Radio Sungroup of Bryan-College Station was granted a construction permit, on February 7, 1984, to build a broadcast radio station at 104.9 MHz, which was assigned the call letters KFFV by the Federal Communications Commission. The callsign was changed on the permit to the current KKYS by request on May 29, 1984, to correspond with the contemporary hit radio format that Radio Sungroup would launch, branded as "Kiss 105". KKYS was granted a license to cover on November 13, 1984.
The "Kiss" branding once used by KKYS predated the Clear Channel/iHeartMedia ownership, who owns the trademark to the "Kiss" branding, as the facility used the name from its inception until the change to the current "Mix" branding when the format morphed from CHR to adult contemporary. KISS-FM in San Antonio is another such example of a radio station that has utilized the "Kiss" name, but not owned by the radio conglomerate. iHeartMedia, then as subsidiary CCB Texas Licensing purchased this facility in 2009 from Sunburst Media. Instead of returning the "Kiss" brand to KKYS after the purchase of the facility, iHeart Media changed the format of 103.1 KVJM to "Kiss FM" in 2012, installing the associated CHR format and branding on that facility. KVJM and KKYS are now sister stations to one another.
In 1989, KKYS was granted a minor modification to move its operating frequency down one channel to the current 284 (104.7 MHz) to accommodate an upgrade of a co-channel facility located on 104.9 near Llano, allowing that facility to move into the Austin market. That station currently operates in the Austin market as sports station "104.9 The Horn", licensed as KTXX-FMBee Cave, Texas. KKYS was granted a License to Cover on the new 104.7 frequency on September 5, 1990.
On January 16, 1998, the station's callsign was briefly switched to KOZN as a stunt, but quickly switched back to KKYS later on the same day. The station has been hot adult contemporary since the late 1990s.
The station was consulted by Bob Mitchell and was the number one rated station in the market for many years until it was purchased by Clear Channel.
Past air staff includes: Ryan "Rhino" O'Brien, Harold Presley, Chace Murphy, Scotty Love, Robin Cunningham, Logan Stone, Famous James, and Darren "Taylor" Prater and morning co-hosts Barb, Jules and Dee.
The majority of the airshifts on the station are now voice tracked with a syndicated morning show.
