104.5 FM, Omaha

Through the Years

• 1972

  May 12, 1972-  KOOO FM signs on with a country format simulcast on co-owned KOOO 1420 AM during daytime.  Studios are located at 102 North 48th Street in Omaha, with transmitter in the DEA Manor Building, 122 South 39th Street.  Signs on at 31,400 watts at 285 feet.  Owner is Pier-San Broadcasting (Webb Pierce, Mack Sanders).

  Company merges with Proud Country Radio Entertainment for $531,600, licensee of of KTOW, Sand Springs, Oklahoma owned by Roy Clark and Hank Thompson.

• 1974

  October, 1974- Station transfers from Proud Country Entertainment to American Entertainment Corporation with same owner.

• 1977

  Station is sold to Centennial Communications (Ray & Marshall Hambric, Bruce Meyer, Denver) for $2.1 million.  Bruce Meyer takes over as General Manager.   The Country format is softened with the addition of Adult Contemporary artists and the CBS radio network.

• 1978

  October, 1978- KOOO FM separates from the AM simulcast and picks up automated Beautiful Music format.  Call letters are changed to KESY.

• 1979

  February, 1979- Call letters are changed to KESY-FM when the co-owned AM station adopted the same calls and begins simulcast of the FM.  Live air talent is added.

• 1981

  Station files for bankruptcy reorganization which is granted the following year.

• 1982

  Studios are moved to 4807 Dodge Street, Omaha.

• 1983

  February, 1983-Centennial Communications, debtor in possession, sells to Richard Marshall Capital Corporation for $3 million, including the AM station.  Principal buyers are Sherry Sanders and Ray Hambric, who retains 40% interest in the new group.  Bob Dean is the new General Manager.

• 1984

  April, 1984- Centennial sells to MediaOmaha (Jayne Woods, John Biddinger) for $2.2 million, plus KESY 1420 AM for $400,000.

  June, 1984-  KESY AM is spun off to Nelson Broadcasting (Lyle Nelson).

• 1985

  November, 1985- AM 1420 is returned to MediaOmaha as Nelson Broadcasting defaults.

• 1986

  KESY FM is sold by MediaOmaha (Jane Woods) to SunGroup (Frank Woods, Nashville, TN) for $6.2 million and liabilities, which also includes the AM.  The buyer is Jane Woods’ husband.

• 1987

  Dana Webb joins as General Manager.  Power is upgraded to 100,000 watts and the transmitter is moved to 72nd & Crown Point television antenna farm on the KMTV tower at 980 feet.

• 1989

  A gradual format adjust adjustment is made from Beautiful Music to Soft Rock, with the new moniker, Soft 104.5.

  Station achieves the best Arbitron ratings ever at 11.4 share when KFAB drops music, and increases to a 12.2 share the following year.

• 1992

  The evening soft jazz Night Breeze show is added with KKVU 105.9FM drops their similar format and goes Classic Rock.

• 1993

  March, 1993-  SunGroup sells to OMA, Inc (John Biddinger) for assumption of debt.

• 1995

  September, 1995- G. Rockett Phillips brings his morning show over from KQKQ, 98.5 FM.  Station image is changed to Y-104. 

• 1996

  Rockett is fired for low ratings.  The syndicated evening show Delilah replaces Night Breeze. 

• 1998

  January, 1998-  Station is sold to the Journal Broadcast Group (Milwaukee, WI) for $5.475 million, which includes the AM.

  Call letters are changed to KSRZ and the format flips to Hot Adult Contemporary as The Star or “Star 104.5”.  KESY call letters are moved to the 97.7 FM frequency also owned by Journal.

• 2014

  Journal Communications separates broadcast operations from their publishing arm, placing them in Scripps Broadcast Holdings in a merger to create a new broadcast company under the E.W. Scripps Company name that owned the two companies’ broadcast properties.  The transaction was completed in 2015.

• 2018

  November 1, 2018- The Omaha group of stations are sold to Summit Media in a four-market $47 million deal.