KIIS-FM

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For the Australian radio stations of the same name, see KIIS Network.
KIIS-FM
1027 KIIS-FM 2015.png
City of license Los Angeles, California
Broadcast area Greater Los Angeles Area
Branding 102.7 KIIS FM
Slogan LA's #1 Hit Music Station
Frequency 102.7 MHz (also on HD Radio)
Sirius XM ch. 11
Repeaters KVVS/Rosamond 105.5 MHz
First air date 1948
Format Top 40 (CHR)
HD2: Electronic dance music
ERP 8,000 watts
HAAT 902.0 meters (2,959.3 ft)
Class B
Facility ID 19218
Transmitter coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Callsign meaning "IIS" resembles "115"
Former callsigns KLAC-FM (1948–67)
KRHM (1967–71)
KKDJ (1971–1975)
Owner iHeartMedia, Inc.
(Citicasters Licenses, Inc.)
Sister stations KBIG, KFI, KRRL, KLAC, KOST, KEIB, KYSR
Webcast Listen Live
Website kiisfm.com

KIIS-FM (pronounced "Kiss FM") (102.7 FM) – branded 102.7 KIIS FM – is a commercial Top 40 (CHR) radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California. Owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., KIIS-FM is the origin of the KISS-FM brand, and currently serves as the flagship station for On Air with Ryan Seacrest. The KIIS-FM studios are located in Burbank, while the station transmitter resides on Mount Wilson.

Besides a standard analog transmission, KIIS-FM broadcasts over two HD Radio channels;[1] streams online via iHeartRadio; and extends its on-air signal by using a single full-power repeater – KVVS (105.5 FM) in Rosamond. The station also simulcasts over channel 11 on Sirius XM satellite radio.[2] KIIS FM has consistently been rated the #1 radio station in all of the Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura County markets, averaging nearly 1 million listeners.[3]

History

102.7 FM started as KLAC-FM, a sister station to KLAC, in 1948. The station was a simulcast of the AM station, until the late 1960s, when the Federal Communications Commission banned continuous AM/FM simulcasts for over half of the broadcast day. The FM started its own programming, which was a middle of the road format, in 1967, and changed call letters to KRHM which it remained for four years before becoming top 40 KKDJ on April 15, 1971.

KKDJ to KIIS FM

KKDJ broadcast as an FM top 40 station until 1975, when Combined Communications purchased KKDJ. The station's format was changed to adult contemporary on October 22, 1975 at 6:00 a.m., during Charlie Tuna's morning show when KKDJ began simulcasting with KIIS 1150 AM with an "on-air wedding" which "married" KKDJ to KIIS AM. At that time, KKDJ's call letters were changed to KIIS-FM. The station has remained KIIS-FM for forty years. The spelling of "K-I-I-S" instead of KISS, was because it resembled the AM frequency: "1150"="IIS".[4] The new merged station was referred to as, "AM and FM, K-double I-S." Making the transition from KKDJ to KIIS FM in 1975 were popular personalities including the legendary Humble Harve, Charlie Tuna, Jay Stevens, John Peters and Danny Martinez. Later, in 1977, News Director Gary McKenzie who went on to anchor at RKO Radio Networks and CBS was hired by KIIS FM. The AM and FM stations did simulcasts during the day while returning to two separate stations in the evening hours.

Unable to draw high ratings with adult contemporary, KIIS-FM began to evolve, first to Top 40 in 1976, then Dance and Disco in 1978, and back to Top 40 in 1980. KIIS-AM would keep its soft rock/adult contemporary format until late 1979. Just prior to this, Gannett Company purchased both KIIS-AM/FM and Combined Communications. The format of KIIS-AM was changed to religious talk and the new call letters KPRZ-AM were adopted. The religious format performed poorly, and in early 1981, KPRZ became the Music of Your Life format of big bands and pop standards, with legendary former KMPC personalities such as Gary Owens, Dick Whittinghill, Johnny Magnus, Chuck Southcott and former KIIS-FM morning personality "World Famous" Tom Murphy. The format lasted until 1984, when the call letters again became KIIS-AM and began simulcasting KIIS-FM's morning and afternoon shows, while all other day parts were different disc jockeys including Murphy in the overnight. In late 1985, the stations began a more than decade-long complete simulcast.

