On October 17, 1947, the station first signed on as KITE in San Antonio, owned by Charles A. Balthrope and was a 1,000 watt daytimer, required to go off the air at night.[2] In the 1950s, the power was boosted and the station was authorized to stay on the air around the clock, running the current 5,000 watts by day and 1,000 watts at night.
In May 1960, KITE was acquired by the Townsend U.S. International Growth Fund. An advertisement in the 1960 edition of Broadcasting Yearbook described KITE as "The Adults Favorite Station in San Antonio."[3] Later in the 1960s, KITE's city of license was moved from San Antonio to Terrill Hills. In 1966, it signed on an FM station, 104.5 KITE-FM (now KZEP).[4] Both stations were owned by Doubleday, a large publishing and broadcasting corporation. Doubleday put progressive rock on the FM station, changing the call sign to KEXL, while KITE remained with its middle of the road music format.
In 1978, KITE was acquired by Lone Star Broadcasting, becoming KCCW. It later came under the ownership of Radio Alamo and again changed its call letters, this time to KLLS. It was paired up with FM 100.3, which became KLLS-FM. The two stations simulcast as "Class 100 FM."[5]
Shortly afterward, KLLS-FM was acquired by KKYX 680, and 930 tried a talk format as KRNN and, later, a bilingual music format with mostly Spanish announcing as KRIA "Radio Alegria." Neither incarnation was successful.
Adams Radio acquired the station after entering the market when it bought KISS-FM 99.5. In 1990, it changed call letters from KRIA to KISS and took an oldies format known as "Kool Gold 930 AM." "Kool Gold" was a satellite delivered oldies format originating out of Phoenix on Adams sister KOOL 960 (now KKNT), but it later was simulcast with KISS-FM, after it fired its entire airstaff to air SMN's Pure Gold oldies programming. In 1992, the Rusk Corporation paid $3.95 million for KISS-AM-FM.[6] KISS-FM returned to its original rock format, while the format on KISS switched to syndicatedadult standards as KLUP "The Loop."
In 1997, Cox Radio acquired KLUP, keeping the standards format. Three years later, Cox spun off KLUP to current owner Salem Media Group, who switched KLUP to a talk radio format a short time later.
