KHPY originated as the expanded band "twin" of an existing station on the standard AM band. On March 17, 1997, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that eighty-eight stations had been given permission to move to newly available "Expanded Band" transmitting frequencies, ranging from 1610 to 1700 kHz.[3] The original KHPY had debuted in 1989,[4] and it was authorized to move from 1530 to 1670 kHz. A construction permit for the expanded band station was assigned the call letters KSUL on August 26, 1999.[5]
On November 13, 2002, the KHPY call letters were transferred to the new expanded band station, and the original station on 1530 became KHPI. FCC policy was that both the original station and its expanded band counterpart could operate simultaneously for up to five years, after which owners would have to turn in one of the two licenses, depending on whether they preferred the new assignment or elected to remain on the original frequency.[3] Therefore, on October 29, 2003, KHPI on 1530 AM was deleted.[6]