Rick Dees joined the station for mornings in 1981 after KHJ-AM (930) switched formats to Country. Fill-In personality Dave Sebastian (Williams) working both the AM and FM stations at the time hosted the vacated FM morning show (4–5 months) until the arrival of Dees due to a non-compete clause in his contract. With Dees in mornings, KIIS became a CHR powerhouse in Los Angeles. In 1996, in a deal in which Gannett acquired WTSP television in the Tampa, Florida market from Jacor, KIIS-AM/FM was acquired by Jacor/Citicasters, which in 1998, merged into Clear Channel Communications (The KIIS simulcast was broken for good in 1997, when the AM flipped to sports talk as KXTA, simulcasting with XETRA-AM/San Diego until 2005. 1150 AM is now conservative-talk KEIB).

When Power 106 changed formats from top 40 to hip hop around 1994, KIIS became the only Los Angeles top 40 station. This lasted until 2005, when KPWR shifted back to a Rhythmic Top 40 format. KIIS itself would lean towards a rhythmic-leaning direction by the Summer of 2004. This strategy would later pay off, as KIIS currently enjoys the highest ratings in the Los Angeles Radio Market.

As of 2009 KIIS started facing more competition from KAMP, which flipped from Talk to Top 40/CHR as "97.1 AMP Radio." Coincidentally, KIIS was playing Paranoid by Kanye West at the same time AMP Radio used it as its first song.

KIIS simulcasting

In 1998, Jacor Communications (ex Clear Channel, now iHeartMedia, Inc.) acquired KAVS (now KVVS) and KYHT (now KRSX-FM), abandoning the previous format as High Desert Modern Rock 97.7 & 105.3, and taking the simulcast as a repeater for KIIS. Another simulcast, 1220 KIIS AM was added in 1999, as well as 101.9 KFMS in Las Vegas, Nevada. The grouping of 102.7 FM KIIS in Los Angeles, 1220 AM KIIS in Santa Clarita, 97.7 FM KAVS in the Antelope Valley, 105.3 FM KYHT in Barstow/Victor Valley, and 101.9 FM KFMS in Las Vegas created a nearly continuous coverage of KIIS FM between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. However, it was short lived, as KYHT broke off in 2001 to simulcast KZXY, then KATJ, before adopting its current format as oldies. Resulting from KYHT's flip from the KIIS FM moniker, KFMS switched to all local programming. KVVS was relocated from 97.7 to 105.5 in December 2007. 1220 KIIS AM became KHTS in 2003. KIIS has also been simulcast on 850 AM in Thousand Oaks, California in the last year before the towers were demolished.

As of June 8, 2011, KIIS FM is now rebroadcasting on XM channel 11. Since the end of 2003, Clear Channel had replaced the KIIS simulcast with an exclusive KISS XM channel. In 2004, all XM music channels went commercial free, and KIIS was replaced with a unique-to-XM KISS-XM channel, retaining the same format. Since then, Clear Channel has regained the right to air commercials on their XM music channels.

