KYKY

KYKY (98.1 FM) is a commercial radio station in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the Greater St. Louis region of Missouri and Illinois. KYKY airs a hot adult contemporary radio format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. KYKY operates from offices and studios located on Olive Street in Downtown St. Louis.^[3] Its transmitter is on a TV/FM radio tower off Mackenzie Road in Shrewsbury.^[4]

KYKY

St. Louis, Missouri United States
Broadcast area	Greater St. Louis
Frequency	98.1 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding	Y98
Programming
Language	English
Format	Hot adult contemporary
Subchannels	HD2: Sports gambling
Ownership
Owner	Audacy, Inc.[1] (Audacy License, LLC)
Sister stations	KEZK-FM KFTK-FM KMOX KMOX-FM WFUN-FM
History
First air date	April 2, 1960 (65 years ago) (1960-04-02)
Former call signs	KSTL-FM (1960–1967) KRCH (1967–1972) KSLQ (1972–1982)
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	20358
Class	C1
ERP	90,000 watts
HAAT	309 meters (1,014 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	38.5734°N 90.3251°W / 38.5734; -90.3251
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen live (via Audacy)
Website	www.audacy.com/y98

KYKY broadcasts three HD Radio signals, with the first airing its main hot adult contemporary format. Its HD2 signal carries a sports gambling format.

History

On April 2, 1960, KSTL-FM first signed on as the FM counterpart to daytime-only KSTL (690 AM), owned by Radio St. Louis, Inc.^[5]

In 1972, the station was purchased by Bartell Media Corporation, the owner of legendary AM Top 40 stations KCBQ in San Diego and WOKY in Milwaukee, and was enjoying high ratings with WDRQ in Detroit as more people were tuning to FM stations for contemporary hits in the 1970s. Bartell turned KRCH into Top 40 outlet KSLQ.^[6] Around 1981, KSLQ adjusted its format to adult contemporary. In October 1982, the call letters were changed to the current KYKY, and rebranded as "KY98", which would later change to "Y98". In 1985, KYKY was purchased by EZ Communications, and evolved the format to hot AC.^[7]

On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom.^[8][9] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and consummated on November 17.^[10][11]

Beginning in 2023, KYKY aired a replay of Kansas City sister station KZPT's morning show (Ponch & Nikki) in afternoon drive.^[12] The next year, KZPT would begin airing KYKY's morning show (Brett Mega) on delay in the afternoons.^[13] In March 2025, Ponch & Nikki departed both stations as part of Audacy corporate layoffs.

Beginning in 2025 KYKY moved Julie Tristan to the full midday show and Jake Baumgartner to the evening drive position.