KKST

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Radio station in Alexandria, Louisiana

title: "KKST" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["radio-stations-in-louisiana", "urban-contemporary-radio-stations-in-the-united-states", "radio-stations-established-in-1972", "mass-media-in-alexandria,-louisiana", "allen-parish,-louisiana", "1972-establishments-in-louisiana"] description: "Radio station in Alexandria, Louisiana" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KKST" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Radio station in Alexandria, Louisiana ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox radio station"]

Field	Value
name	KKST
logo	KISS 98.7(1)(2)(3).jpg
city	Oakdale, Louisiana
country	US
area	Alexandria-Pineville
branding	Kiss 98.7
frequency
airdate
languages	English
format	Urban contemporary
subchannels	HD2: Urban adult contemporary
HD3:Urban gospel
erp	48,000 watts
haat	321.0 m
class	C1
facility_id	3423
coordinates
callsign_meaning	Station branded as "Star 98.7" from 1987 to 2006
former_callsigns
owner	Cenla Broadcasting
licensee	Cenla Broadcasting Licensing Company, LLC
sister_stations	KDBS, KQID-FM, KRRV-FM, KSYL, KZMZ
webcast	Listen live
Listen live (HD2)
Listen live (HD3)
website	kiss987fm.com
affiliations	American Urban Radio Networks
Compass Media Networks
licensing_authority	FCC
::

KKST (98.7 FM, "Kiss 98.7") is an American radio station broadcasting an urban contemporary format. Licensed to Oakdale, Louisiana, United States, the station serves the Alexandria area. The station is currently owned by Cenla Broadcasting Licensing Company, LLC. and the signal covers Alexandria, Natchitoches and surrounding communities. Its studios are located on Texas Avenue in Alexandria, and its transmitter is located near Forest Hill, Louisiana.

History

On June 30, 1971, Cyril W. and C. Winsett Reddoch, owners of radio station KREH (900 AM), received a construction permit to build a new 1,500-watt radio station at 104.9 MHz in Oakdale. The station signed on with an adult contemporary format the next year. The Reddochs continued to own KCWR and KREH until both were sold to George Mowad, a physician and the mayor of Oakdale, for $400,000 in 1981. On October 16, 1982, Mowad carried out a format overhaul; at that time, KCWR flipped to country as KGBM-FM. Two years later, both stations were sold to Strother Broadcasting Company of Louisiana for $350,000. KREH and KGBM-FM became KICR-AM-FM after the sale.

In 1988, the FCC approved a frequency change to 98.7 MHz and class increase for KICR-FM. The upgrade would allow the FM station to enter the Alexandria radio market. At the same time, both stations were sold to Bob Holladay and his B & D Communications for nearly $500,000. When the FM frequency change took place on May 14, 1990, the country format that had been on FM moved to the AM frequency, while KICR-FM relaunched as adult contemporary "Magic 98". The move-in of KICR-FM to the Alexandria market also meant that all station operations relocated there, with studios established on Bayou Rapides Road. The Magic format moved to the 93.9 frequency (then KFAD, now KMXH) in 1993, with KICR-FM switching to country music as "Hot Country 98".

Champion Broadcasting Corporation acquired KICR-FM in 1995 for $1.8 million, marking the start of a cluster in the market. One of the stations Champion acquired a lease on in 1996 was KRRV-FM 100.3, also in the country music format. Its ratings were so high that Champion opted to drop the country format on its KICR-FM and flip it to adult contemporary as KKST "Star 98.7" on January 1, 1997.

Rapid consolidation in the radio industry saw KKST and the other Champion Alexandria stations change hands multiple times in two years in the late 1990s. The entire company, with clusters in Alexandria, Midland, Texas and Amarillo, Texas, was acquired by Capstar Broadcasting Partners for $11.3 million in 1998. Capstar was then absorbed into Clear Channel Communications at the end of the decade. The station's effective radiated power was increased again in 2006 to its present 48,000 watts at 321 meters, on a shared tower with sister stations KRRV-FM and KZMZ.

In 2006, Clear Channel sold its entire Alexandria cluster to Cenla Broadcasting for more than $4 million, with Cenla immediately taking programming control via a local marketing agreement. Cenla had been programming KEDG (106.9 FM), owned by Flinn Broadcasting, as hip-hop "Kiss 106.9" and moved the Kiss format to KKST as a result of the sale. (The Star moniker and format were later revived by KEDG.)

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/KKST_logo.jpg" caption="Previous logo"] ::

In 2022, Kiss 98.7 converted to HD Radio

References

"KKST Facility Record". United States [[Federal Communications Commission]], audio division.
"History Cards for KKST". [[Federal Communications Commission]]}} ([[Wikipedia:WikiProject Radio Stations/History Cards.
(1974). "KREH". Broadcasting Yearbook.
(June 19, 1981). "Oakdale Radio Stations Bought by Mayor Mowad". Town Talk.
(September 29, 1982). "Oakdale Broadcasting Announces New Format". The Oakdale Journal.
(February 6, 1984). "Changing Hands". Broadcasting.
(April 8, 1984). "Radio station changes hands". The Town Talk.
(October 17, 1988). "For the Record". Broadcasting.
(April 27, 1989). "KICR to upgrade power output". The Oakdale Journal.
(November 3, 1989). "Transactions". Radio & Records.
(May 24, 1990). "To All KICR Listeners". The Oakdale Journal.
(May 15, 1990). "New radio station plays adult contemporary". The Town Talk.
Williams, Sidney. (February 12, 1993). "'Magic 98' now 'Hot Country 98'". The Town Talk.
(December 18, 1985). "Changing Hands". Broadcasting & Cable.
Pinnell, Gary R.. (January 1, 1997). "KICR switching to adult contemporary". The Town Talk.
(March 27, 1998). "Transactions". Radio & Records.
"KKST Call Sign History". United States [[Federal Communications Commission]], audio division.
(July 2025). "KKST power increase history}}{{Dead link".
(July 21, 2006). "Clear Channel Sells Alexandria, LA Cluster". All Access.
Bonnette, Tom. (August 10, 2006). "Area radio station changes format". The Town Talk.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::