2003

When KHKS (Kiss FM) debuted in November 1992 - and then zoomed into the top 5 within its first year - the station quickly earned a reputation as one of the nation's top 40 standard-bearers and helped resurrect a format which had fallen into disarray during the late eighties and early nineties.  Kiss FM rode its success to levels unseen by a top 40 station in DFW in decades.  A dozen #1 rankings put KHKS into exclusive territory.  The pressure to remain at the top, an increasingly fragmented market, and a top 40 format that was falling into doldrums similar to those of the late eighties meant an end to Kiss FM's ten year streak in the top 10.

Part of the market's increased fragmentation was evidenced by the increasing presence of Spanish language stations in DFW radio.   In 2000, KLNO "Estereo Latino" became the first such station to crack the top 10.   Its success led to the launch of a sister station at 107.9.  With the familiar old KESS call letters, "La Que Buena" was launched to  complement the format of sister station KLNO.   While the arrival of the new KESS-FM did force its own sister station down in the ratings, the net result was a positive, as the combined numbers for KLNO and KESS were far greater than they had been for KLNO alone and gave DFW not one, but two Spanish language stations in the top 10.

To the DFW radio history purist, 2003 was a very historic year, as the market's oldest signal made its debut in the Dallas/Fort Worth top ten.   The 1310 frequency traces its roots to 1920 as WRR.  That station was a fixture in Dallas for over fifty years, but WRR was never able to crack the top ten once Arbitron combined the Dallas and Fort Worth markets in 1973.  Fast forward to 2003:   even though KTCK (The Ticket) was already in its tenth year of a sports-talk format and had posted decent numbers all along, the Winter survey was the first-ever appearance in the top ten for not only KTCK, but also the oldest frequency in the state.

ｩ2004 Arbitron Inc. 

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