WKSE

WKSE (98.5 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Niagara Falls, New York, serving the Buffalo metropolitan area and Western New York. It has a contemporary hit radio format and is owned by Audacy, Inc., with studios on Corporate Parkway in Amherst, New York. It calls itself Kiss 98.5.

WKSE

Niagara Falls, New York
Broadcast area	Western New York
Frequency	98.5 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding	Kiss 98.5
Programming
Language	English
Format	Contemporary hit radio
Subchannels	HD2: Country music (WLKK) HD3: News/talk (WBEN) HD4: Sports radio (WGR)
Ownership
Owner	Audacy, Inc. (Audacy License, LLC)
Sister stations	WBEN WGR WLKK WWKB WWWS
History
First air date	January 1, 1946 (79 years ago) (1946-01-01)
Former call signs	WHLD-FM (1946–1980) WZIR (1980–1984) WRXT (1984–1985)
Call sign meaning	"Kiss"
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	34384
Class	B
ERP	46,000 watts
HAAT	128 meters (420 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	43.005°N 78.993°W / 43.005; -78.993
Translator(s)	HD2: 104.7 W284AP (Buffalo)
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen live (via Audacy)
Website	www.audacy.com/kiss985

WKSE has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 46,000 watts. The transmitter is off Staley Avenue on Grand Island, New York.^[2] Its signal extends into the Niagara Region of Ontario as well as Hamilton and Toronto. WKSE broadcasts using HD Radio technology; its HD2 digital subchannel simulcasts country music sister station WLKK, while the HD3 subchannel simulcasts co-owned WBEN news/talk programming, and the HD4 subchannel simulcasts co-owned WGR's sports radio programming.

History

Nicholas Picholas DJing at an SPCA Wine and Wags festival in West Seneca, NY in June 2022.

The station signed on the air as WHLD-FM on January 1, 1946,^[3] It was the FM counterpart to WHLD and largely simulcast the AM station's programming in its early years. In the late 1960s, it switched to a beautiful music format with some classical music programming as well.

The station changed its call sign to WZIR in 1980, adopting a progressive/underground rock format that lasted roughly a year as "The Wizard." By 1984, it was a rock format as WRXT; the current Top 40/CHR format has been in place since September 1984, with the WKSE calls in place by 1985. Much of its playlist overlapped that of then-sister station Star 102.5 at times. (The two stations' programming eventually fully merged onto WKSE's signal in June 2023 as 102.5 was sold off that month.^[4]) WKSE carried the syndicated weekly show The Rockin' America Top 30 Countdown with Scott Shannon throughout the 1980s.

WKSE sold its broadcast tower to Vertical Bridge in March 2019. WKSE continues to use the tower under a leasing arrangement.^[5]

Until 2011, WKSE had a significant listenership throughout the Greater Toronto Area and Southern Ontario. After the launch of urban contemporary CKFG-FM that October on the adjacent 98.7 MHz frequency, WKSE lost much of its prominence in the Toronto market and became a bit harder to find on some radio receivers with weaker tuners. In addition, listeners in Canada are not able to use the Audacy app to stream WKSE, as it is restricted to users in the United States.

Programming

Janet Snyder has been the station's morning show host since 1989, with her co-host Nicholas Pickolas joining in 1994.