The station signed on the air in May 12, 1972; 52 years ago (1972-05-12).[6] Its original call sign was KOOO-FM, the sister station to KOOO (1420 AM, now KXCB). The two stations broadcast a country music format and were owned by Pier San of Nebraska, Inc. KOOO-FM's power was only 31,000 watts, a fraction of its current output.
Beautiful music (1979–1989)
In 1979, the station changed its call letters to KESY, and flipped to a largely automatedbeautiful music format. It played quarter-hour sweeps of soft instrumental music, mostly cover versions of popular adult songs with Broadway and Hollywoodshow tunes. Throughout the early 1980s, KESY was used as the audio on a local Limelight Movie Channel when it signed off the air for the night.
Soft adult contemporary (1989–1998)
By the late 1980s, the audience for easy listening music was aging, so KESY added more vocals to its playlist to entice younger listeners. In 1989, KESY evolved to soft adult contemporary music, adopted the moniker "Y 104", and used live DJs.
Adult contemporary (1998–present)
On January 9, 1998, KESY moved to the 97.7 FM frequency. After a few days of simulcasting, 104.5 FM flipped to modern adult contemporary (which emphasizes on more modern rock hits targeting a female audience) as "Star 104.5", with new call letters KSRZ.[7] The format later evolved to a more broad-based Hot AC format.
Journal Communications and the E. W. Scripps Company announced on July 30, 2014 that the two companies would merge to create a new broadcast company under the E. W. Scripps Company name that owned the two companies' broadcast properties, including KSRZ. The transaction was completed in 2015.[8] Scripps exited radio in 2018; the Omaha stations went to SummitMedia in a four-market, $47 million deal completed on November 1, 2018.[9]