102.7 KIIS-FM today

KIIS-FM broadcasts a more Contemporary hit radio format. A majority of the music played on 102.7 KIIS-FM tends to be R&B, and pop music, with rock music given lesser priority, as shown by the official live playlist and KIIS-FM censors songs substantially more, and more obviously, than its counterparts, 97.1 Amp Radio, and Power 106. This is almost always done to hip-hop songs, and as much as several seconds can be cut off. This more substantial censorship began in 2004, perhaps as a part of the heightened scrutiny of media content following the "Nipplegate" incident at Super Bowl XXXVIII.[citation needed] An example of this censorship can be heard in Rihanna's ballad "Unfaithful", where the lyric "I might as well take a gun and put it to his head" is censored on KIIS-FM as "I might as well take a _____ put it to his head". The previous example of song editing is common for many Clear Channel CHR stations.[citation needed]

In February 2004, the decade long General Manager of KIIS FM, Roy Laughlin, elected not to renew Rick Dees' contract, and replaced him with Ryan Seacrest's On Air show and retained co-host Ellen K to team with Seacrest. Rick Dees In The Morning later reappeared on KMVN. As of the beginning of 2005, KIIS-FM also discontinued airing the Rick Dees Weekly Top 40, which also moved to KMVN. Both of Dees' shows ended in April 2009, as KMVN changed its format to Spanish AC. As of May 2011, Dees returned to mornings through KIIS's sister station KHHT (however, after a year in mornings, Dees left the station in July 2012).

KIIS was named the 2007 "Station of the Year" in the contemporary hit/radio/top 40 category for market size 1 to 25 at the national Radio & Records convention.[5]

In December 2007, KIIS's Antelope Valley simulcast at 97.7 was moved to 105.5, replacing the previous format as "105.5 The Oasis". The country format at 103.1 in Tehachapi, California was moved to 97.7 FM (now operating under 103.1's former call letters KTPI) and is now branded as 97.7 KTPI. 103.1 KSRY in Tehachapi is now a simulcast of 98.7 FM.

The station was, according to Radio & Records in 2008, the United States' second-highest revenue billing radio station (behind WTOP in Washington, D.C.), with $66.3 million.[6]

Today, many KIIS-FM DJs such as "Boy Toy Jesse" Lozano, Sisanie, and JoJo on the Radio, along with morning man Ryan Seacrest, can be heard syndicated through many iHeartMedia affiliates via voice-tracking.

In 2010, the station was honored by the National Association of Broadcasters with the Marconi award for CHR Station of the Year.[7]

KIIS Top Songs of the Year

On December 31st and January 1st of every year, KIIS FM counts down the top songs of the year. From 2003 to 2012 the top 102 songs were counted down known as "KIIS Top 102". In 2013 the top 50 songs of the year were counted down. In 2014 and onward the top 100 songs were counted down as part of the iHeartRadio Countdown.

These songs hit #1:

Competition

KIIS has six competing stations in the Southern California area. Mainstream rival KAMP-FM (97.1 AMP Radio) and Rhythmic rival KPWR (Power 106) compete with KIIS in the Los Angeles area. Rival Rhythmic outlets KQIE and 99.1 KGGI, KIIS's sister station in the Riverside–San Bernardino area, competes against KIIS in parts of east L.A. County. Rhythmic rivals 104.7 KCAQ (Q-104.7) and 103.3 KVYB (The Vibe) compete with KIIS in parts of Ventura County and Los Angeles County, in areas near the Los Angeles County–Ventura County line.

On-air staff & programming

Notable programming includes On Air with Ryan Seacrest with Ryan Seacrest and Manny Streetz, American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest, the KIIS FM Community Council hosted by Manny Streetz, the iHeartRadio Countdown, and Evolution with Pete Tong.

Former on-air staff

The following notable individuals have been featured by KIIS-FM as on-air staff:

Concerts

KIIS-FM HD2

On KIIS-FM's HD2 subchannel, it airs "Evolution", an all-dance music format.[8] Previously, this dial's position was named "Club KIIS".

References

  1. ↑ http://www.hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=36
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Other stations applaud WIXX in national radio judging; Warren Gerds; November 19, 2007 Green Bay Press-Gazette; Retrieved November 19, 2007
  6. ↑ http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRWebsite20/members/ShowHeadline.aspx?FormatId=0&ContentID=48572
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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