crow, a native of Kennett, Missouri, and her then-fiancé Lance Armstrong urged viewers to call when they were interviewed by telephone from the region.
